What is the process involved when applying for special guardianship?
Each local authority will have their own guidance setting out their policies and procedures so always check with your local authority.
To find contact details of your local authority click here.
In order to make an application you must give your local authority three months notice in writing to inform them that you are going to apply for an order. If you need to get permission from the courts you should do this before giving the local authority 3 months notice.
You must give 3 months notice, unless you have leave from the court to make an application for a special guardianship order where an application for an adoption order has already been made.
The local authority will then produce a report with all the necessary information, this will involve information about the child and the child’s wishes, information about the child’s birth family about the contact arrangements, about the prospective special guardian(s), and the local authority’s recommendations for whether an order should be made.
The report will need to written, completed and presented to the court in order for the special guardianship order to be made. The local authority is expected to ensure the report is completed on time and prepared by a suitably qualified person, which would normally be a social worker.
The court has to address the question of the child’s welfare throughout the child’s life and have regard to the welfare checklist under s.1 (3) of the Children Act 1989.
If there are any existing orders under section 8 of the Children Act 1989, (i.e. a contact order, a residence order, a prohibited steps order or a specific issue order) the court will consider this at the same time as the application for special guardianship order.
If there are any orders already as mentioned above, the application to vary or discharge that order must be made in the court that originally made the order. In all other cases the application can be made in a Family Proceedings Court (magistrates’ court), a County Court or the High Court.
Click here to find your local court.
An application is made on a C1 form (or a C2 form if previous court applications have taken place) and a C13A form which is a supplement for an application for a special guardianship order.
It is possible that the court makes a contact order at the same time as the special guardianship order, to maintain contact with the birth parent(s).
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