What is a Special Guardianship Order?
Special Guardianship is a family court order that places a child or young person in long-term care with someone other than their parent(s). The person(s) with whom the child lives with will become the child’s Special Guardian.
A Special Guardianship Order (SGO) is a permanent solution for placing a child within the extended family. SGOs are often described as a “halfway house” between live with and adoption orders. They provide non-parent carers with a more permanent status than that available under a Child Arrangements Order (CAO), but without severing the legal relationship between the child and the birth family.
The SGO is a private law order that appoints a person as a child’s special guardian. It has been informally called “super” parental responsibility (PR) because the PR given can override the PR of anybody else.
What powers do a Special Guardianship Order give?
Although a CAO specifying that the child should live with the holder of the order gives parental responsibility for the child, a Special Guardian is in a stronger position than someone who holds such an order because:
- A Special Guardian may exercise PR to the exclusion of anyone else with PR, whereas the holder of the CAO exercises PR jointly with other people who have PR (e.g. the birth parents).
- A Special Guardian may appoint a testamentary guardian to look after the child in the event of the special guardian’s death, whereas the holder of the CAO may not.
- A Special Guardian may take the child out of the UK for a period of less than three months, whereas the holder of the CAO order is limited to periods of less than one month.
However, a Special Guardian is not in as strong a position as someone who adopts a child, as when an adoption order is made the birth parents lose their PR and the child becomes the legal child of the adopters. This means that an adopter does not face any restrictions regarding taking the child out of the UK or changing the child’s surname.
Who can become a Special Guardian?
The people who are entitled to apply for a Special Guardianship Order are:
- Any guardian of the child.
- Any individual holding a CAO for the child.
- A local authority foster carer with whom the child has lived for a period of at least one year immediately preceding the application.
- A relative with whom the child has lived for a period of at least one year immediately preceding the application.
Before an application for an SGO can be issued, the person applying for the order must give the local authority three months’ written notice of their intention to apply. During this three-month period, the local authority is required to prepare a report dealing with the suitability of the applicant to be a special guardian for the child.
Special Guardianship Orders have been used to secure permanent placements with both foster carers and members of the child’s family. An SGO automatically discharges any Care Order. In practice, the local authority will decide that, while the child can be placed within its family under an SGO, the Special Guardian may require additional support and a Supervision Order will also be made. The most common situation where this occurs is when a family member, such as a grandparent, is assessed as an appropriate carer for the child and the local authority recommends that the child should leave the parents’ care to live with another family member. An important point here is that Special Guardianship Orders can have access to public funds to help support the upbringing of a child whereas the holder of a CAO must seek financial assistance from the parents.
If you need any assistance regarding special guardianship orders or are a special guardian needing professional family law advice, then GA Solicitors in Plymouth is on your side. You can call the team on 01752 203500 or email me directly via mark.mears@GAsolicitors.com.
We have a specialist childcare team which is dedicated to acting in local authority cases and our high levels of experience and service have seen us ranked in both The Legal 500 and Chambers UK.
Read our recent article about choosing a family solicitor here.
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