Connected person assessment

[JCL95]

Hi looking for some advice please

I had my niece placed with me 9 weeks ago now, I’ll give a quick background update, my sister died (her mum) and her dad is in and out of prison. My mum has had sgo for her for 11 years but their relationship has broke down to the point she was running away from home. So I had a her temporary when they then asked me to have her full time. Since taking her on iv moved home as we had no room for her in our old house. Iv had no financial support from anyone since taking her on. With the help of family rights group iv been fighting for financial support (foster allowance) with a lot of fighting back and forth they have now said I need to do a connected person assessment? Is this correct? And if so what will the fully consist of? Also if I was to fail it what would happen to my niece as she is living with me now? And what are the type of things you could fail on? Sorry for all the questions I just want to be sure before I commit.
Thank you in advance

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear JCL95


Welcome to the family and friends’ carers discussion board and thank you for posting.

You are currently caring for your niece as her mother has sadly died, her father spends regular periods in prison and her grandmother who has an SGO can no longer care for her.

You have rightly argued that your niece was placed with you (it does sound like a placement from the information you have provided) and have now been told you need to be assessed as a kinship foster carer (you are connected to the child as you are her aunt). That is because in order for your niece to be treated as a looked after child in a voluntary arrangement (section 20) you must first be temporarily approved and then later fully approved as a foster carer to care for her. This will entitle you to a fostering allowance and your niece to support.

You are wondering what this will involve. You can find out all you need to know in this advice sheet: Family and Friends Care: becoming a foster carer . This sets out what the assessment will look at; as a connected person you will only be assessed on your ability to care for your niece, not any other child.

From what you say, you were asked to care for your niece and have been doing so successfully (despite the lack of support you have been offered) and have done a lot already to provide the right environment for her, including moving to a larger home. So hopefully you would be successfully approved so long as there are no specific reasons why you should not be.

However, I know that you are concerned about what would happen if you were not successful. If you were not approved as a foster carer after stage 2 of the assessment (please see page 17 of the advice sheet above) you would have 28 days to challenge – there are two different ways of doing so which are set out there.

Another option would be to consider applying for a court order such as a Child Arrangement Order to gain parental responsibility for her which, if successful, would allow the child to remain in your care.

Otherwise, children’s services would have to move your niece to an approved foster placement – either with the consent of a person with parental responsibility or by applying for a care order to allow them to do so. Children’s services cannot allow a looked after child to remain with an unapproved foster carer.

On pages 23 and 24 of the advice sheet there is a table which sets out the pros and cons of being a foster carer which you might find helpful.

You can also have a read of our two advice sheets (a) and (b) on support which look at the support relatives can access in different situations.

I hope this helps but do come back to us if you need any further advice; you can either post again or call the Freephone advice line on 0808 8010366 Mon to Fri, 9.30 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.

With best wishes

Suzie