Where families experience crisis, relatives or close family friends will often step in to take care of a child who is unable to live with their parents. Alternatively, the child may be placed with a Kinship Carer by Social Work where social services have asked family members to take on the care of a child. This is known as Kinship Care. Kinship Carers provide love and security for children who would otherwise not be cared for within the family.
Kinship Care arrangements can sometimes occur at short notice and in traumatic circumstances relating to family illness or bereavement, addiction, neglect or other issues. Children may arrive at a Kinship Carer’s home unexpectedly or at short notice, and with little or no belongings. These FAQs will help families identify the first steps to take in situations where Kinship Carers require urgent assistance.
Your Local Authority’s Social Work department is there to support you with care of a vulnerable child, this support may only be available from when they are first aware of your Kinship arrangement. It is therefore vitally important that you get in touch to ask for support as soon as you take on the care of a child or as soon as you are aware that this will be happening in the future. Never be nervous about asking for help from Social Work, whatever your Kinship Family arrangement. Many local authority contacts now have a dedicated Kinship Care team who can assist.
Depending on how the child came to live with you, Kinship Carers may be asked to undergo a Kinship Care Assessment. Your Local Authority is expected to complete a Kinship Care Assessment within 12 weeks and 3 days of the child coming to live with you. If Kinship Care Allowance payments are granted at the end of the assessment, the Local Authority will decide if the payments are backdated to the date at which the assessment commenced or when the child was placed with you.
Kinship Care is a complex area. We advise you speak to the Local Authority if you have questions about the process. You can contact our Helpline on 0808 800 0006 (Mon to Fri, 10am – 2.30pm) or email: advice@kinshipscot.org if you have questions or concerns.
Many Kinship Carers experience money worries as a direct result of taking on the caring role for a child.
Financial needs may be significant when considering how to buy the basic things every child needs. Additional expense is understandably worrying, and this can be exacerbated by the complexity of information about eligibility for financial support.
You may be able to apply for Child Benefit and other child related benefits based on your circumstances. Contact the Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland Helpline on 08000 28 22 33 or email advice@kinshipscot.org for advice.
If you find yourself in urgent need of the basics for the child, then you should approach your local authority’s Social Work department in the first instance to request their support.
The local authority has a duty to provide financial assistance to Kinship Carers taking on caring responsibilities for a child. This is set out in the Scottish Government’s national guidance to Local Authorities for implementing Kinship Care support. The guidance is advisory rather than statutory meaning that the level of support provided varies between local authorities.
You can also apply for financial assistance from the Scottish Welfare Fund Crisis Grant.
Organisations in the third sector might be able to provide short-term or emergency assistance:
The Trussel Trust’s website can locate your nearest food bank to ensure there will be enough food for your entire household.
Where the Scottish Welfare Fund is unable to provide adequate financial assistance, other charitable funds are available. You may need a professional person such as a social worker to sponsor your application.
Aberlour Urgent Assistance Fund accepts applications for cash grants to assist with the costs of essential utilities for children in extreme hardship.
BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials provides essential household items such as a bed, a cooker and other items or services critical to a child’s immediate welfare.
Buttle UK Chances for Children offer grants for Kinship Care Families. The grants are specifically set up for ‘Non-Looked After’ children cared for by Kinship Carers experiencing financial hardship and where another social issue is aggravating the situation (e.g., mental or physical ill-health, neglect, homelessness, or bereavement). You must be receiving regular support from a professional organisation and have exhausted other forms of government assistance for the requested item.
Each Local Authority is different, but you may be able to apply for help with school clothing and free school meals by contacting the child’s school or by completing an application form on the council’s website. You may need to meet the Local Authority’s criteria to receive this support.
If you are going through the Kinship Care Assessment process, and applying for Kinship Care Allowance, the Local Authorities may agree to make interim payments to ensure you have enough to live on. Interim payments will be deducted from Kinship Care Allowance payments on completion of the Kinship Care Assessment.
If you claim, and are awarded Universal Credit, you usually have to wait 5 weeks before you get a payment. You can ask for an advance payment of Universal Credit which you will then have to repay over a period of months.
A Kinship Care Allowance is a regular payment made by Local Authorities to some Kinship Carers. It should be at the same level as the Local Authority’s Fostering Allowance rate, less any family-related benefits the Kinship Carer gets that a foster carer would not receive.
The Scottish government and Local Authorities have agreed that the following Kinship Carers should receive a Kinship Care Allowance:
The Scottish Government has information on its website about the payment of Kinship Care Allowance. Our partners CPAG, (the Child Poverty Action Group), have a factsheet ‘Kinship Care and benefits – the essentials’ containing an excellent guide about Kinship Allowances.
Eligibility for child-related benefits will depend on the legal status of the child in your care. You may be asked to provide evidence that the child is living with you where the child’s parent continues to claim benefits on their behalf.
Our partners CPAG, (the Child Poverty Action Group) have factsheets explaining the welfare benefits system for kinship carers and information on their website about child-related payments from the Scottish Government including information for Kinship Carers about the Scottish child payment | CPAG.
We’re always happy to discuss other forms of financial assistance you may be eligible to claim based on your individual circumstances. Call the Kinship Care Advice Service Helpline on 08000 28 22 33 or email advice@kinshipscot.org for further advice.
If you have an emergency and there is risk to life, call 999.
If you are concerned about the safety of the child in your care and it is not an emergency, you should call 101 to speak to a local police officer.
The kinship.scot website has details of local authority social work contacts including out-of-hours emergency contacts.
If you’re worried about the safety of a child, even if you’re unsure about the risk, the NSPCC has a UK helpline providing professional advice and support: 0808 800 5000.
Maintaining and negotiating contact with the child’s parent – often the Kinship Carer’s own child, or sibling – can be distressing and impact on the family’s emotional health. Early legal advice and representation might be needed to establish ongoing contact between the child and their parent.
Legal representation is needed to apply to the Courts for obtaining Parental Rights and Responsibilities or for an injunction. In certain circumstances, the local authority may be able to provide Legal Aid to support you in the application process, and possibly further down the line with future legal fees if the Court’s decision is reviewed. It is best to always get this clarified in writing from the Local Authority from the outset.
The Scottish Child Law Centre has a helpline providing free legal advice on any aspect of family law: 0131 667 6333.
Clan Childlaw is a legal advocacy service for children and young people up to age 21 that includes legal representation for children and young people living in Edinburgh and the Lothians, Glasgow and the surrounding area.
WhoCares? Scotland provides a free, professional and independent advocacy service for young people across most local authority areas in Scotland. There is an online referral form to fill in for someone to then contact you.
Barnardo’s Hear 4u Advocacy provides independent advocacy for children and young people attending children’s hearings in Dumfries & Galloway, Glasgow, North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire. They ask that you complete an online referral form.
If the Kinship Care placement is within Scotland, you might be able to get legal advice and representation from a solicitor in a Scottish Law Centre. This will be based on your level of need and ability to pay for legal services. You can be referred to a Law Centre by your Social Worker.
If you have the financial means to access legal support, you can find a solicitor to represent you through the Law Society of Scotland website. Look for a solicitor who has experience of representing Kinship Carers and understands the kinship legal system.
The NHS website lists support and services available for people experiencing domestic abuse or concerned about a case of domestic abuse.
Scottish Women’s Aid provide information and support for people affected by domestic abuse including a 24-hour Domestic Abuse helpline 0800 027 1234.
If the child is living with you, even for a short while, it is important to contact the following services:
When dealing with the Local Authority, it will be the placing Local Authority (i.e. the area where the child has come to live with you from) who is ordinarily responsible for the child. This is true except where the case is transferred at the Children’s Hearing, naming the area where the child now resides as the placing Local Authority.
If there are child protection issues, you should arrange to speak to a Social Worker from the Local Authority’s Social Work department straight away.
Similarly, if the child has come to live with you and you are not related to the child and/or you are certain you are unable to care for the child, then arrange to speak to a Social Worker as soon as possible.
If you are claiming benefits, you should inform the Department for Work and Pensions of changes in your circumstances where the change is expected to last longer than 28 days.
This includes changes that could affect your claim to Child Benefit.
It’s important you do this to claim the support that’s available to you as the child’s primary carer and/or to avoid having to repay over-payments later.
If the child is coming to live with you in a new Local Authority area, you should register them with your local GP, dentist and an optician if needed.
If you can find details of the child’s medical history, this will give you a better picture of the child’s health and wellbeing. It will help if you can access the child’s medical records for information about vaccinations and previous health examinations, and the child’s behaviour and development, if previously discussed.
You can ask your GP practice for more advice.
If the child needs to move nursery or school, then it’s important to communicate that change.
Depending on the reason for their stay with you, changing nursery or school on top of everything else, will be stressful for the child. You might want to try and identify somewhere that will be understanding of what’s going on at home and be prepared to have a conversation with you about support to help the child settle in and adjust.
Education Scotland’s Parentzone website uses ‘Find a school’ to provide contact details of schools in your Local Authority area.
Even if the child is continuing to attend the same nursery or school as before, letting nursery staff and guidance teachers know that there has been a change in their circumstances will start a discussion about short-to-long term additional support.
For school-age children, support from the school may include access to home learning equipment such as a laptop or tablet (and dongles for WiFi if you do not have a connection) for pupils to participate in learning from home.
The Scottish Government website Parentclub provides useful hints, tips and tricks for parents and carers
The school might also be able to suggest breakfast or after-school clubs run by the school or by community organisations to help with childcare.
If the child is coming to live with you is attending or about to start studying at college or university, be reassured that education institutions are committed to supporting care-experienced students, even if that care has only been provided short-term.
Speak to Student Services about the range of available support from free counselling to emergency financial assistance.
CPAG has this factsheet on ‘Benefits for Care-Experienced Students’ that includes information on the SAAS Care Experienced Students’ Bursary for full-time students on higher education courses.
The SAAS Care-Experienced Bursary is available for certain full-time students on non-advanced college courses. See the Scottish Funding Council’s National Policy for FE Bursaries and contact the college.
Laptops are sometimes available for short-term loan from the college or university library.
You may find that when you take on full-time care of a child, you have no option but to reduce the hours you are working or stop working altogether. It’s important to consult with your employer about what change your caring responsibilities will have on your working hours.
As things stand, Kinship Carers do not have any statutory leave entitlement. If they are understanding, your employer may grant you a period of compassionate leave. If not, you should check your contract for information on ‘time off for dependents’ and for ‘flexible working’ arrangements. These could be more generous than the law.
Young children in Scotland up to age 4 have legal entitlements to Early Learning and Childcare. See the ParentClub website for information and to apply to your Local Authority.
Citizens Advice Scotland provide information on employment rights and work-related benefits. Call their Helpline 0800 028 1456 (Mon to Fri 9am – 5pm) for free, one-to-one advice.
Kinship Carers can find themselves trying to support bereaved or traumatised children when they themselves are having to deal with their own grief, trauma or difficult emotions for a close relative.
The Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland runs training events and webinars on the impact that trauma can have within families. We upload several of these to our YouTube channel. For details of forthcoming training, subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
The kinship.scot website lists local peer support that can be valuable for connecting to people in a similar situation to you. You can also find information in our free leaflets for kinship carers.
Some organisations offer a listening ear over the phone for anyone experiencing emotional distress.
Two free and confidential services offered to people in Scotland are Breathing Space and Samaritans.
Breathing Space 0800 83 85 87 Weekdays Mon to Th 6pm – 2am and weekends 6pm Fri to 6am Mon.
Samaritans 116 123 Open 24 hours a day, all year round.
The Scottish Government’s Bereavement support webpages provide links to organisations providing a listening ear and emotional support to help you cope when someone close to you dies.
Child Bereavement UK support services for bereaved families include a Helpline 0800 02 888 40 (Mon to Fri, 9am – 5pm).
It’s likely you will require information on supporting traumatised children effectively. This will help you to understand the impact of family issues on your own health and wellbeing, and that of the child’s. In addition to services provided by the Kinship Care Advice Service, support is available from family charities. Find a list of services in your local area on the kinship.scot website.
There are also Helplines you can talk to:
Children First 08000 28 22 33 (Mon to Fri 9am-9pm) Email: parentlinescotland@children1st.org.uk
Young Minds Parent Helpline 0808 802 5544
Changes in children’s behaviour – whatever the new behaviour is – can be a common indicator of underlying confusion, stress or trauma due to reduced contact with the parent or loss of a parent. Children’s charities are on hand and are skilled at helping children talk about their feelings and make sense of them.
Childline Children can call the Helpline on 0800 1111, join a 1-2-1 confidential chat with a counsellor, post to message boards or send an email.
Who Cares? Scotland has a Helpline for care-experienced young people. Call 0330 107 7540 (Mon to Fri, 12noon – 4pm) or email: help@whocaresscotland.org
YoungMinds Crisis Messenger Free and confidential 24/7 crisis support for young people by text.
Richmond’s Hope website has a Resources section to support children and young people experiencing bereavement including facing funerals and support for talking to children about death.
Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs provide a listening service for anyone in Scotland who is worried about someone else’s alcohol or drug use. You can contact their Helpline 08080 10 10 11 or email: helpline@sfad.org.uk
If you have concerns about a child or young person’s mental health, always see your GP first.
WhoCares? Scotland offer a Counselling Service for care experienced children. The service is available to all young people who need mental health support, not just those in crisis. Fill in the referral form on the website.
Families outside have a Helpline and resources for support including what to expect at a prison visit.
Kinship Carers can be left with long-term caring responsibilities based on a short-term arrangement.
The KCASS Helpline offers ongoing information and advice for Kinship Carers, whatever your situation. Call the Supportline on 08000 28 22 33 (Mon to Fri, 10am-2.30pm)
You can also email us: advice@kinshipscot.org and connect to us on Facebook and Twitter.
Lots of charity organisations provide ongoing emotional health and wellbeing support from bereavement, to helping families impacted by addiction, neglect, domestic violence and other traumatic events. NHS Inform’s Service Directory will enable you to locate a specific service based on your location.
