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Have a look at Family Rights Group. They have lots of advice sheetshttp://www.frg.org.uk/need-help-or-advice/advice-sheets

Hi Mum47Have recently been granted an SGO .It is very similar to the adoption process in that the SW will come and interview you several times about all aspects of your life . References will be needed by two friends and one family member. As with adoption you go to panel to be approved .Pm me if you want to Best wishesPenny

the panel bit is only in some LA's I believe. mine doesn't do this, the sgo is granted via the courts as is a court order but some LA's may have a panel to decide if they will support your application for sgo. you can still apply via the courts even in the face of opposition from the LA. in some LA's the child care teams assess the special guardian, in some its the fostering service (as in mine) and for one of my foster bubs it was an independent sw who did it, but she lived a long way away and it was done that way becoz of costs. so no hard and fast rules. but the FRG web site has a (65 page) document on what sgo is, how to apply and what the assessment should look at. its a complicated document and benefits from several reads!! i'm up to 4 times now and am just getting my head round it! it also has links to all the court documents you'll need. good luck with it.