Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014

PART 13 Support for kinship care

71 Assistance in relation to kinship care orders

(1) A local authority must make arrangements to secure that kinship care assistance is made available for a person residing in its area who falls within subsection (3).

(2) “Kinship care assistance” is assistance of such description as the Scottish Ministers may by order specify.

(3) A person falls within this subsection if the person is—

(a) a person who is applying for, or considering applying for, a kinship care order in relation to an eligible child who has not attained the age of 16 years,

(b) an eligible child who has not attained the age of 16 years who is the subject of a kinship care order,

(c) a person in whose favour a kinship care order in relation to an eligible child who has not attained the age of 16 years subsists,

(d) a child who has attained the age of 16 years, where—

(i) immediately before doing so, the child was the subject of a kinship care order, and

(ii) the child is an eligible child,

(e) a person who is a guardian by virtue of an appointment under section 7 of the 1995 Act of an eligible child who has not attained the age of 16 years (but this is subject to subsection (4)),

(f) an eligible child who has a guardian by virtue of an appointment under section 7 of the 1995 Act.

(4) Subsection (3)(e) does not include a person who is also a parent of the child.

(5) An “eligible child” is a child who the local authority considers—

(a) to be at risk of becoming looked after, or

(b) to fall within such other description as the Scottish Ministers may by order specify.

72 Orders which are kinship care orders

(1) In section 71, “kinship care order” means—

(a) an order under section 11(1) of the 1995 Act which gives to a qualifying person the right mentioned in section 2(1)(a) of that Act in relation to a child,

(b) a residence order which has the effect that a child is to live with, or live predominantly with, a qualifying person, or

(c) an order under section 11(1) of the 1995 Act appointing a qualifying person as a guardian of a child.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a “qualifying person” is a person who, at the time the order is made—

(a) is related to the child,

(b) is a friend or acquaintance of a person related to the child, or

(c) has such other relationship to, or connection with, the child as the Scottish Ministers may by order specify.

(3) But a parent of a child is not a “qualifying person” for the purposes of subsection (1).

(4) The references in subsection (2) to a person who is related to a child include a person who is—

(a) married to or in a civil partnership with a person who is related to the child,

(b) related to the child by the half blood.

73 Kinship care assistance: further provision

(1) The assistance which may be specified as kinship care assistance includes—

(a) the provision of counselling, advice or information about any matter,

(b) the provision of financial support (or support in kind) of any description,

(c) the provision of any service provided by a local authority on a subsidised basis.

(2) An order under section 71(1) may specify assistance by reference to assistance which a person was entitled to from, or being provided with by, a local authority immediately before becoming entitled to assistance under that section.

(3) The Scottish Ministers may by order make provision about—

(a) when or how kinship care assistance is to be provided,

(b) when or how a local authority is to consider whether a child is within paragraph (a) or (b) of section 71(5),

(c) when or how a local authority is to review whether a child continues to be within paragraph (a) or (b) of section 71(5),

(d) such other matters about the provision of kinship care assistance as the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate.

(4) An order under subsection (3)(d) may include provision about—

(a) circumstances in which a local authority may provide kinship care assistance subject to conditions (including conditions as to payment for the assistance or the repayment of financial support), and

(b) consequences of such conditions not being met (including the recovery of any financial support provided).

74 Interpretation of Part 13

In this Part––

• “kinship care assistance” has the meaning given by section 71(2),

• “parent” has the same meaning as it has in Part 1 of the 1995 Act.