Jessica: Absolutely. Those recent changes are really positive for some prospective special guardians, those who are financially eligible for legal aid, and know that a special guardianship order is the right option for them, and for the child. But overall, the recent reforms do not go far enough to improving access to justice for kinship carers.
Kinship carers do an extraordinary task, often stepping in to look after a young relative in an urgent and emergency situation. Yet in many cases they do so without being properly supported to understand the practical and financial implications of what might become a long-term arrangement. The current legal help system is not fit for purpose. And what this means on the ground, is that many kinship carers just do not get access to early-stage advice. You will know from the work that you do in advising family members and friends, that the most they are often able to access in terms of early legal advice, is the offer of an hour or two of your time funded by children’s services (and this is only if children’s services have positively assessed the carer). That is simply not enough time to do justice to the complexity of these situations. At Family Rights Group, we provide detailed advice to those looking to take on the care of a child in their family every day, but sometimes they need the ongoing advice and assistance from a solicitor – for example to correspond with children’s services and the child’s parents, and consider applications that can be made to the court. Our funding constraints do not allow us to do this.
There needs to be a clearer and more accessible route to kinship carers accessing early-stage legal advice at the point they are being assessed. They need to understand the assessment process, and the implications of certain legal orders and arrangements that the child could be made subject to. Further legal aid reform is crucial for kinship carers, especially for early-stage advice – in terms not only of scope and structure, but also levels of remuneration, to ensure solicitors can actually afford to do this work. We are working with colleagues from across the sector on specific reform proposals to improve the situation for prospective kinship carers. We would always welcome discussions with legal colleagues about particular areas of difficulty, and to explore what specific changes may be of most impact for those families you work with.
It is also essential that specialist voluntary sector services, such as our advice service, continue to be properly funded and supported by government. We advise on all aspects of the child welfare and family justice systems – from how families can access better support through early help, through to how to challenge the making of an adoption order and in relation to post-adoption contact. Our advisers are lawyers, social workers or those with similar expertise, and the advice they provide is detailed and specific. These services, together with a properly functioning legal aid regime, are in our view the basics when it comes to access to justice for parents and families, when social workers become involved.