Law Commission Consultation on Kinship Care (Consultation Paper)

1. The current fostering regulations in England apply equally to prospective kinship foster carers and unrelated foster carers. In relation to assessment criteria, review and visits procedures, and other post-approval requirements, we ask consultees for their views on:
   1. whether there is merit in introducing regulations that are adapted specifically to kinship foster care, as distinct from unrelated foster care; and
   2. if so, what adaptations would be appropriate?

We provisionally propose that local authorities should be required to use a prescribed kinship foster care assessment form when assessing kinship foster carers.

Do consultees agree?

We provisionally propose that the statutory requirement for visits and reviews in England should be varied as follows:

1. local authority visits to children in kinship foster care placements should be conducted at least every 6 months, rather than every 3 months; and
2. subsequent local authority reviews of children in kinship foster care placements should be conducted at least every 12 months, rather than every 6 months.

Do consultees agree?