Kinship Care in Northern Ireland: What It Is and How It Works

When a child in Northern Ireland cannot safely remain with their parents, the Trust's first priority is almost always to explore whether a family member or close family friend can step in. This is kinship care — sometimes called "family and friends" care — and it accounts for a significant proportion of all foster placements in Northern Ireland.

If you are a grandparent, aunt, uncle, sibling, or close family friend who has been asked to care for a child, or if you are considering approaching the Trust because you are worried about a child you know, this guide explains how the kinship system works in practice.

What Is Kinship Care?

Kinship care is an umbrella term for arrangements where a child is cared for by someone who has an existing relationship with them — a family member or a person who has played a significant role in their life. In Northern Ireland, kinship carers can be:

• Relatives: grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins
• Connected persons: family friends, godparents, or others with a significant prior relationship with the child

Kinship care differs from unrelated (or "stranger") fostering in several important ways, most notably in how the arrangement comes about and how the assessment is conducted.

How Kinship Placements Arise

Kinship arrangements typically arise in one of two ways:

Emergency kinship placements happen when the Trust needs to remove a child quickly and the family identifies a relative who can take the child at short notice. In these cases, a preliminary check is carried out rapidly to ensure the kinship carer is not a known risk to children. A full assessment follows once the child is safe. This is sometimes called a "connected person foster carer" arrangement.

Planned kinship assessments occur when a family, recognising that a child's home situation is deteriorating, proactively approaches the Trust to ask about caring for the child. These assessments are more structured and usually follow a timeline similar to the standard fostering process, though with some modifications.

The Kinship Assessment Process

The assessment of a kinship carer uses a similar framework to the standard fostering assessment — often referred to as a Viability Assessment for initial screening, followed by a full Connected Person Assessment if the viability assessment is positive.

Key elements of the kinship assessment:

• AccessNI check: Kinship carers require the same Enhanced Disclosure with Barred List check as unrelated foster carers. All adults in the household will be checked, not just the proposed primary carer.
• Medical assessment: A GP medical report is required.
• Relationship assessment: The social worker will explore the history of the kinship carer's relationship with the child and the child's parents, including any conflict, loyalty pressures, or complex dynamics.
• Financial review: Kinship carers receive fostering allowances in the same way as unrelated carers, but the financial assessment explores whether the carer can sustain the arrangement.
• Contact planning: In kinship arrangements, managing contact with the child's parents — particularly if those parents are the kinship carer's own children or siblings — is one of the most psychologically complex aspects. The social worker will assess how well the kinship carer can maintain boundaries.

Looked After Children: Who They Are in Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, children who are subject to a Care Order (Article 50 of the Children (NI) Order 1995) or who are accommodated by the Trust under Article 21 are described as looked after children (LAC). As of recent reporting periods, Northern Ireland has more looked after children per capita than at any point since the Children Order came into effect in 1996.

The reasons children come into care in Northern Ireland reflect the region's complex social history: parental substance misuse, domestic violence, neglect, and — in some communities — the long-term effects of conflict-related trauma on family stability.

Kinship carers often step in because they are aware of these underlying family difficulties long before the Trust becomes formally involved. Early, voluntary kinship arrangements — sometimes called informal private arrangements — do not provide the kinship carer with legal standing or Trust support. If you are caring for a child informally, seeking formal kinship foster carer approval provides both legal protection and financial support.

Financial Support for Kinship Carers

Formally approved kinship foster carers in Northern Ireland are entitled to the same weekly fostering allowances as unrelated foster carers. The 2024/25 rates by age of child are the same structure: £149 per week for children aged 0–4, rising to £219 for young people aged 16–17.

Kinship carers are also entitled to the same Qualifying Care Relief (QCR) tax benefits, meaning the vast majority pay no income tax on fostering income.

However, kinship carers who provide care informally — without going through the Trust's approval process — are not entitled to fostering allowances. They may be entitled to support through other routes (such as a kinship Special Guardianship arrangement) but those payments are different in nature and usually lower.

Support for Kinship Carers

Approved kinship foster carers receive a Supervising Social Worker, the same as unrelated carers. However, kinship carers often experience a specific set of challenges that the standard support model does not fully address:

• Managing the child's relationship with their parent (who may also be the kinship carer's child or sibling)
• Navigating family conflict about why the child is not at home
• Handling the child's grief, anger, or divided loyalties
• Setting boundaries without damaging wider family relationships

NIFCA (Northern Ireland Foster Care Association) supports kinship carers as well as unrelated carers. The Fostering Network NI also provides guidance through its Fosterline NI service. Many Trusts run kinship-specific support groups, recognising that the peer network for kinship carers benefits from people who understand the particular dynamics involved.

When Kinship Care Becomes Permanent

If a child cannot return home and kinship care is working well, the Trust and the courts may consider making the arrangement permanent. Options include:

• Long-term kinship fostering: Continuing the arrangement under the Trust's oversight without a formal permanency order
• Special Guardianship Order (SGO): Available under the Adoption and Children Act (NI) 2022, an SGO gives the kinship carer parental responsibility while preserving the child's legal relationship with their birth family. It also ends the Trust's corporate parenting role — the child is no longer looked after

SGOs are expected to become increasingly common as the 2022 Act comes into full operation, offering kinship carers a route to genuine legal permanence without the full severance of adoption.

If you have been asked to care for a child by your family or the Trust, understanding the kinship assessment process is the critical first step. The Northern Ireland Fostering Approval Guide covers kinship-specific pathways alongside the main fostering approval process. Get the full guide here.

See more United Kingdom guides →