Decision Report 201800650

Summary

Mrs C brought her nephew to live with her following a mutual agreement with his mother. Mrs C approached the partnership to enquire about kinship care assistance, however, she was advised that she was not eligible as she did not have a kinship care order in place. A few years later, Mrs C enquired again about kinship care assistance and she was advised that her nephew was not considered an eligible child as he was not at risk of becoming looked after (a  looked after child is a child under the care of the council). Mrs C complained that the partnership did not reasonably consider her request for kinship care assistance.

We took independent social work advice. We found that there were a number of family members providing support to Mrs C's nephew and his mother, and the child's father was also playing an active role in caring for him. We were satisfied that the partnership carried out an appropriate assessment and their decision that Mrs C was not eligible for kinship care assistance was reasonable. We did not uphold Mrs C's complaint.