General Information about Fostering and Adoption

Fostering and Adoption is about looking after children and young people who cannot live with their birth families for a variety of, often, very complex reasons.

Fostering is a temporary measure sometimes lasting from only one night to weeks or months, or perhaps longer: occasionally years, depending on a child or young person's individual situation.

The law requires that the Social Work Department's first priority is always to try to return a child to live with his/her own family, if circumstances allow. Thus a child's time in foster care may be very busy, with foster carers being expected to work closely with the Social Work Department, other professionals and the child's own family to achieve this. Older children and young people will be encouraged to be actively involved in this process. Some young people may prefer to remain with foster carers until independence, rather than return home.

If/when attempts to return a child home are not successful, then finding an alternative, permanent family for that child becomes a priority because research and experience tells us that most children, if unable to return to their own families, do best in another family setting.

A new family will be achieved either by adoption, or permanent fostering, depending on the age and individual circumstances of the child/young person concerned. For example, for under 8's the route followed will nearly always be towards adoption, whilst for older children/young people   ---- especially those still in contact with their birth families --- it might be towards permanent/long term fostering. (Please refer to individual sections for details)

Again, foster carers would be closely involved in working towards a successful move for the child or young person.

Both fostering and adoption require patience, commitment and understanding to help a child/young person to cope - not only with the reasons why they cannot live with their own family, but also with the effects of disruptive experiences, plus the loss of their birth family and the loss of trusted care-givers (perhaps more than once). The sadness and insecurity caused by such experiences is often expressed in difficult behaviour; even very young infants can be affected by past events and losses.

Secure, accepting family-based living with foster carers can help repair the damage for many looked after children and help them to move forward. This might mean returning home eventually, or being ready to move to a "new" family or moving on to independent living. Some children/young people will be unable to move forwards until they have settled into a family which they recognise has claimed them: this may take some time.

It is an important part of an adoptive parent's role - or a permanent foster carer's role - to help a child or young person deal with their feelings about being part of two families and it is essential that efforts are made to keep a child's birth family "alive" for that child.