Commentary on Sections Part 13 – Support for Kinship Care Section 72 – Orders which are kinship care orders
183.A kinship care order is not a new, or separate, form of court order.  “Kinship care order” is a label used in the Act to describe certain forms of existing court order granted in certain circumstances. Subsection (1) of section 72 explains that for the purposes of section 71, a “kinship care order” is an order under section 11(1) of the 1995 Act which gives a qualifying person the right to have the child living with that person or to otherwise regulate the child’s residence; a residence order which has the effect of the child living with or predominately living with a qualifying person; or an order under section 11(1) of the 1995 Act appointing a qualifying person as a guardian of a child.
184.Subsection (2) provides that a “qualifying person” means a person who, at the time the order is made, is related to a child, is a friend or acquaintance of someone related to a child or who has another relationship to, or connection with, a child, as specified by order by the Scottish Ministers. An acquaintance is someone who is known slightly to the relative, where the relationship does not necessarily have the same depth or intimacy as a friendship, for example a neighbour. It will be for the court to decide on a case by case basis whether to grant the orders referred to in section 72(1) in the usual way for the particular order concerned; it will not be for the court to determine whether the order so granted constitutes a “kinship care order”.
185.Subsection (3) provides that a parent is not a “qualifying person” for the purposes of subsection (1). In subsection (2) where it refers to a person who is related to a child, subsection (4) provides that this includes someone married to or in a civil partnership with a person who is related to the child, or a person who is related to the child by half blood.