Working Together 2026 defines kinship care in its glossary (Appendix A). It excludes parents, foster carers with no previous connection to the child and anyone caring professionally. Arrangements can be:
- informal, made within the family without the local authority or a court
- private fostering, where someone who isn't a close relative cares for a child for 28 days or more
- under a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order
- kinship foster care, where the child is looked after and placed with an approved family member or friend
- an adoption by a family member or friend.
Which kind it is matters to a school, because it changes who has parental responsibility, whether the child has a social worker and whether they are looked after or previously looked after.
Since September 2024, virtual school heads have had a non-statutory role in promoting the education of all children in kinship care (KCSIE 2026 paragraph 246). Working Together 2026 also says safeguarding includes supporting children to grow up with their family network through kinship care where that is in their best interests.
Common confusion: a child living with an aunt is in kinship care but is not privately fostered, because aunts are close relatives. A child living with a cousin or family friend for 28 days or more is privately fostered, and the local authority must be told.