Adoption and Fostering Home Page

The Council provides a range of fostering and adoption services for children and families, and trains and supports those who wish to take on a role as foster carers and adoptive parents. These services are also known as Family Placement services.

Useful links

Our Services

Family Contact Service

Family Placement Team

Adoption

Fostering

Private Fostering

Our Services

The standards you can expect in our Family Placement work. We monitor:

• The number of children being looked after by the Council, and the proportions of these being fostered or in adoption.
• The educational attainment of these children.
• The number of times children are moved between families and other care arrangements.

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Family Contact Service

The Family Contact Service provides a flexible service for children and families in maintaining contact whilst the child is looked after by the local authority or if a child is placed on the Child Protection Regsiter.

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Family Placement Team

Deals with various aspects of placement for children of all ages, placing them in foster care or with adoptive parents. We recruit, train and assess prospective foster and adoptive parents and provide support after children are placed with their new families. For more information, visit the Placement page or use the links in the right hand navigation bar.

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Adoption

Adoption is a means of providing permanent families for children who cannot be brought up by their birth families. It differs from foster care because it is permanent, rather than temporary, arrangement for the children. The parents are recognised by law as parents, rather than guardians. For more information, visit the Adpotion page or use the links in the right hand navigation bar.

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Fostering

When children cannot live within their birth families for any reason, then fostering is usually considered as the first option for substitute care. The child or children are placed with another family temporarily. Often this is just a few days or weeks, but in some circumstances fostering arrangements can last several years. For more information, visit the Fostering page or use the links in the right hand navigation bar.

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Private Fostering

Information and guidance on what to do if you are going to place your child with a non-family member for a period of more than 28 days. For more information, view the Private Fostering page or use the links in the right hand navigation bar.

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