Section 11 orders (Kinship care orders): What pathways lead families to Section 11 orders rather than formally ‘looked after’ kinship care, and how consistent is decision-making across local authorities?
Background
Scotland’s ambition is for children to be supported to stay within their families wherever it is safe and possible to do so. The overall number of children entering care each year in Scotland is falling, and proportionally more children who do become looked after are living with kinship carers, and fewer are remaining with their parents. These national‑level trends help to understand what is happening, but not how this is being achieved, or the impact on families. To answer that second question, we need better evidence to provide context to national statistics: on the factors that influence whether families can stay together; the support available locally; and the conditions that enable early, preventative help rather than crisis‑driven intervention. Here, prevention is understood primarily in relation to children at risk of entering care and their families, focusing on how earlier identification of unmet need, timely support, and system responses may reduce avoidable escalation to compulsory care.
Next steps
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Source
This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:
Related UKRI funded projects
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Kinship care re-visited: Using Census 2011 Microdata to Examine and Map the Extent and Nature of Kinship Care Households in the UK
The research project will use microdata from the 2011 Census to provide nationally representative, reliable statistics and maps on the distribution and characteristics of kinship care households in the four countries of ...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: University of Bristol
Why might this be relevant?
The project specifically focuses on kinship care households in the UK, providing statistics and characteristics that can shed light on the pathways leading to Section 11 orders.
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Understanding What Matters: Developing effective participatory methods from the research into what matters to children living in kinship care.
Kinship care is the caring arrangement in the family constellation for children who cannot remain with birth parents. My PhD research was the first to solely focus on the views of children living in kinship care in Engla...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: University of Sussex
Why might this be relevant?
While the project focuses on child participation in kinship care, it does not directly address the pathways to Section 11 orders, but it does provide insights into children's views in kinship care.
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Care pathways and outcomes: The teenage years
Across the UK, when children enter care, they live in a range of different placements, such as foster care, kinship care (with relatives or friends), adoption or with their birth parents. However, adoptive placements are...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: University of Ulster
Why might this be relevant?
The project focuses on the outcomes of different care placements for children entering care at a young age, providing insights into placement stability and breakdown, which is relevant to understanding the decision-making process for Section 11 orders.