Children Previously in Care
This includes children who are the subject of:
- an Adoption order
- a Special Guardianship Order (SGO)
- a Child Arrangement Order (CAO)
This also includes children who were adopted from ‘state care’ outside England and Wales. ‘State care’ is care provided by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other organisation whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society.
It does not include those children who have been ‘looked after’ and have returned to the care of their parents.
Children Living in Kinship Care
This includes children living in:
- Informal kinship care arrangements
- With a Child Arrangements Order (CAO)
- With a Special Guardianship Order (SGO)
*Where a child is living with Kinship foster carers who is currently “looked after” by the local authority following a voluntary agreement the Kinship carers will access the the same support as for all our children in care whilst in court proceedings.
What is the role of the Virtual School for these children and their families?
The Virtual School is a source of advice and information to help their parents/carers to advocate for them as effectively as possible. Virtual Schools are not acting as part of the corporate parent role in these circumstances but are there to promote the educational achievement of these children through the provision of advice and information to relevant parties.
These parties include:
- Parents/Guardians/Kinship Carers
- Staff within education settings
- Social workers from the Post Adoption and SGO Support Team
- Other Local Authority teams e.g. SEND services
The Virtual School can provide generic advice and information, however, if you require a conversation around a specific child, we will need parental consent. Please complete the referral form and send with your enquiry to virtualschool@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.
Referral form
Useful Documents
Information for schools and settings
Information for parents and carers
Resources and useful links
Adoption Support Services (cpadoption.co.uk)) – Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Regional Adoption Agency Post Adoption and SGO Support service
Kinship: Home | The Kinship care charity | England and Wales
