Find out what special guardianship and special guardianship orders are.
Special guardians are individuals who care for children when their parents are unable to do so.
Special guardianship is a formal court order which places a child or young person with someone permanently and gives this person parental responsibility for the child.
This could be a:
- grandparent
- close relative
- former foster carer
- family friend
It falls under kinship care (connected persons care).
A special guardian is someone with long-term, legal responsibility for a child they already have a relationship with as part of their wider family network. A special guardian cannot be the child or young person's parent.
Special guardianship orders
A special guardianship order is a legal order which can only be granted by the family court. This happens when considering the best permanent home for a child until they're aged 18.
Special guardians can make day-to-day decisions without having to discuss them with the birth parents.
They are also given overriding parental responsibility for the child in their care while birth parents retain some parental responsibility.
There are 3 exceptions to the overriding responsibility.
Special guardians cannot:
- legally change the child's name
- place the child for adoption
- move out of the country for more than 3 months