Informal Kinship Care Arrangements in England: Your Legal Rights

Is Informal Kinship Care Legal?

Yes. There is no law in England that requires a court order for a child to live with a relative. An estimated 164,000 children in England and Wales grow up in kinship care, and many of those arrangements operate informally — with no court order, no social services involvement, and no formal legal status for the carer.

An informal kinship care arrangement is sometimes called a "private family arrangement." The parent and relative agree between themselves that the child will live with the relative, either temporarily or long-term. The parent retains parental responsibility and can, legally, end the arrangement at any time.

The absence of a court order does not make the arrangement illegal. It simply means the carer does not hold parental responsibility and must work within the legal tools available to people without PR.

What Rights Does an Informal Kinship Carer Have?

An informal kinship carer's authority comes from two statutory provisions and one education law definition:

Section 3(5) of the Children Act 1989: Anyone who has care of a child but does not have parental responsibility may do what is reasonable to safeguard or promote the child's welfare. This covers emergency medical care, day-to-day decisions, and routine matters that cannot wait for a PR holder.

Section 2(9) of the Children Act 1989: A parent can delegate the exercise of their parental responsibility to someone else — including a kinship carer — without transferring PR itself. A written delegation letter under this section authorises the carer to handle specific everyday tasks.

Section 576 of the Education Act 1996: For education purposes, anyone who has care of a child is treated as a "parent." This allows the kinship carer to apply for school places, receive reports, attend parents' evenings and handle routine school matters without a court order.

Together, these three provisions give informal kinship carers a workable framework for daily life — school, GP, routine health care, and everyday decisions. They do not give the carer independent legal standing for major decisions, international travel, or permanent changes to the child's life.

The Limits of Informal Care

Informal arrangements work well when the parent is cooperative (or at least not actively opposing the arrangement), the child's needs are routine, and institutions accept the carer's authority without difficulty.

The arrangement becomes strained when:

• A school or hospital refuses to accept delegation letters and insists on a court order
• The parent becomes uncooperative or demands the child back against safety advice
• The child needs a passport, which requires a PR holder's signature
• The carer needs to make long-term plans (secondary school choices, major health decisions) and has no secure legal standing
• The parent has disappeared entirely and no one holds effective PR

None of these situations mean the informal arrangement has failed. They mean the arrangement has reached its practical limits, and the carer needs to consider whether a court order — a Child Arrangements Order or Special Guardianship Order — would provide the stability the child needs.

How Long Can an Informal Arrangement Last?

There is no legal time limit on informal kinship care in England. Some arrangements last weeks while a parent recovers from a crisis. Others last the child's entire childhood. The law does not require the arrangement to be formalised after a certain period.

The practical question is not how long the arrangement can last, but whether it is meeting the child's needs. A grandparent who has been raising a grandchild for five years without difficulty may never need a court order. A relative who takes in a child and immediately hits institutional barriers may need one within months.

Private Fostering: The One Legal Duty

The main legal tripwire for informal kinship carers is the private fostering notification duty. If the carer is not a "close relative" (grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle, or step-parent as defined by section 105 of the Children Act 1989) and the arrangement lasts, or is intended to last, 28 days or more, the carer must notify the local authority.

Cousins, great-aunts, great-uncles, great-grandparents and family friends are not close relatives under this definition. For these carers, the 28-day notification rule is a legal requirement, not an option.

Close relatives are exempt from private fostering rules. A grandparent, aunt or uncle does not need to notify the council simply because the child is living with them.

Getting Support as an Informal Carer

Informal kinship carers in England can access support through:

• Kinship (0300 123 7015): the national kinship care charity, offering advice on rights, benefits and practical support
• Family Rights Group (0808 801 0366): specialist advice when social services are involved
• Child Law Advice (0300 330 5480): legal information on children and family law
• Your council's kinship local offer: the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 requires every council to publish what support is available locally

The complete England kinship consent guide covers the full practical framework for managing school admissions, GP registration, medical consent and delegation letters — the day-to-day mechanics of making an informal arrangement work.

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