How to contact us for advice
We provide advice to parents, grandparents, relatives, friends and kinship carers who are involved with children’s services in England or need their help. We can help you understand processes and options when social workers or courts are making decisions about your child’s welfare.
Our advice service is free, independent and confidential.
To speak to an adviser, please call our free and confidential advice line 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday 9.30am to 3pm, excluding Bank Holidays). For Textphone dial 18001 followed by the advice line number. Or you can ask us a question via email using our advice enquiry form.
Our online advice forums are an anonymous space where parents and kinship carers (also known as family and friends carers) can get legal and practical advice, build a support network and learn from other people’s experiences.
Our get help and advice section describes the processes that you and your family are likely to go through, so that you know what to expect. Our webchat service can help you find the information and advice on our website which will help you understand the law and your rights.
This is means-tested financial help paid by children’s services to someone named in a child arrangements order as the person a child is to live with. The allowance is to help with the cost of caring for the child.
Children’s services do not have to pay a child arrangements order allowance; it is discretionary. But if they do pay, the amount should not be less than the core fostering allowance paid locally.
You cannot apply for a child arrangements order allowance if you are a parent of the child (or married to a parent of the child).
Details of local rules and how to apply should be set out by children’s services in their local family and friends care policy.
(A child arrangements order allowance used to be called a ‘residence order allowance’; residence orders were replaced by child arrangements orders in 2014).
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