Grandparents fight for guardianship rights

Another 1,020 Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs) were granted by the Family Court in the year to 30 September 2024, according to private client and family law firm TWM Solicitors. This marks the second consecutive year that SGOs have exceeded 1,000 as more grandparents take responsibility for their grandchildren instead of seeing them enter care.

Lora Clark, Chartered Legal Executive Advocate in family law at TWM Solicitors, explains that SGOs allow family members to take long-term care of children who can no longer live with their parents. First introduced under the Adoption and Children Act 2002, these orders help children stay with their family or a familiar family friend instead of entering the care system. They have frequently been used by grandparents caring for grandchildren in cases of parental imprisonment or addiction.

Lora Clark says with growing pressures on the care system in England and Wales, SGOs are a viable way to keep children out of state care. Kinship care, when a child is raised by a grandparent, other close relative or friend, is always an option considered by local authorities over taking children into care. Local authorities will always seek to place a child with an adult with whom they are familiar and comfortable. Local authorities still undertake a rigorous viability assessment before allowing a child into the care of another family member. This includes checks on whether the individual would be able to resist pressure from the child’s parents to return the child.

The process also includes the application for the SGO being served on the child’s parents, giving them the opportunity to oppose it. The SGO can later be changed or reversed if the child’s parents regain the ability to care for them, such as by recovering from addiction. An SGO conveys parental responsibility on the person(s) in whose favour the order is made but the biological parents do not lose their parental responsibility. Important decisions will be made by the special guardian.

Says Lora Clark for grandparents, Special Guardianship is a lifeline to make sure their grandchildren are safe. Being raised with a family member has enormous advantages for a child over being raised by a stranger. All too often children can slip between the cracks if they are in an unstable family situation. Going into care is something that any grandparent would want their grandchildren to avoid – so an SGO can ensure those children are able to stay within the family. It’s important to continue to encourage families to step up and take on these important roles where possible. With the financial pressures on the state, the care system won’t always be able to deliver the upbringing that children deserve.