Kinship

Who Kinship is#

Kinship is the charity for kinship carers: grandparents, other relatives and family friends who step in to raise a child when the parents cannot. It is still registered with the Charity Commission under its old name, Grandparents Plus, and it joined the Scottish Charity Register on 31 August 2026 as it extends its work into Scotland. It offers advice, peer support, free workshops and events (in person and online), and campaigns for kinship families. Its Kinship Compass tool finds local and national support by area.

Contacting the advice team#

The contact page sends anyone who needs advice to the Kinship advice team, which has its own page explaining how it can help and how to reach it. The charity's office cannot give advice itself. Workshop and training enquiries go through a separate form.

A kinship child's name: what Kinship says#

Kinship's advice pages say they apply to England. Two of them deal with names.

Special guardianship orders. Its SGO page explains that special guardians hold enhanced parental responsibility and can make most day-to-day decisions, but that the child's parents remain the legal parents. Some decisions need consent from everyone who has parental responsibility, including the parents, and changing the child's surname is one of them. If you cannot get consent on an important decision, it says, you can ask the court to decide, using form C2 in the existing proceedings.

Passports. Its passport page sets out who can apply for a kinship child's passport under each arrangement: a special guardian can apply or renew without the parents' consent, but still needs everyone's written consent, or the court's permission, to change the surname or to take the child abroad for more than three months. A carer with a "lives with" child arrangements order can apply too, though a parent's objection may stop the passport being issued. A looked-after child's passport is applied for by the local authority, and an informal carer cannot apply at all. If the child's name has changed since the SGO, the application needs the court order showing permission, a deed poll or similar document, or the old passport.

For travel, it suggests carrying the SGO or court order, the child's birth certificate, evidence of any name changes and a letter of travel consent, because border officials may ask how you know the child and where the parents are.

Making the change once everyone agrees#

Kinship's point about surnames comes from the Children Act 1989: while a special guardianship order is in force, no one may cause the child to be known by a new surname without every holder of parental responsibility agreeing in writing, or the court's permission. With that agreement, the change is recorded by a deed poll for the child; enrolling it is optional, and GOV.UK lists the fee as £53.05. A child's passport application goes direct to HM Passport Office, on GOV.UK or at a Post Office.

More for kinship carers#

• Changing a child's name after adoption or under special guardianship: consent, leave of the court and evidence.
• Travelling abroad with a child who has a different surname: what to carry.
• How do I change the name on my child's passport?: the evidence HM Passport Office asks for.
• Family Rights Group: advice when children's services are involved.

This page describes what Kinship publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. Kinship has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.