Important Notice
How to become a special guardian with Enfield Council
To become a special guardian, you or another body must apply for a special guardianship order (SGO). If you think that an SGO needs to be raised, get in touch with us by calling 020 8379 8490 (Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 10am to 3:30pm) or email us at specialguardians@enfield.gov.uk.
The assessment process
The prospective carer must have a viability assessment before any decision is made on whether or not to progress to a full assessment. The social worker for the child will normally undertake the viability assessment. The viability assessment will normally be completed within 2 weeks of the request being made. If the viability assessment is negative, the social worker and a manager will discuss the outcome with the prospective special guardian.
Once the decision has been made to progress to full assessment the manager of the social worker who undertook the assessment will make a referral to the Special Guardianship Team. It is expected that the assessment will take up to 3 months from the time of referral.
Support available for special guardians with Enfield
There is support available for you and your child. Special guardianship families where the child was in court proceedings prior to the SGO being made are eligible for extra support from the support fund once a child is placed in their new family home. You will need to have a short assessment to help identify what support would be best for your child. There are many types of support available, including:
- helping your child feel settled in your care
- help with managing the changes and upsets in their lives
- understanding their behaviour and helping them express their feelings to improve their behaviour
- getting the best out of contact with parents, siblings and other birth family members
You may also wish to contact Kinship, a national charity for England and Wales, that supports and campaigns on behalf of all kinship carers – the grandparents and siblings, the aunts, uncles, and family friends who step up to raise children when their parents aren’t able to. Visit Kinship for more information or contact them by calling 0300 123 7015 or emailing advice@kinship.org.uk.
Financial support
Applicants who want to be assessed for financial support must either be looking after a child who is known to the London Borough of Enfield as another children’s team were involved at the time of the application or must have been looked after by the London Borough of Enfield immediately before the making of the SGO.