3.4.16 Special Guardianship and Residence Orders

AMENDMENT

This chapter appeared in the manual for the first time in October 2011. It replaces former version and it includes three new appendices.

1. Introduction and Background Information

53 percent of children under the age of five were made a subject of a special guardianship Order. (Hall 2008).

This has significant implications when planning as for most of these children they would have most of their childhood ahead of them.

The most striking feature of recent studies by Hall and Wade is that special guardianship has become a solution for family and friends carers which amounted to 87 percent with 68 percent of these being grandparents. The strength of commitment, determination and sacrifice of related carers to the children they care for has been identified by two studies. (Farmer and Moyers, 2008 Hunt et al, 2008)

For many of these children who were a subject to Special Guardianship Orders, had frequent direct contact with their birth parents and often contact was supervised by their Special guardian.

It is the requirement of the Children Act 1989, that local authorities should always consider placing a child within the family before considering placement with non-related carers.

Special guardianship is clearly a viable permanency option for many children and their carers. Although local authorities cannot directly make a placement for special guardianship or themselves make an application for a Special Guardianship Order, however through planning for permanence they can make and enable a plan where special guardianship is the outcome.

2. Who can apply?

Prospective special guardians include;

Family and friends carers who are not currently caring for a child who is placed in either a local authority or independent foster care provider foster carer;
Others where the applicant and the child are unknown to the local authority until the notification to apply for an order is made;
Foster carers who have been approved by a local authority or an independent foster care provider who are not related to the child;
Family and friends carers who have been approved as foster carers by the local authority.
Family and friends temporarily approved under Regulation 24 of the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review ( England ) Regulations 2010 and Schedule 4 and regulation 38 of the fostering services Wales Regulations 2003.

3. Reporting to Court

There are no regulations that set out the minimum expectations for assessing and preparing the report to court. In light of the significance of the outcome for the child and applicant an analysis that focuses on the needs of the child must be the paramount consideration.

When planning for permanence where special guardianship is a potential outcome, a statutory review will need to consider which route to permanency is most appropriate to meeting the needs of the specific child. Consideration should therefore be given to secure both permanency and stability for the child.

The care planning process, for a looked after child will need to be coordinated with the advice, information, support and assessment of the perspective special guardian, so that the court is provided with sufficient evidence and analysis to demonstrate that the child's need for secure permanent care will be met by making of the order.

Consideration should be given to the arrangements of working with other local authorities to supply relevant information in respect of a child or perspective special guardian where a report is being prepared.

4. Assessment and Analysis

Begin with the child's story

The key facts that need to be presented to the court about the child are;

The child's family composition;
The immigration status of the child and the right to remain in the UK. (If the child does not have a right to remain, then legal advice needs to be sought before progressing the application.);
The child's social, cognitive, emotional and behavioural needs and development;
Educational needs and development;
Physical health needs and development;
The child's relationships with other significant family members and siblings who are not subject to the special guardianship arrangements. What part are they likely to play in the future of the special guardianship family;
Their views wishes and feelings. This should include and feelings about the plan and in other matters in their circumstances and past which may be relevant to them now and in planning for their future.

Information advice, counselling and life story work with the child is essential to help him/her understand the nature of the Special Guardianship and the plan that is being made. Consideration should be given to this as part of the needs analysis.

For a looked after child, the social work file will already hold a significant amount of information. The information could be updated and checked for accuracy and relied upon for this part of the report.

The planning for permanence where Special Guardianship is a potential outcome, a statutory review will need to consider which route to permanency is most appropriate to meeting the needs of the specific child to secure both permanency and stability.

Where a child is brought to the attention of the local authority to apply for a special guardianship order and is not previously known then an assessment process will be set in place to acquire this information.

The framework for assessment of children in need and their families DH 2000 and 2001 Wales set out a clear model of understanding about the child's developmental needs, and the capacity of the prospective special guardian to meeting those needs along with the wider social and environmental factors within which the family will function.

Regardless of whether a child is looked after or not, preparation work with the child will need to be planned and involved in the process taking into account their age and developmental understanding. If the child is subject of care proceedings they will have the additional independent support of Cafcass.

5. Birth Parents

Birth parents should be advised on the implications to special guardianship and where appropriate access independent advice and counselling.

For the report, basic factual information should be presented about the birth family and any other family members or other significant people the local authority considers relevant. The relevance of the relationship is determined by the extent and appropriateness of maintaining continued links for the child and in meeting their emotional wellbeing.

This section should be focussed and purposeful in order to assist the longer term arrangement of permanency for the specific child.

The parent's wishes and feelings should be ascertained about the child's religious and cultural upbringing.

Their wishes and feelings in respect of contact with their child should also be understood and taken account of by the child's social worker and prospective special guardian. However the best interest of the child should always be the overriding consideration.

6. The Prospective Special Guardian (Applicant)

Section 14A(17) of the Children Act 1989 specifies that an application for a special guardianship order cannot be made unless the applicant has, three months prior to that application, notified the local authority of their intent to apply. The notification should be made to the local authority with responsibility for the child if they are looked after. Where the child is not looked after, the notification should be made to the local authority in whose area the proposed applicant is ordinarily a resident.

The court must be satisfied that the child's welfare will be safeguarded and promoted by making of the order to the applicants and that the matters set out in the welfare checklist of the children Act 1989 have been considered and addressed as appropriate.

When an application to the court has been made and concerns exist about the adequacy of time for completing the report, then in the interests of the child and the applicant, the parties should identify and agree what necessary work needs to be done in order that a sustainable permanent placement can be evidenced.

Specific issues to be considered in the assessment and analysis;

The key considerations within this assessment process is to ensure that the safety, welfare and long terms needs of the child concerned can be met by the prospective special guardian. The assessment should be proportionate but it is important to always evaluate the risk issues.

At all times the primary focus is centred around the child, their needs, development and future.

The kind of support the special guardian requires to meet the specific needs of the child should be highlighted in this analysis.

This includes the life story work to ensure their past is respected and preserved for him/her.

Not all needs can be met or have solutions even though they are identified and inevitably this will result in some disappointment. This will need to be dealt with sensitively and fairly and in a constructive way.

The key issues for consideration have been addressed in the reporting template for Lambeth.

Prospective special guardians should always be encouraged to be fully involved in the assessment process and work in the true spirit of partnership, openness and transparency. To support this principle the applicants should always be given the self-assessment tool to complete.

The routine use of this self-assessment tool ensures the assessing social worker has a more accurate picture of the family circumstances and the responsibility of acquiring factual information primarily rests with the applicant in the first instance. Prospective special guardian can assist the assessing social worker to identify their support needs for the care of the child considered. They would also have had the opportunity to reflect on the key issues relevant for this assessment including their motivation, parenting capacity, skills and knowledge to meet the welfare and safety needs of the specific child.

It is best practice to give the printed paper version of the self-assessment tool for completion at the first introductory meeting. It is important to ensure the applicant is literate and can complete this without assistance. If reading and writing in English is not their first language, advice should be given to enable them to access support to complete their self-assessment.

The applicants should be given two weeks to complete the document in time for the second appointment meeting by the assessing social worker. This will assist the assessor to consider issues that require detailed consideration and scrutiny to inform the practitioner's assessment and analysis.

Collaborative working of child's social worker and special guardianship assessment social worker (SPA SW)

The child's social worker and the SPA social worker should share information at regular intervals following their respective duties within the assessment process.

This is essential as it is the child and their needs that are matched to and considered alongside the capacity of the prospective special guardian in meeting those needs. Appendix 2: Collaborative Partnership Working Flowchart offers a pathway of good practice to manage this collaboration to achieve the outcome.

7. Assessment of Support

Regulations 12(4) requires following an assessment and analysis report being prepared is the basis for any further statutory actions by the local authority.

A key part of the special guardianship framework is the regulations that set out a local authority's duty to arrange support services undertake assessments and plan, monitor and evaluate their effectiveness. These services should be proportionate and responsive to the needs of the child and on many occasions can be met by both universal and targeted children's service provision.

Services within the targeted service provision could include supported or supervised contact from a local contact centre NCCC and other providers. Parenting advice, supportive groups for children, from children's centre and the voluntary sector in the local area. Parentline plus, mums dot net and other online support should also be harnessed for advice and support for special guardians to improve their parenting skills and address the welfare needs of the child they propose to care for.

The role of the specialist team service will be to assess, support, signpost and refer to ensure the team around the child is achieved. This may be through the use of a CAF referral.

It must be anticipated that not all requests for assessments will result in the provision of services identified by the person being assessed. The Specialist Service support Social Worker will be responsible in determining the best way of safeguarding the child and meeting their needs and the lead in coordinating the delivery of any support plan.

Click here for the Special Guardianship Assessment and Support Planning Flowchart

8. Approval Process by Lambeth

Although there is no statutory role for panels in relation to special guardian approval, as there is for adoption or foster care, a formal process /meeting exist to approve and quality assure any work in relation to Special Guardianship. This process is chaired by the Assistant Director. The panel considers special guardianship assessment reports on a regular basis.

This panel will specifically consider:

The statement identifying any relevant needs in relation to special guardianship support;
That the carer has been advised to take independent legal advice before going ahead so that they find out what this means for them and the child;
Any financial support, the basis and process by which this requires determination;
Whether the local authority is proposing to provide any specialist support services as a result of meeting its threshold for services;
If appropriate information is given to access advise and support from universal and targeted service provisions;
The opportunity for representation by the applicant about the accuracy of the assessment.

9. Financial Support

The statutory guidance states clearly that financial issues should not be the sole reason for a special guardianship order.

The regulations also allow to secure financial support to secure a special guardianship placement where it otherwise could not be made. The guiding principle in the guidance is the advantages of a permanent placement that outweigh the disadvantages of other pathways for a child and their long-term needs and welfare being the first consideration. With this in mind it is important in assessing prospective special guardians that the holistic assessment of parenting capacity across all dimensions remains the primary focus.

Although the general expectation in special guardianship was that the child would be in a settled placement and housing issues and other practical matters would have been addressed through the pre order stage, this support should be harnessed from the wide ranging universal and target service provisions through the use of a CAF referral where possible.

10. Reference

The Lambeth guidance is a summary developed with specific reference to:

The role of the special guardianship best practice in permanency planning for children (England and Wales) John Simmonds 2011
Family Rights Group 2010, placing a child with connected person
Discussions with children social work and adoption social work practitioners and Team Manager Adoption team, Head of Service, Richard Powell, Assistant Director Ian Lewis.

Appendix 1: Self-assessment Template for Prospective Special Guardianship Applicant(s)

Click here for Appendix 1: Self-assessment Template for Prospective Special Guardianship Applicant(s)

Appendix 2: Collaborative Partnership Working Flowchart

Click here for Appendix 2: Collaborative Partnership Working Flowchart

Appendix 3: Special Guardianship Assessment and Support Planning Flowchart

Click here for Appendix 3: Special Guardianship Assessment and Support Planning Flowchart

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