To find out how to apply to be a special guardian or what a special guardianship order is visit the Kinship Compass website.
When we do a Support Needs Assessment
If a child was looked after by us before a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) was granted we will need to complete an assessment to look at what support the child, birth parent and carers need. This forms a support plan that is agreed at court when making the application. The plan will look at all areas of support including:
- financial needs
- housing needs
- emotional, behavioural and developmental needs of the child,
- health of the child and carers
- education for the child
- birth parents, carers emotional and practical support needs
- the needs of any other children in the home
If we agree to provide support we are responsible for providing these services and reviewing them.
You will need to ask your local council for any support you need if both the following apply:
- you live outside the Plymouth boundary
- the order is more than 3 years old
We are responsible for any financial support if it was agreed:
- in the support plan
- before the special guardianship order
For as long as the family qualifies for support.
If the child was not looked after by us we may complete an assessment to look at what support is needed. Although we will always consider assessing need.
All special guardians and birth parents can request an assessment of their needs from us. This also applies for those who have:
- a private Special Guardianship Order (where the child has not previously been looked after by us)
- Child Arrangements Order
- Residence Order
Our team will complete all support needs assessments. These will be completed by a social worker and can involve:
- visits to the carer, child and birth parent
- gathering information from health and education
Assessments can take up to 8 weeks but in some cases can be much quicker.
The Support Needs Assessment process is flexible to not cause any unnecessary delay for children, young people and family accessing our services.
Support for Special Guardians
We can provide advice, support and training on topics such as:
- supporting children to spend good quality time with their birth parents
- managing difficult family relationships
- trauma informed parenting approaches
- managing challenging behaviour at home
- signposting to other organisations and support
A whole range of support is available to all families living in Plymouth on Family Hubs.
Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund
We can make applications to the adoption and special guardian support fund. The ASGSF provides funds to local councils and regional adoption agencies to pay for essential therapeutic services for eligible adoptive, special guardianship order and child arrangement order families. The ASGSF is available for children and young people up to and including the age of 21 or 25 with an education, health and care plan who:
- are living (placed) with a family in England while waiting for adoption
- were adopted from local authority care in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland and live in England
- were adopted from abroad and live in England with a recognised adoption status
- were in care before an SGO was made
- left care under a special guardianship order that was subsequently changed to an adoption order, or vice versa
- are under a residency order or child arrangement order (CAO) and were previously looked after
- were previously looked after but where the adoption, special guardianship, residency or CAO placement has broken down, irrespective of any reconciliation plans
Until the end of March 2025, the ASGSF will have 2 fair access limits available for all children who meet the previous criteria:
- £2,500 per child per year for specialist assessment
- £5,000 per child per year for therapy
Adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) - GOV.UK
Financial support
Our policy is that all financial support packages unless otherwise agreed will be annually reviewed and means tested. If you have any queries about your finances email [email protected].
Contact us
You can call us on 01752 398228 Monday to Friday from 10am to 1pm. You can leave a voicemail if you call outside of these times.
Sign up to our mailing list
All carers are eligible to be signed up to our mailing list. This means you will receive our quarterly newsletters with information about specialist workshops, training opportunities and events. All carers are eligible to attend our peer support groups that are based within the family hubs and run twice a month.
Email [email protected] to sign up.
National Support Services
The charity Kinship has been awarded a contract from the Department of Education to provide free training and workshops to Friend and Family Carers. Support, advice and training can be accessed on their website Kinship Compass.
PAC-UK is a national adoption and permanency support service provided by Family Action. PAC-UK hosts a range of support groups for birth parents. All groups are informal, confidential and free of charge.
For further information parents can call their confidential Advice Line National PAC-UK Advice Line: 0300 1800 090 Monday, Tuesday and Friday 10am to 4pm Wednesday and Thursday 10am to 7.30pm or email [email protected].