Undertaking a Connected Person/Kinship Assessment in Wales

In 2020/21, about 220 special guardianship orders were made in relation to children in the care system in Wales, and over one-fifth of foster placements were with connected/kinship carers. Undertaking a Connected Person/Kinship Assessment is designed to help social workers in Wales to manage and complete a comprehensive and evidence-based assessment of connected people / family and friends who wish to foster or be special guardians to a known child or children. It is to be used by assessing social workers to complete this assessment using the CoramBAAF Form C for Wales.

Who is this book for?

This guide will be invaluable for all those completing connected person / kinship assessments in Wales, and of particular use to those who are new to the task, overwhelmed by it or concerned about covering all necessary aspects.

What you will find in this book

The guide focuses primarily on Section C of Form C which requires information about the applicant – historical and current – and how it is relevant to their suitability to be foster carers or special guardians for known children. This includes descriptive information about the applicant, information about their relationships and networks, and consideration of their parenting capacity. Each chapter in the guide considers a different aspect of the assessment, and presents a list of trigger questions that can facilitate further discussion as well as reminders of which details should be included in the report.

Logically structured and very accessibly presented, this guide:

• assists the assessing social worker in collecting some of the information necessary to complete a comprehensive connected person / kinship assessment;
• prompts the worker to analyse the information they have collected with regards to its effect on the decisions to be made about this assessment and the placement of the child;
• alerts the assessing worker to relevant research and good practice.

The guide also includes explanations of the context of assessment, particular issues to be considered with regard to connected/kinship carers, safeguarding, and the legal orders that could apply in these cases. Helpful examples of family trees and ecomaps are also included, along with the Wales Kinship Competencies.

Read the contents page and introduction

Authors

Paul Adams was the Foster Care Development Consultant for CoramBAAF, and is now an independent consultant and trainer.

Amy Shepherd is a trainer consultant for AFA (Association for Fostering and Adoption) Cymru.

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