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Annex 4
Assessing kinship carers offering permanent care to a child
NOTE
Whilst this annex was originally developed for use with kinship carers identified as potential permanent carers for children not currently in their care, the group believes that some of the areas for discussion are equally relevant when an existing kinship carer is making a permanent commitment to a child. The group has identified those areas at the latter part of the Annex and have highlighted them in bold for the reader. The areas are likely to be discussed with new kinship carers towards the end of the assessment.
Throughout the assessment the worker should concentrate on the strengths of the family as well as challenges and difficulties. The work must be child-focused and address the safety of any arrangements for the child. Space should be given to address the areas where the prospective carers have concerns, for some this could be drug misuse, for others violence, and, for others contact with parents who have neglected their child is very difficult. Workers should arrange to meet the present carers for the child - getting a picture of what this child is like to care for, what has changed since they were placed with the carers.
Understanding what the child is likely to have experienced and working with the prospective kinship carers to think through the impact of this may have on the child and his/her behaviour. Helping the kinship carer to see that being part of a family does not necessarily mean that the child will be attached to them. Their commitment to build a sound relationship with the child and survive the hurts the child may bring because of their lack of ability to attach to them easily.
What has the child's experiences been in the previous placement?
What are the present relationships that are important to the child and how would kinship carers include them?
Listening to the child's views of their care and where they want to go next.
Looking at the possibility of the kinship carers' own experiences and any unresolved issues that might be re-awakened by caring for the child.
Children of the prospective kinship carers being exposed to difficult relationships and situations- how can the carers reconcile the varied needs of the child, any of their own children and the parents of the child to be placed?
Looking for the positives in the child's background to build self-esteem
Potential of child displaying sexualised behaviour learned from their earlier years- what impact on the prospective kinship carers- what are their views of how to "deal" with it?
How easy will it be to move from adult centred loyalty to loyalty to the child as the priority?
Will they be able to hold on to the need for caring for the child to be their key responsibility?
How will they deal with parents who take all that the kinship carers are offering as a right and show no gratitude?
What is the likely impact of them caring for the child on a permanent basis on their partner/ children and others in the household?
There may be different levels of commitment to making a permanent commitment and what may this do to relationships?
Will permanence mean other changes in lifestyle?
Long- term impact on their lifestyle, income and employment
What are their contingency plans if in a few years they become ill or disabled?
Is there likely to be any resentment from their own children that the commitment is to be permanent?
What will be the ongoing role of parents/ wider family in decisions about the child when the placement becomes permanent? Will the kinship carers want more autonomy?
How will they deal with any tensions in the family about expectations for the child for the future?
What are the levels of support they can look for from their family network once they make a permanent commitment- will it be reduced? With what impact?
Moving from childhood to adolescence- what do they see as the major challenges as child becomes older?
What skills and ideas do they have for dealing with that transition?
Future care needs - are they going to be met in this placement or do additional resources need to be built in soon?
Are there responsibilities for ageing parents that may take more time at the same time as the child is growing up? Will this create tensions and anxieties?
Other areas to explore will be specific to the individual situation and the level of support that the kinship carers can look for from their wider family when the child is permanently placed.
For all the areas considered the worker should discuss what supports the carers would look for to enable them to care for the child well?
Are these realistic?
Are there too many deficits for the care of the child to be viable?
Considering the protective factors in the family- how to harness those for the child's benefit?
Reports for the Permanency Panel
The report for the Permanency Panel should aim to include the information collated from the range of assessments and meetings with an analysis of the child's key needs and the skills, experience and capacity of the kinship carers with support to provide permanent care for the child.
The report on the Assessment of the kinship carers should be discussed at a Permanency Panel. The carers are not being assessed for their suitability to be a permanent resource for any child for whom the local authority is seeking a family but as a particular resource for the child whose plan will also be available to the Panel at this time.
The discussion at the Panel
For both the situations where the carers are already providing a home to the child and those where the child would be moving into the family for the first time, the Task Group recognises the key role of the Permanency Panel in these discussions. It recommends that any Panel convened to consider permanent placements with kinship carers should include members who are experienced in the positive strengths and the unique stresses of kinship care placements.
The focus of the discussion will be the family's commitment to the child throughout their childhood and beyond and the capacity of the family to undertake that task and to meet the needs of the child. The meeting should also discuss the potential of the child's legal status being changed in the longer term to reflect the permanent commitment the carer is making to this child. In some situations the potential of terminating the child's Looked After status and supporting the carers through S50 payments and support could be discussed. This would, on occasions, reflect the appropriate level of intervention by the LA for that child.
Information should be available to the panel of the outcome of any advice on benefits and allowances the carers has received from the CAB Project
Approval of the placement
If the Permanency Panel recommends that the kinship carers should be approved for the permanent care of the child their recommendations will go to the local authority decision maker for a final decision.
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