Family Rights Group | Kinship carers’ Forum

Hi, so I’m all new to this. I’m currently a mother of a 3 year old (4 in November) I’m 23 weeks pregnant and have a 7 month old.

I’ve put myself and husband forwards for kinship of My niece (currently 4 months old) . We have done the viability assessment (awaiting results) however I just want to know if being pregnant, having a 3 year old and a 7 month old already would mean they wouldn’t give me the opportunity to have my niece?

My husband works a well paid job, we have a good sized house and I’m a stay at home mom so have a lot of time!

The woman expressed her concerns of how it would be hard to have 3 under 1 however I keep saying yes it will be difficult but it can be done. I feel as though this is the only thing that they may give us a negative result on!

Can they do that?

Thank you

To answer you final question, and put simply, yes they can. However, there are many other factors at play, not least of which you can challenge a negative assessment through the complaints procedure.

Other factors are:
- What support will you have available to you? What happens if you become unwell or have an accident. or even one or more of the children? Have you thought this through and advised the assessor of your plans? In other words, are you being realistic? Anyone who has had twins and have other pre-school children will tell you how hard it is, but it often happens in families anyway so is not impossible.
- Are there any other candidate family and friends carers?

I suspect you cannot do much more until the report is shared with you. You should then have the opportunity to comment on it, but if it is negative, and you do so, please do so in writing. It makes any challenge easier if you have written down your comments and reasoning.

Fingers crossed your fears are unfounded, but that is not the end of the process.

Best wishes .... Robin

Thank you! Yes I’ve thought it through a lot! I’ve told her everything I’d put in place. Even going down to schools and distances. I have a huge support system and always have someone to help if needed.

As I have a great routine at the moment I don’t cross many struggles with the two I have. I’ve also explained how I’d have sleeping arrangements etc I’ve done everything I can!

So now I guess it’s just waiting for the results! Keeping my fingers crossed

If I didn’t think I could do it I wouldn’t have put myself forwards! I just hope this is something they can really look at.

Momof3123 wrote: Thu Mar 27, 2025 12:59 pm Thank you! Yes I’ve thought it through a lot! I’ve told her everything I’d put in place. Even going down to schools and distances. I have a huge support system and always have someone to help if needed.

That is good news and will certainly help.

So now I guess it’s just waiting for the results! Keeping my fingers crossed

I suspect that is correct. The waiting around can be very unsettling so I wish you well.

If I didn’t think I could do it I wouldn’t have put myself forwards!

My apologies, I was not for one second saying that was not the case. My concern was whether the assessor had got the message that you were 100% committed while realistic enough to know a) it is not going to be easy, and b) you have plans in place should something untoward occur. It seems you have thought it all through and taken steps to mitigate any foreseeable issues. Well done you. It's an important and selfless thing you are offering to do. Whatever the outcome, on behalf of the child at the centre of this, Thank You.

Robin

Dear Momof3123

Welcome to the kinship carers’ forum. Thank you for your post. My name is Suzie. I am Family Rights Group’s online adviser.

You have recently had a viability assessment for your baby niece who is 4 months old. You are mother to a 3-year-old, a 7-month-old and you are also 23 weeks pregnant. You are worried that your viability assessment may be negative as you would potentially have 3 children, all under one but of different ages/stages of development, and your 3 year old to care for. The assessor has expressed concern about how manageable this would be. You have good support and have thought this thorough and conclude that you would be able to care for your niece and own children.

As Robin, a kinship carer has said, you have offered to do something very important, to help keep a baby safely cared for in her family.

It is not possible to predict the outcome of an assessment. But I hope that the advice and information below will help.

The viability assessment covers a wide range of factors which you can find out more about here. Being assessed, approved and fulfilling the role of a kinship foster carer is an intrusive and demanding process and may be something that the assessor is concerned will be hard for a mother /carer with 3 babies and a young child to care for. Please see this advice sheet on becoming a kinship foster carer: the process for more information and it may also be helpful to look at our advice about children in care under a court order which explains more about the regulations and reviews children’s services must follow when a child is in care.

It will be important to go through the completed viability assessment carefully when you get it. If it is negative and you wish to challenge, then you can. We have advice about how to go about this and even a template letter to assist you which I will provide a link to below.

If the assessment is negative, then the council would not agree to continue with a full assessment of you. They should give you a letter that explains to you all your options at that stage. Those options are likely to include:

● Accepting the decision;
● Writing a letter that explains why you disagree, or whether you think things in the report are wrong. That letter can then be attached to the report so that anyone who reads it sees your side;
● Getting independent legal advice. You can ring Family Rights Group’s free independent specialist advice line. You may wish to seek advice from a lawyer on the Law Society Children Panel, although this may not be free, and it will therefore be important for you to find out first what it would cost to get this advice;
● Going to a court hearing to ask the court to make a legal order that the child come to live with you if the child can’t be with their parents. It may be that you would want to pursue more than one option, and if you disagree with the outcome of the assessment it is likely that you will want to explain that to the local authority, get independent legal advice, and perhaps also attend court.

I hope this is helpful.

Please post back if you have any further queries or use one of the other advice options linked to here.

Best wishes

Suzie