Looked After Children, Kinship Carers and Forces Families: ASN Rights in Scotland

Three groups of children in Scotland have specific considerations within the Additional Support for Learning framework that most parents — and, frankly, many schools — aren't fully aware of: children who are looked after by the local authority, children being raised by kinship carers, and children from military families moving schools regularly due to postings. Each group faces distinct challenges, and each has legal protections worth understanding.

Looked after children and ASN

"Looked after" is the Scottish legal term for children who are in the care of the local authority — whether living in foster care, a residential placement, or in some cases at home under a supervision requirement. In Scotland, there are approximately 10,000 looked after children, and they are among the most educationally disadvantaged pupils in the system.

The automatic ASN presumption. Under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, all looked after children are automatically deemed to have an additional support need unless specifically assessed as not requiring support. This is not discretionary — the status alone triggers the presumption.

The rationale is straightforward. Looked after children statistically experience significantly worse educational outcomes than their peers, linked to instability, trauma, and frequent school changes. The presumption ensures they receive consideration and support rather than falling through gaps.

What this means in practice. If a looked after child in your care has not been formally recognised as having ASN, the authority is failing its statutory duty. Write to the school and the education authority invoking the ASL Act's automatic presumption to trigger assessment and a formal support plan.

The designated teacher. Scottish schools should have a designated teacher or member of staff responsible for the educational support of looked after children. This person is supposed to act as an internal advocate and coordinator, ensure the child has a Looked After Child review included in their planning, and link with social work around the child's Personal Education Plan (PEP). PEPs are required for all looked after children. If your child doesn't have one, or hasn't had it reviewed recently, this is an immediate concern to raise.

Continuity of support across placements. Looked after children move placements, and every placement change risks a gap in educational support. The ASN record and any plans (IEP, Child's Plan, CSP) should transfer with the child between schools and authorities. In practice, this often doesn't happen smoothly. If a looked after child is moving to a new school, contact both schools and the social work team in writing to confirm that the ASN record and support plans will transfer before the first day at the new school.

Kinship carers and ASN

Kinship care refers to a child being raised by a relative or family friend rather than their parents — often a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or older sibling. In Scotland, there are thought to be around 15,000 children in kinship care arrangements, many of them informal arrangements that sit outside the formal looked after system.

Formal vs informal kinship care. The legal position of kinship carers depends on whether the arrangement is formal (the child is legally looked after and placed with the kinship carer by the local authority) or informal (agreed within the family without local authority involvement). Children in formal kinship care retain all the legal protections of looked after children, including the automatic ASN presumption. Children in informal kinship arrangements do not have the same automatic legal status, though they may still have additional support needs in their own right.

The particular challenges. Many kinship carers are grandparents or older relatives who came to caring unexpectedly, often in the context of family crisis. They may be unfamiliar with the ASN system, may have less capacity for sustained advocacy than younger parents, and may face schools that don't always recognise kinship carers as having the same parental rights as birth parents.

Legal standing. A kinship carer who holds a Kinship Care Order (or who is a foster carer) has parental responsibilities and rights, giving them the same standing as a parent in ASN matters. They can request assessments, attend meetings, and — if necessary — bring formal disputes. Where the arrangement is informal, legal standing may be more complex, but in practice schools and authorities should engage with the person who is responsible for the child's day-to-day care.

What to prioritise. If you are a kinship carer raising a child with additional support needs, the most important things to establish early are: whether the child has been formally identified under the staged intervention framework, whether an appropriate plan is in place, and whether all relevant assessment history from previous schools has been transferred. Many children in kinship care have experienced school disruption. Rebuilding the support structure from scratch is possible, but it requires writing to the school to trigger formal identification and assessment.

Forces children and ASN in Scotland

Children of military families face a specific and well-documented educational challenge: frequent moves. When a parent is posted, the whole family relocates, and a child who was receiving well-established ASN support in one authority must start again in another. Scotland's 32 education authorities and their varying approaches to ASN identification compound this problem.

The transfer issue. Each time a military family moves to a new Scottish authority, the child's ASN record and support plans should transfer. In practice, records do not always arrive before the child, and even when they do, a new authority may interpret the needs differently and re-run assessments from scratch. This creates delays and — in the worst cases — months without formal support in a new school.

What to do before a posting. As soon as a posting is confirmed, contact the current school in writing to request that all ASN records and plans are prepared for transfer. Get copies of everything — the IEP, Child's Plan, any CSP, educational psychology reports, specialist reports. Do not rely on the records following automatically. Take copies with you.

On arrival in the new authority. Contact the new school before your child starts and request a meeting to discuss their additional support needs. Bring all documentation. Make a written request to the school and the new authority to formally continue the existing staged intervention at the level established at the previous school, pending any new assessment. You don't start from scratch — the authority has a duty to assess and provide support, and your existing evidence base is a starting point, not an irrelevance.

Forces Children's Education. Enquire has published guidance specific to the challenges faced by service children in Scotland. The Forces Children's Education charitable organisation provides additional support.

If support has been lost in the move. If your child was receiving substantial ASN support at a previous school and the new school is not providing equivalent provision, make a written request to the education authority citing the ASL Act duty to make adequate and efficient provision. Include copies of all previous plans and reports as evidence of established needs. Recent arrival does not affect the authority's obligations.

The common thread

All three groups — looked after children, kinship-raised children, and forces children — share a core vulnerability: continuity. The Scottish ASN system is designed to follow the child, but in practice records don't always transfer, assessments have to be repeated, and support is lost at transitions. The parents and carers who navigate this successfully are the ones who keep complete records, make formal written requests at every transition point, and treat each new school as an opportunity to establish documented support rather than a fresh start.

The Scotland CSP & Additional Support Blueprint at /uk/scotland/iep-guide/ includes templates for transferring support plans across authorities, the correct escalation pathway when support is lost in a move, and the specific legislative duties that apply to looked after children — giving kinship carers and forces parents the same informed starting position as any other advocate in the system.

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