Child Care Solicitors

Special Guardianship orders are a result of the Prime Minister’s review of adoption and subsequent white paper ‘Adoption: the new approach’ which reported that children tended to prefer the sense of security that adoption could offer over long term fostering but a number of older children were reluctant to sever ties from their birth family, therefore making adoption an inappropriate option. It was agreed that there was a need for a new legal status to be identified and this resulted in the new Special Guardianship provisions, provided for in section 115 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 and now incorporated in s14A to s14G of the CA 1989.

A special guardianship order appoints one or more individuals as a child’s special guardian and gives them parental responsibility for the child until the child reaches 18 years. Parents with parental responsibility retain that status however the special guardian is entitled to exercise parental responsibility to the exclusion of any other persons with parental responsibility.

When a special guardianship order is in force, no person may cause the child to be known by a new surname or remove him from the UK without either the written consent of every person who has parental responsibility for the child or leave of the court. But this does not prevent the removal of the child from the UK for a period of less than 3 months.

Prior to applying for a special guardianship order, the proposed applicant must given written notice to the relevant local authority of their intention to apply for a special guardianship order at least three months before making the application to the court. This notice triggers a duty on the local authority to investigate the matter and prepare a report for the court considering the suitability of the applicant, a number of factors relating to the child, the merits of making a special guardianship order and any other relevant factors. The report must conclude with a recommendation as to whether or not the special guardianship order sought should be made in respect of the child and if not, any alternative proposal in respect of the child, and recommendations for contact between child and relatives. A court can only make a special guardianship order once it has received a special guardianship report from the local authority.

An attractive feature of special guardianship orders is the duty of the local authority to assess special guardians for special guardianship support services. Such services range from financial support to providing therapeutic services for children and assistance with maintaining relationships between the child and their relatives.

Nathalie Lee Kong