Relative Caring for a Child in Scotland: Your Legal Options Explained

You stepped in when the child needed someone. Maybe a parent is in hospital, in prison, or struggling with addiction. The child is living under your roof, sleeping in a bed you made up on short notice — but as far as the school, the GP, and the benefits office are concerned, you have no authority over that child at all.

This is the reality for thousands of aunts, uncles, older siblings, and other relatives across Scotland who are caring for children informally. No legal standing means no right to consent to medical treatment, no ability to enrol the child in school without a fight, and no access to the financial support that exists specifically for kinship carers.

Why Informal Care Leaves You Exposed

When a child lives with a relative without any court order or formal agreement, the birth parents retain 100% of their parental responsibilities and rights (PRRs) under Section 1 and Section 2 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. That means:

• Medical consent — you do not hold the parental right to make decisions about the child's health; that right remains with people who hold PRRs
• School enrolment — the local authority can query your right to enrol the child
• Passport applications — as an informal carer without PRRs, you cannot make the application on the child's behalf using your own authority
• Benefits — you may be able to claim Child Benefit if the child lives with you; Kinship Care Assistance depends on the local authority assessing the child's eligibility

None of this changes just because the child has been living with you for months or years. Time does not create legal rights in Scotland.

The Court Order That Fixes This

The route for relatives in Scotland is a Section 11 order under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, applied for in the Sheriff Court. When the order grants you residence (the right to have the child live with you) and other specific PRRs, it can qualify as a Kinship Care Order under Section 72 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 if you are a qualifying person.

Crucially, this is not limited to grandparents. Section 11(3)(a)(i) of the 1995 Act allows any person claiming an interest in the child's development and upbringing to apply. That includes aunts, uncles, adult siblings, step-relatives, and even close family friends.

Unlike England and Wales, Scotland does not require you to get the court's permission before applying. You establish your standing directly in the Initial Writ by explaining your relationship to the child and your role in their care.

What a Section 11 Order Gives You

If the sheriff grants you the relevant PRRs, the order gives you legally enforceable authority to:

• Consent to medical treatment and register with a GP
• Enrol the child in school and make educational decisions
• Apply for a passport
• Make day-to-day decisions about the child's upbringing

Separately, you may be able to claim Child Benefit and apply for kinship care assistance; the local authority assesses eligibility for Part 13 support.

The birth parents may retain some residual PRRs unless the sheriff specifically removes them, but the order gives you a clearly defined legal position when dealing with schools, GPs, and other services.

Financial Support After the Order

A Kinship Care Order is the gateway to Part 13 assistance under the 2014 Act. If your local authority assesses the child as "at risk of becoming looked after" or previously looked after by a local authority, the child meets the eligible-child test for a kinship care allowance. The council calculates the payment from the Scottish Recommended Allowance (SRA), deducting Child Benefit; if it cannot be claimed because of parental non-cooperation, the council pays the undeducted SRA when given proof.

Some councils, such as Glasgow City Council, offer discretionary grants of up to £1,500 toward legal costs for eligible carers who have formally applied for and exhausted SLAB options. Eligibility includes household income under £26,000. Apply for written approval before incurring unrecoverable legal expenses.

How to Get Started

The application is filed as an Ordinary Cause Family Action in the Sheriff Court with jurisdiction over the area where the child is habitually resident. The court fee is £185, though you may qualify for a full exemption if you receive qualifying benefits. SLAB Civil Legal Aid has a disposable-income upper limit of £26,239 per year and a disposable-capital limit of £7,405.

Free advice is available from the Kinship Care Advice Service Scotland (KCASS) on 0808 800 0006, the Scottish Child Law Centre on 0131 668 4400, and Clan Childlaw on 0808 129 0522.

For a step-by-step walkthrough of the full process — from drafting the Initial Writ through to post-order tasks — the Kinship Care Orders in Scotland guide covers every stage, including the forms, fee exemptions, social work assessments, and hearing preparation that relatives need.

You already stepped up for this child. A Section 11 order makes the legal system recognise what you have been doing all along.

See more Scotland guides →