Special guardianship families: experiences and support needs

This project will explore the characteristics and support needs of carers and children with Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs) in Wales.

Why is this important?

When there is no realistic prospect of a child returning to live with their birth parents, legal options are explored to enable the child to live permanently with suitable carers. SGOs are typically granted to a family member, former foster carer, or someone else known to the child. They are a more common route for children leaving care than adoption and can be made through private law, with or without social work involvement.

A review, funded by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory and led by Professor Judith Harwin, suggested children with SGOs fare well. However, this was based on a sparse and variable quality evidence base. The research team will address the knowledge gap by exploring pre-SGO pathways, characteristics, and needs of children with SGOs.

What does it involve?

The research will be completed in two phases:

1. Linking a range of population-level Welsh children’s social care, health, and education data to explore the characteristics of children who receive SGOs and how they differ from looked after children who do not receive SGOs. The characteristics of guardians and their households will also be explored.  
2. Children and carers will be assessed at the Neurodevelopment Assessment Unit to measure social, emotional, and cognitive skills. The protective features of the carer-child relationship will also be observed.

How will it make a difference?

Completion of the research will address three aims:

1. Using linked data to establish individual and structural factors characterising SGO households and the child’s pre-SGO care pathways across Wales.
2. Building an understanding of potential strengths and support needs.
3. Creating a cohort of SGO families that can be followed over time to explore changes in outcomes.

Key stakeholders for the project include officials in the Welsh Government and Department for Education, charities, primary schools, social work teams, and SGO families.