Legal orders relating to Kinship care
Section 11/Kinship Care Orders
During your Kinship journey, you may be considering or advised to consider applying for a S.11/ Kinship Care Order. This is sometimes referred to as a Residence Order. You can apply to the courts for this order.
A S.11/Kinship Care Order will give some or all the parental rights and responsibilities (PRRs) for the child to you as the Kinship Carer. It may mean sharing some PRRs with the birth parents or some of these PRRs remaining with the parents.
Permanence Orders
A Permanence Order is issued by the court to the local authority rather than the Kinship Carer. However, if granted, the local authority can authorise the continued care and housing of the child with the kinship carer.
Parental rights may be shared between the local authority and the Kinship Carers. In other instances, the local authority may hold all parental rights and responsibilities. In this case, the child’s legal status remains as Looked After. This means they will continue to have a social worker, and there will be regular meetings that you would need to attend.
You can contact your assessing kinship social worker, Children's 1st Kinship Support Service or the national KCASS helpline if you need more advice about permanence orders.