Kinship care

Reforming the law to improve the current complex landscape, making options for kinship care for children simpler and easier to navigate.

Background (Back to top)

Kinship care has been defined as:

“Any situation in which a child is being raised in the care of a friend or family member who is not their parent for a significant amount of the time. The arrangement may be temporary or longer term.”

(Department for Education, Stable Homes, Built on Love: Implementation Strategy and Consultation (February 2023) p 85)

It is estimated that around 141,000 children live in kinship care arrangements in England and Wales. Most commonly, kinship care will be an alternative to the child entering the care system, or a way of caring for a child who is the subject of a care order.

There are a number of ways to formalise kinship care, including:

special guardianship orders
child arrangements orders
fostering

This variety is confusing and hard to navigate for kinship carers who do not always feel confident that the order underpinning their arrangement is right for their circumstances.

Project (Back to top)

The project will consider the scope for reform to simplify and streamline the orders underpinning kinship care placements and how to better support the consideration of kinship care as an option for children who cannot remain with their parents.

It has been referred to us as part of the Government’s kinship strategy, published as Championing Kinship Care – The National Kinship Care Strategy, in December 2023. The aim of the project is to reform the law to facilitate kinship care for children. In particular it will consider:

producing a legal definition of kinship care for the purpose of the issues considered in the project
the adequacy and consistency of the legal orders underpinning kinship care placements, including whether the current legislation meets the needs of children and kinship carers
the potential for reform of such orders, including considering the possibility of a new bespoke order to recognise, support and regulate kinship care arrangements
the legal processes and thresholds for assessment, approval and oversight of kinship carers

The project will not consider:

the reform of orders, such as care orders, child arrangements orders and special guardianship orders, beyond their application in kinship care
issues that can best be addressed by changes to practice, procedure and funding (rather than statutory reform)
reform of adoption law

The kinship care project will actively consider inclusion and diversity throughout, including how the legal framework – and any proposed reforms – affect families from a wide range of backgrounds and circumstances. The project will pay attention to potential disparities in how the law is experienced and the outcomes it produces.

The project aims to deliver the following benefits:

improved efficiency and simplicity in the applicable law
increased fairness and supporting social justice for some of the most vulnerable members of our society

Updates (Back to top)

Terms of Reference published: 17 June 2025

Next steps

The Law Commission’s next step will be to publish a consultation paper, which is anticipated in Spring 2026. Further steps and their timings will be confirmed in due course.