Family and friends carers

Where children do not live with their birth parents it is not uncommon for them to be placed with family and friends carers. This may be done without the involvement of children's social services. Even when social services do get involved, they may still make arrangements for a child to live with a relative or a friend of the family.

The Children Act 1989 puts local authorities under a duty to place looked-after children with family and friends carers unless this would not be reasonably practical or consistent with the child's welfare.

The Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme promotes better outcomes for all children aged 0-19, and parents and carers are the most important influence on improving these outcomes. This section of the Every Child Matters website aims to raise awareness among the children's workforce of the status of family and friends carers. We also hope that the information here will help practitioners in providing advice and support.

Legal arrangements
This page breaks down the legal arrangements for children living with family and friends carers.
Exercising parental responsibility
This page explains how the legal arrangements for a child's care will decide who has parental responsibility for a child.
Support for carers
This page provides useful context for providing support to family and friends carers.
Family and Friends Care - Research briefing 16
This is the final research briefing in the Every Child Matters series. It aims to highlight messages from research on family and friends care that will be useful to practitioners and their managers. The briefing can also be found on the Research part of the DCSF website.

We will be producing information directly aimed at family and friends carers on Directgov in the New Year. In the meantime family or friends carers may want to consider contacting the organisations listed below:

Family Rights Group
Tel: 0800 731 1696
Providing advice and support for families whose children are involved with social services
The Grandparents Association
Tel: 01279 444964
Confidential advice service that aims to listen and to provide support on all aspects of being a grandparent
Grandparents Plus
Tel: 020 8981 8001
Aims to raise the profile of grandparents and to share good practice with policy makers, practitioners and the public
Fosterline
Tel: 0800 040 7675
Advice line for foster carers