4.2.1 Applications for Special Guardianship Orders

RELATED CHAPTERS

This chapter should be read in conjunction with the Allocation of Work and Transfer Protocol

Introduction
Who may apply?
Parental Responsibility
The circumstances in which a Special Guardianship Order may be made
Planning Meeting
Approval of Special Guardianship for Looked After Children
Report to the Court
Discharge of Special Guardianship Order
Special Guardianship Support
Entitlement to assessment for Special Guardianship Support
Assessment for Support
The Special Guardianship Support Plan
Review of Special Guardianship Support Plan
Financial Support
Urgent Cases

1. Introduction

Special Guardianship Orders have been available since 30 December 2005.

Special Guardianship offers a further option for children needing permanent care outside their birth family. Special Guardianship is a legal status that can offer greater security without absolute severance from the birth family as in adoption.

It addresses the needs of a significant group of children, mainly older, who need a sense of stability and security but who do not wish to make the absolute legal break with their birth family that is associated with adoption. Special Guardianship Orders offer greater stability and security to a placement than Residence Orders.

Special Guardianship also provides an alternative for achieving permanence in families where adoption, for cultural or religious reasons, is not an option.

Special Guardians have Parental Responsibility for the child. A Special Guardianship Order made in relation to a Looked After Child will replace the Care Order and the Local Authority will no longer have Parental Responsibility.

2. Who may apply?

Applications for Special Guardianship may be individual or joint. Joint applicants do not need to be married. Special Guardians must be 18 or over.

The following persons may apply:

Any guardian of the child
A local authority foster carer with whom the child has lived for one year immediately preceding the application
Anyone who holds a Residence Order with respect to the child or who has the consent of all those in whose favour a Residence Order is in force
Anyone with whom the child has lived for three out of the last five years
Where the child is subject of a Care Order, any person who has the consent of the Local Authority
Anyone who has the consent of all those with Parental Responsibility for the child
Anyone, including the child, who has the leave of the court to apply

The parents of a child may not become that child's Special Guardians.

3. Parental Responsibility

The Special Guardian will have Parental Responsibility for the child and will have clear responsibility for the day-to-day decisions about caring for the child. The child's parents will also continue to hold Parental Responsibility but their exercise of it will be limited. The parents will, however, retain the right to consent or not to the child's adoption.

In addition there are certain steps in a child's life which require the consent of every-one with Parental Responsibility, for example:

The change of name of the child
The removal of the child from the United Kingdom for longer than three months
The sterilisation of a child

4. The circumstances in which a Special Guardianship Order may be made

The Court may make a Special Guardianship Order in any family proceedings concerning the welfare of the child. This applies even where no application has been made and includes adoption proceedings. The welfare of the child is the court's paramount consideration in all cases.

Any person applying for a Special Guardianship Order must give 3 months written notice to their local authority of their intention to apply. In relation to a Looked After Child, the notice will go to the local authority looking after the child. In all other cases, the notice will be sent to the local authority for the area where the applicant resides. The local authority will then have a duty to provide a report to the Court.

The only exception to the requirement for 3 months notice is where the Court has granted leave to make an application.

Where Coventry receives notice from an applicant or a request for a report from the Court, the notice/request should be immediately passed to the Fieldwork Manager for the area where the child resides.

The Fieldwork Manager will refer the notice to the child's allocated social worker. If the child is not previously known, the notice/request should be referred to the Locality Team for the area where the child lives, and the team manager should allocate a social worker to deal with the case.

The allocated social worker should send written information to the prospective Special Guardian and the parents of the child in question about the steps to be taken in preparing the report. This should include information about Special Guardianship support services and how to request an assessment of needs for support.

5. Planning Meeting

The allocated social worker should arrange a planning meeting as soon as practicable after the notice of the application or request from the Court is received.

This planning meeting should clarify the information available regarding the needs of the child, the steps to be taken, who will assess and who will contribute to the report for the Court (see Section 7 below). Court timescales will need to be clarified.

There will need to be an assessment of the needs of the child (if not already available), the suitability of the applicant(s) (if not already carried out), the proposed contact arrangements, as well as the support needs of the child, parents and the prospective special guardian, including an assessment of financial needs (see Section 11 below). The planning meeting will determine who will be responsible for all aspects of the assessment.

6. Approval of Special Guardianship for Looked After Children

Where the application for Special Guardianship has been or is to be submitted as part of a Permanence Plan for a Looked After Child, the plan must first be considered at a Looked After Review and approved by the social worker's line manager.

Before approval can be given, the relevant manager must be satisfied that Special Guardianship meets the child's needs for permanence and that the prospective Special Guardian(s) and the placement are suitable.

7. Report to the Court

On receiving notice of an application or if the court makes a request, the local authority must investigate and prepare a report to the court about the suitability of the applicant/s to be Special Guardians.

The information to be included in the report is as follows:

Information about the child who is the subject of the application, including history, health, education and emotional needs, family relationships
Information about the child's family, including background history, employment, education, health and mental health, family relationships
The wishes and feelings of the child and others
Information about the prospective Special Guardian, including the outcome of Criminal Records Bureau and local authority checks to include background history, health, education, employment, parenting capability and experience, support systems in place and needed, relationship with child and family, any contingency care arrangements that may be necessary, finances.
Information about the local authority which compiled the report and the actions of the local authority
A summary prepared by a medical professional
Implications of the making of a Special Guardianship Order for those involved
Relative merits of Special Guardianship and other orders
A recommendation regarding Special Guardianship
A recommendation regarding contact.

A full list of the matters to be included is set out in the Chapter on Court Reports in Adoption/Special Guardianship contained in Part 5 of the Manual.

8. Discharge of Special Guardianship Order

A Special Guardianship Order can be varied or discharged on the application of:

The Special Guardian
The local authority in whose name a Care Order was in force before the Special Guardianship Order was made
Anyone with a Residence Order in respect of the child before the Special Guardianship Order was made

Or
With the leave of the court:

The child's parents or guardians

Any step parent who has Parental Responsibility

Anyone who had Parental Responsibility immediately before the Special Guardianship Order was made

The child (if the court is satisfied that the child has sufficient understanding)

Where the applicant is not the child and the leave of the court is required, the court may only grant leave if there has been a significant change in circumstances since the Special Guardianship Order was made.

The court may during any family proceedings in which a question arises about the welfare of a child who is subject to a Special Guardianship Order, vary or discharge the order in the absence of an application.

9. Special Guardianship Support

The local authority must make provision for a range of Special Guardianship support services.

Special Guardianship support services are defined as:

Financial support
Services to enable children, Special Guardians and parents to discuss matters relating to the arrangements for the child
Assistance including mediation in relation to contact between the child and their parents, relatives or significant others
Therapeutic services for the child
Assistance to ensure continuance of the relationship between the child and the Special Guardian, including training to meet any special needs of the child, respite care, and mediation
Counselling, advice and information

Financial Support will be subject to the approval of the Designated Manager (Special Guardianship Support).

Support services should not be seen in isolation from mainstream services and it is important to ensure that families are assisted in accessing mainstream services and are aware of their entitlements to tax credits and social security benefits.

Where the child was previously Looked After, the local authority that looked after the child has responsibility for providing support for the first three years after the making of a Special Guardianship Order.

If a child is not Looked After, the local authority where the Special Guardian lives has the responsibility for Special Guardianship support.

Ongoing financial support, which has been agreed before the Special Guardianship Order is made, remains the responsibility of the local authority that agreed it so long as the family meet the criteria for payments.

10. Entitlement to Assessment for Special Guardianship Support

Where the child is Looked After or was Looked After immediately prior to the making of the Special Guardianship Order, the following people MUST receive an assessment at their request:

The child
The Special Guardian or prospective Special Guardian
A parent (but only in relation to their need for support with contact and/or discussion groups)

The following people MAY be offered an assessment of their need for Special Guardianship support services:

The child (if not looked after)
The Special Guardian or prospective Special Guardian (where the child is not or has not been looked after)
A parent (where the child is not or has not been looked after)
A child of the Special Guardian (whether the Special Guardianship child is looked after or not)
Any person with a significant on-going relationship with the child (whether the child is looked after or not)

Any decision not to assess in cases where there is discretion as above must be endorsed by the social worker's manager and the social worker must write to the person making the request explaining the decision and the reasons for the decision.

11. Assessment for Support

The assessment should be based on the Assessment Framework and include:

The developmental needs of the child
The parenting capacity of the Special Guardian or prospective Special Guardian
Family and environmental factors for the child
Comment on how life with the Special Guardian might be for the child
Any previous assessment that is relevant of the child or Special Guardian
The needs of the Special Guardian or prospective Special Guardian and their family
The impact of the Special Guardianship Order on the relationship between the child, parent and Special Guardian.

Where the child concerned is Looked After, the child's social worker and the link worker for the Special Guardian should carry out the assessment jointly before submitting their report to the Court.

Where a child is not Looked After, the social worker allocated to complete the Court Report will also complete the Special Guardianship Support Assessment, if required, and Plan, if required (see below).

Having regard to the parallel with adoption support, the assessing social worker should take advice from the Adoption Support Services Adviser, if required.

Where an assessment identifies the need for ongoing support services, a Special Guardianship Support Plan must be completed (see Section 12 below).

Any proposal for support must be presented to the Designated Manager (Special Guardianship Support) for approval before it can be offered.

At the end of the assessment, the social worker must inform the person requesting provision of its outcome, including:

Information about the outcome of the assessment and the reasons for it
Where it relates to financial support, the basis on which this is determined
The services (if any) that the Local Authority proposes to provide
If financial support is to be paid, the amount and conditions attached

12. The Special Guardianship Support Plan

Where an assessment identifies the need for ongoing support services, a Special Guardianship Support Plan must be completed.

Other agencies, such as education and health, may need to be consulted about the contents of the Plan.

The Plan should set out:

The services to be provided
The objectives and criteria for success
Timescales
Procedures for review
A named person to monitor the provision of services in accordance with the Plan

The proposed Plan must receive the approval of the Designated Manager (Special Guardianship Support).

Once approval has been obtained, the social worker must send the proposed plan to the person requesting support, and allow 28 days for that person to make representations about the proposed plan. The social worker should also give information to the person concerned about who to contact to obtain independent advice and advocacy.

Where representations are received, they should be referred to the Designated Manager (Special Guardianship Support) to decide whether to amend or confirm the Plan. The Designated Manager must then write to the person concerned setting out the final Plan.

13. Review of Special Guardianship Support Plans

Special Guardianship Support Plans must be reviewed taking into account the following:

Any change of circumstances affecting the support
At whichever stage of implementation of the plan is considered most appropriate
In any event at least annually.

The reviews may be a paper exercise where there is no change or a minor change in circumstances. However, if there is a substantial change of circumstances, e.g. a serious change in the behaviour of the child, it would normally be necessary to conduct a new assessment of needs.

Any variation to the Support Plan must have the approval of the Designated Manager (Special Guardianship Support). If there is a change in the proposed provision of support after the review, notice in writing must be given and the person concerned should be given 28 days to make representations.

14. Financial Support

Special Guardians must be helped to access any benefits to which they are entitled; this will usually include child benefit and tax credits such as Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit.

The local authority must also take account of any other grant, benefit, allowance or resource available to the person in respect of his needs as a result of becoming a Special Guardian of a child. Financial support cannot duplicate any other payment available to the Special Guardian.

The Special Guardian's means will usually be considered when ongoing financial support is being considered. They should therefore be asked to complete a Financial Assessment Form, which when completed should be passed to the Finance Officer responsible for carrying out means assessments.

Once the means assessment has been carried out, the Finance Officer should send written notification of the outcome to the relevant social worker, who must present this to the Designated Manager (Special Guardianship Support) for approval.

The social worker should then write to the Special Guardian setting out the amount of financial support agreed and information in relation to the following:

Whether financial support is be paid in regular instalments and if so, the frequency of payment
The amount of financial support
The period for which the financial support is to be paid
When payment will commence
Conditions for continuing payment and date by which conditions are to be met, i.e. returning Review Forms
Arrangements and procedure for review and termination

A copy of this letter should be sent to the Finance Officer.

Means may be disregarded in relation to:

The initial costs of accommodating a child who has been Looked After - set up grant
Recurring travel costs in contact arrangements
Any special case requiring greater expenditure due to illness, disability, emotional or behavioural difficulties or the consequences of the past abuse or neglect of a child previously looked after
Where the Special Guardians were previously the child's foster carers - the local authority can maintain the fostering allowance for a transitional period of two years but with discretion to extend if necessary.

The only circumstance when the local authority MUST disregard means is when providing financial support in respect of legal costs, including fees payable to a court in respect of a child who is Looked After where the local authority support the making of the Special Guardianship Order.

Where Special Guardians are in receipt of financial support, the social worker responsible for monitoring the Support Plan will write annually to them with a Financial Assessment Review Form to be completed, together with a request for information about any change in circumstances for the Special Guardian or the child.

The Assessment Form should be forwarded to the Finance Officer for consideration. If any change in financial support is considered appropriate, the recommended change should be forwarded to the Designated Manager (Special Guardianship Support) for a decision. Where a change is approved, the Special Guardian should be notified in writing of the change, together with the reasons for the change.

Where Special Guardians do not return the Assessment Review Forms within the required time scale, the social worker monitoring the support plan should send a reminder letter, giving 28 days notice of the suspension of payments if the information requested is not received.

15. Urgent Cases

Where a person has an urgent need of a service, the assessment process should not delay provision and arrangements can be made for support to be provided as a matter of urgency in appropriate cases. The approval of the Designated Manager (Special Guardianship Support) will still be required.

The social worker will then need to undertake an assessment of need and review the provision as soon as possible in accordance with the procedures set out above.

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