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Care Orders and Being Accommodated

We (Kingston Council) will normally try to agree with your parents whether it’s right for you to become ’looked  after’—this is called being accommodated. If this is not possible, then we may ask a court to make a decision about who looks after you. When this happens, it’s called a care order.

Care Orders

If the court has made a care order then we have a legal responsibility for you. This is called parental responsibility. This means that we will decide with you and your family where you will live, but this will normally be away from home. We will also be involved in making other important arrangements about how and when you meet up with your family and so on.

Being Accommodated

If you are accommodated then this is a voluntary arrangement between us and your family. This means that your family will keep all the rights and responsibilities as parents for you, and we do not take on any parental responsibility. This means that your family can end the arrangement to accommodate you at any time. If you are 16 or over you can come and ask to be accommodated, whether or not your parents agree with the idea.

If you are accommodated in this way we will draw up a plan with your family setting out the arrangements that will be made for you, and this must be in writing. This is called a care plan. This care plan may say that you will live in a foster home or a residential home. In some cases the foster home could be the home of relatives or friends of your family. If you are accommodated we will make sure you can continue to have contact with your family and friends.