Information on special guardianship orders for kinship carers, including how they work and available support.
Special guardianship order support plan
The special guardianship support plan is a key part of the special guardianship process. Understand what the plan is, what you should ask for and how to advocate for your family's needs throughout the process.
This advice applies to: England
On this page
Click on the link below to take you to the section you'd like to read:
What is a support plan
A support plan is a written agreement between a local authority and kinship carer. It sets out the support the kinship family need, who is responsible for delivering it, and when it should happen.
It can give you confidence that support is in place for you and your family. It can help address challenges early, before they become more difficult to manage.
Who creates your support plan
The support plan is a tool for a social worker to use as part of your special guardianship assessment. It sets out the support provided to you and the child once the court grants your special guardianship order. .
The support plan is crucial to getting the support you need as a special guardian. It should be specific to the child and clearly set out the available support to meet their needs.
Getting legal advice on your support plan
A social worker from children’s services will work with you to create the support plan, but we strongly recommend you get legal advice on its contents. A solicitor can ensure the plan is robust, enforceable, and truly meets your family’s needs. They can also help you understand and reference statutory guidance in court.
Who is responsible for assessment and support
The local authority’s legal duty
The local authority has a legal duty to assess your support needs. This duty changes depending on your child’s circumstances:
- if your child was looked after by the local authority before the SGO, they must carry out an assessment
- if your child was not looked after, they may do an assessment, but they are not legally required to
It’s important to understand this distinction as it can affect the support you’re entitled to.
Provision of support outlined in your plan
The local authority are responsible for both the financial and practical support outlined in your support plan.
Your local authority is responsible for any support outlined in your plan.
The local authority who issued the SGO are responsible for both financial and practical support for the first 3 years.
Special guardianship support plan checklist
This checklist is your guide in conversations with the social worker. If the social worker is using a template plan, don’t be afraid to ask to include other things. Your plan can detail a range of support tailored to your child’s needs, for now and the future. This is a list of suggestions and doesn’t cover everything that could go in your plan.
Financial support
Your plan can include a special guardian allowance. The plan should state:
- how long payments will last
- any one-off payments for purchases like bedroom furniture or school supplies
- any allowances to cover extra costs if your child has special needs
Allowances are means tested, meaning it’s based on your income. The local authority will review them every year, or sooner if your circumstances change. Read more about financial support for special guardians.
Contact and family time arrangements
This can be particularly challenging for kinship carers. Your plan should set out:
- how often contact will happen
- where it will take place
- how to arrange safe and practical contact
- any associated costs.
It can also include support with organising contact, such as arranging supervised sessions or using a contact centre. It should consider all forms of contact such as face to face, online, telephone, text message and social media. Read more about contact time with family.
Therapeutic and health support
Many children in kinship care have experienced trauma. Your plan should consider therapeutic support and specific health services. This can include:
- Counselling
- play therapy
- family therapy
- bereavement support
- access to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.
Educational support
Your plan should cover the child’s educational needs, from help with school placements to whether you can access virtual school support and pupil premium plus. It should cover any special educational needs (SEN), and providing any specialist provision, as well as how you can access it when needed. This should also include how to access an assessment for diagnoses of conditions like ADHD or autism if required. Read more about school support for children in kinship care.
Help to find suitable accommodation
Local authorities have the power to give financial assistance towards housing costs where they assess this as the most appropriate way to safeguard and promote a child’s welfare. Any agreement about securing suitable accommodation must clearly state who is responsible for providing this support.
Training and advice
Ask for access to training courses for carers, which could include therapeutic parenting skills and help to understand behaviours. It could also include specialist advice and support groups so you can connect with other kinship families.
Respite or short breaks
Think carefully about who in your family network might be able to support you. If your family cannot support you, you should raise this in your assessment and any agreement with the local authority to provide you with support should be clearly set out in your plan.
Support needed for a child’s specific needs or disabilities
If a child needs specialist support, the plan should consider any additional financial support to meet their needs. It should make clear which departments in the local authority are involved in support, and other teams, such as NHS occupational therapists who are involved in delivering the support.
Identity
Children in kinship care may need help to understand their cultural and wider family identity. Your plan should explain:
- what support is needed, such as life story work
- how to access that support for the child, or training for yourself, when you feel your kinship child needs it
Employment and childcare
If you’re employed, think about what childcare you might need – this could be nursery, after school and school holidays. Your plan should set out who is responsible for childcare and for how long. It should explain what childcare support you can access and any help you can get with costs. Read more about childcare as a kinship carer.
Post order support
Your plan should explain what support you can get from the local authority after the court grants your SGO and how you can access it. All local authorities will have a team to support special guardians. They might be called a ‘post-SGO team’, ‘Kinship team’, ‘Family and friends team’ or similar.
If a transfer of support is going to happen after 3 years (because you live in a different local authority to the one where the child was previously looked after), the support plan should outline what will happen
Practical issues
Your plan should detail any support you need to obtain legal documents such as birth certificates or passports.
Legal costs
Your plan should tell you what to do if the birth parents later challenge contact or want to end the SGO, and whether the local authority will help cover legal costs if you need advice or have to go back to court.
Making a support plan – kinship carer guidance
In partnership with the University of Exeter, our research team worked with kinship carers to create guidance for kinship carers on making a support plan.
You can read more about the research and read the full report, or download the guidance.
Advocating for your family
It can be difficult to negotiate with children’s services for support. You have the right to advocate for your family – if the proposed plan seems inadequate or the social worker is unresponsive you can ask to negotiate.
Clearly explain why you need specific types of support and how they link to your child’s assessed needs.
If you’re not satisfied with the support plan, you have 28 days from the day you were given the final support plan to raise your concerns in writing.
Ideally, you will have been given the final support plan before the SGO is granted, but this does not always happen. The court will grant the order based on what has been submitted to them. Whether you’ve been given the final support plan before or after the SGO has been granted, you can still challenge it within 28 days.
You can also submit a formal complaint through the local authority’s complaints procedure.
Ongoing review and amendment
A support plan isn’t set in stone. Your child’s needs will change as they grow, and so might your family’s. Children’s services have a duty to review the support plan on a yearly basis. You can also request a review of the plan whenever there are significant changes to your circumstances (for example, moving to a new house, changes in your income or employment), or transitions (for example, the child transferring from primary to secondary school).
You are the expert on your child, and your input is invaluable. By understanding what to ask for and why, you can secure the support that allows your family to thrive.
Support from Kinship
Other kinship carers applying for a special guardianship order have found support from others that have gone through the same process. Find your local peer support group on Kinship Compass.
You can also call our advice line or contact our Someone Like Me service.
Related advice and information
Information and advice on the types of financial support available to kinship carers with a special guardianship order.
If you are a family member or friend raising a child on behalf of their parents, legal advice will help you understand what your rights are.
Join our community
Sign up for emails to keep up to date with the information that’s important to you, from support and advice for kinship carers, to our latest news, events and campaigns.