Family and friends carers

Supporting children

Kinship care is when a child lives full-time or most of the time with a relative or family friend, usually because their parents are not able to care for them.

Kinship carers are sometimes called 'family and friends carers' or 'connected people'. They are most commonly grandparents but older siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends can also take on the role.

Many children in kinship care will have experienced trauma. A kinship carer provides a stable home life where children can grow and develop in a safe, positive environment. The children also get to stay in their existing family network, which helps them maintain their sense of identity and family relationships.

Types of kinship care

There are different types of kinship care. It could be:

  • special guardianship
  • child arrangement order
  • family and friends foster care
  • private fostering
  • informal or private arrangement

Carers' rights, responsibilities and the support they can get will depend on the type of arrangement.

National strategy

A national kinship care strategy, called 'Championing kinship care', was published in 2023. Go to GOV.UK: National kinship care strategy.

It highlights the stability and other benefits of kinship care for children, including:

  • maintaining connections with the people they love
  • achieving better outcomes in health and education

Support in Thurrock

We listen to the wishes and feelings of children and young people, and make sure they are always involved in decisions that affect them.

We support the national strategy. By law, we must support children living in a range of situations away from their parents. For details, go to GOV.UK: Children Act 1989 – family and friends care.

Contact us

Information on becoming a special guardian is available at GOV.UK: Become a special guardian. The court will decide if a special guardianship order (SGO) is in the best interests of the child.

For questions about private SGO assessments, contact our Fostering Assessments service.

Fostering assessments

: fosteringassessments@thurrock.gov.uk

For questions post-SGO support services, contact our post-adoption support service.

Post-adoption support

: 01375 652 647

: postadoptionsgo@thurrock.gov.uk

We also provide information and support on private fostering.