The Law Commission will discuss its consultation paper which contains proposals for reform of the law governing kinship care.

This event is a part of the Law Commission’s project which considers reform of the law governing kinship care. The event is aimed at members of the public with experience of or an interest in kinship care.

On 8 July 2026 the Law Commission published its consultation paper, which contains provisional proposals for reform. A copy of the kinship care consultation paper, and summaries of the paper in both English and Welsh, are available on the project webpage.

During this event, we will be discussing the law on kinship care. Kinship care takes place when a relative or close family friend steps in to raise a child when the parents are unable to do so. Most commonly, kinship care will be an alternative to the child entering the care system, or a way of caring for a child who is the subject of a care order.

The current system includes multiple court orders — including child arrangements orders and special guardianship orders — which can produce inconsistent outcomes for families, and be complicated for kinship carers and families to navigate.

The Law Commission’s consultation paper provisionally proposes the introduction of a single new kinship care order (KCO), designed specifically for kinship. A KCO could be made bespoke to the particular circumstances of the child at the centre of kinship care.

As an alternative to a single KCO, the Law Commission also proposes amendments to child arrangements orders and special guardianship orders, so that they work better for children in kinship care and their families.

The Law Commission propose the introduction of kinship parental responsibility agreements, which would allow parents formally to grant parental responsibility to a closely related kinship carer without going to court. This would make it easier for kinship carers to engage with schools, doctors and other services on a child's behalf.

In addition, the Law Commission propose some changes to the way in which local authorities in England assess kinship foster carers, to improve consistency of assessment and to ensure the assessment process is suitable for kinship families. These proposals would not apply to Wales, as Welsh Government has recently reformed the law governing the assessment process for kinship foster carers in Wales.

Structure of the event

The event runs from 3pm to 4:30pm on 16 September 2026. It will consist of a presentation by the Law Commission’s kinship care team, including Professor Lisa Webley, the Commissioner responsible for the kinship care project. This will be followed by a discussion in which we hope attendees will share their views with us about our provisional proposals for law reform. We will also be answering questions about the project.

Tickets will be available until 24 hours before the event. The event will be held in person. However, if you would like to join virtually, please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate online participation. We encourage participants to tell us ahead of the event if there are any particular topics they would like to discuss by emailing the kinship care team at kinshipcare@lawcommission.gov.uk.

Description supplied by the event organiser.