Kinship Foster Carers in Wales: Connected Persons Care Explained
When a child in Wales cannot live with their parents, the first question the local authority asks is whether a relative or close family friend can provide care. In Welsh fostering terminology, this is called "connected persons" care — what most people would call kinship care. It keeps the child within their existing network, maintains family bonds, and is consistently associated with better outcomes for looked-after children than placement with strangers.
If a child in your life has been identified for possible placement with you, here is what the process actually involves.
What "Connected Persons" Means in Wales
In Welsh fostering terminology, "connected persons" care refers to placement with a relative or family friend connected to the child or their family. This includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings, family friends, and other people with a meaningful existing relationship with the child.
The purpose of connected-persons care is to keep a child within an existing family or community network while the authority assesses whether the placement is suitable. This reflects the SSWBA's emphasis on the child's personal outcomes, cultural identity, and stability.
How Connected Persons Assessment Works
Connected persons carers in Wales are assessed under the same regulatory framework as mainstream foster carers — the same DBS checks, health assessment, and Form F process apply. However, the approach is tailored to reflect the existing relationship.
The assessment recognizes that kinship carers often arrive in the role suddenly and under emotional pressure. A grandparent may receive a call on a Friday afternoon that their grandchild needs somewhere to stay that weekend. Where a child needs an urgent placement, the provider may use an emergency or interim connected-persons arrangement while the full assessment is completed.
An interim approval can allow the child to be placed while the full assessment is completed. The assessment then follows at a structured pace, and the carer must be formally approved by the fostering panel before the arrangement becomes permanent.
The Foster Wales Connected Persons Good Practice Guide (published 2025) sets out how agencies should balance speed and thoroughness in these cases. The guide explicitly addresses the tension between the child's urgent need for stability and the agency's duty to ensure the placement is safe.
What the Assessment Covers
While the format mirrors the mainstream Form F, the connected persons assessment focuses heavily on:
- The nature of your relationship with the child and their family
- Your understanding of why the child cannot live with their parents
- Your ability to manage the child's relationships with both birth parents — including any difficult or complex dynamics
- The impact on your own household, including other children you are caring for
- Your views on contact, and whether you can support a relationship between the child and their parents even if that relationship is complicated
- Your resilience and emotional resources
One of the hardest aspects of kinship care is navigating family loyalty. Grandparents sometimes find themselves simultaneously supporting their grandchild and their own adult child (the child's parent), whose behaviour may have been the reason for the child's removal. Assessors will want to understand how you will manage these tensions without exposing the child to further harm.
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Support Available for Kinship Carers in Wales
Kinship carers in Wales are entitled to the same package of financial support and training as mainstream foster carers, including the National Minimum Allowance (£224 per week for under-5s and £204 for 5–15s for 2025/26), plus a skills fee where applicable.
Every approved connected persons carer is allocated a Supervising Social Worker, whose role is to support them rather than scrutinize them. This is a distinct role from the child's social worker, and it provides a consistent point of contact for practical and emotional support.
Foster Wales local authority teams specifically offer:
- Access to the "Skills to Foster" preparation training
- Ongoing learning through the All Wales Induction Framework (AWIF)
- Peer support groups for kinship carers
- Respite care to prevent carer burnout
The Fostering Network Cymru also provides advice specifically tailored to kinship carers in Wales, including guidance on financial support, legal rights, and managing contact arrangements.
If You Are Caring Informally
Many kinship arrangements in Wales begin informally — the child simply moves in with a relative under a private agreement, without local authority involvement. This can work in the short term, but it carries risks: the carer has no legal status, no guaranteed financial support, and no access to the services the child may need.
If you are caring for a child informally, it is worth contacting your local authority to explore whether a formal arrangement would be more appropriate. This is not a route to having the child taken away — it is a route to having your care legally recognized and financially supported.
The Wales Fostering Approval Guide covers the connected persons assessment in detail, including how to prepare for the Form F process when you already know the child and what support you are entitled to once you are approved.
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