Fostering for adoption

Fostering for adoption is used for babies and children who are in local authority care where the plan is likely to be adoption, but who still have a chance of being reunited with their birth family.

Fostering for adoption protects children from experiencing multiple moves within the care system. It provides children with good quality, uninterrupted and consistent care while detailed assessments of their birth family are completed and decisions are made about the plan for the child.

Children are placed with approved adopters who have been assessed and approved as temporary foster carers for the child. These carers will provide the day-to-day care for the child and will continue to work with the child’s social worker to ensure that the child has all of their needs met.

Contact with the birth family

Many children continue to have supervised contact with their birth family. We recommend a maximum of three supervised contacts per week for children in a foster to adopt placement. However, sometimes the Court may order additional contacts.

As fostering for adoption carers your confidentiality is protected, so the birth family will not know your private details.

Support

You will be supported by a social worker who will be able to provide advice and support.

A fostering handbook will be provided along with details regarding fostering requirements and information about any available support groups and training courses.

They will continue to offer support up until the point of an adoption matching panel or if the child leaves the foster to adopt placement.

Payment

You will receive a weekly fostering allowance for the child.

It is highly likely that you would go on to adopt the child, but you would have to deal with the uncertainty before the court reaches a final decision.

You would need to think about the possibility of the child returning to their birth family and would need to work together with the local authority to manage this in the most sensitive way for the child.