Becoming a Kinship carer
If you are caring for a relative or friend’s child you can contact East Lothian Council’s Children’s Services Department on 01875 824 090. You can also get in contact if you wish to be considered to care for a relative or friend’s child. If this is a formal kinship arrangement, for example a legal order is in place, then we will need to assess your suitability.
You will be allocated an assessing social worker, with the assessment period lasting 12 weeks. The assessing worker will gather information on you, your family, and your household.
With your consent, we will carry out a number of checks. This includes the following:
- PVG for you and any other carer
- disclosure check on any adult over the age of 16 living in the household
- GP health check
- observations of the child if already placed
- local authority check
- out of local authority check
- references from family and friends
- checks with education and other services
Carrying out these checks helps ensure that the children will be safe. Undertaking an assessment will also allow us to consider the child's needs and identify any support needs you may have. As the assessment progresses, the assessment worker will consider the child’s needs. They will also consider any future support or training needs you might have.
Expectations of support needed should be discussed in detail, this includes contact with parents and siblings, access to education, transport and child care. The children’s views will always be listened to during our assessment.