Foster to Adopt: What It Means for Your Child

Part of: How to Adopt a Child and Change a Life

Foster to adopt means your child lives with foster carers who are also approved to adopt, while the council and the court decide your child’s future. In law it is still foster care, so it does not mean the court has agreed to adoption. Government guidance calls it fostering for adoption, and some councils call it early permanence. Our specialists in child protection enquiries assist and advise parents and relatives at every stage.

This page is for birth parents and family members whose child may go, or has gone, to carers who foster and hope to adopt. It covers the law in England and Wales. It is general information, not advice on your case. Hoping to foster and then adopt a child yourself? Book a free initial consultation and one of our specialists will give you initial advice on your own position.

Reviewed by: Hannah Overton, Complex Children Specialist & Client Support, Kabir Family Law

What does foster to adopt mean for a birth parent?

It means the council has found carers who could look after your child now and adopt later, if adoption becomes the plan. Government guidance calls it a fostering placement under the Children Act 1989 that may lead to adoption by the same carers (statutory guidance on adoption, para 2.5). But that can only happen if the court makes a placement order or the parents consent.

The same guidance says the council may still be working on a return home while your child lives with these carers. It also says the council expects adoption to become the plan if that does not succeed (para 2.6). So the placement signals where the council is heading. It is not the decision itself.

You may also hear the term concurrent planning. In that model, the carers bring the child to regular supervised contact with parents and relatives. Meanwhile, support focuses on helping the parents so the child can go home (para 2.9).

When can a council use fostering for adoption?

In England, the rule sits in section 22C of the Children Act 1989. It applies when the council is thinking about adoption for a child it looks after. It also applies when the council believes the child ought to be placed for adoption but has no consent or placement order yet (Children Act 1989, s.22C(9A)).

In that case, the law sets an order of steps for the council (s.22C(9B)):

• First, it must consider a relative, friend or other connected person who is also a foster carer.
• If it decides that is not the most suitable home, it must then consider a foster carer who is also an approved adopter.

Parliament added this duty in the Children and Families Act 2014, s.2. In this situation, the usual rules about living near home, keeping school steady, keeping siblings together and staying in the council’s area do not apply (s.22C(9B)(a)). The duty also falls away if the court has refused the council’s placement order application (s.22C(9C)).

A council can also give an approved adopter temporary approval as a foster carer for one named child (Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010, reg 25A). Before the move, it must tell the parents about the proposed placement if it knows where they are (reg 22A).

Wales has its own rule. A Welsh council may be sure a child ought to be placed for adoption and have chosen a particular approved adopter, but still lack consent or a placement order. If so, it must place the child with that adopter, unless living with a parent (or another person with parental responsibility), or another placement, would be more appropriate (Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, s.81(10)-(11)).

Foster care and adoption: how is foster to adopt different?

Both routes start with foster care. The difference lies in who the carers are, and what could happen if the court later agrees to adoption.

For you, the key point is that the foster parents’ adoption plans are a hope, not a decision. In any adoption decision, the court’s paramount consideration is your child’s welfare throughout their life (s.1(2)). Guidance contrasts this with parallel planning, where the back-up plan would usually involve a different set of carers (para 2.10).

What does a foster to adopt placement not decide?

It is easy to read the move as the end of the road. It is not, and here is what it leaves open.

• Whether adoption happens. An adoption agency can only place a child over six weeks old for adoption with parental consent or a placement order (s.18(1)). Adoption itself needs a court order (Adoption and Children Act 2002, s.46).
• Your parental responsibility. You keep it. A care order lets the council limit how you use it (Children Act 1989, s.33(3)), and an adoption order would end it (s.46(2)(a)).
• Whether family can care for your child. The court must consider your child’s relatives, including whether they are able and willing to give your child a stable home (s.1(4)(f)). Read more about family and friends care and special guardianship.
• Whether your child comes home. The council may still be working towards a return home (para 2.6), and the court must consider the whole range of orders, not only adoption (s.1(6)).
• What contact looks like later. Contact now does not fix contact after an adoption decision. Our guide to adoption orders explains what can happen then.

How does the foster to adopt process unfold in court?

Every case is different, but most follow a similar path. This outline shows the stages, not the choices you will face at each one.

1. The council tells you its plan. Before the move, the council must tell you about the proposed placement if it knows where you are (reg 22A). In a court case, it must also prepare a care plan (Children Act 1989, s.31A). If you had a pre-proceedings letter, keep it with these papers.
2. Contact gets arranged. For a child in care, including under an interim order, the council must allow you reasonable contact (Children Act 1989, s.34(1) and s.31(11)).
3. Parents and family have assessments. The council and the court look at whether your child can safely come home, or live with someone in the family.
4. The court keeps to a timetable. The aim is to finish within 26 weeks of the application. The court can extend that only if it needs more time to deal with the case justly (s.32(1)(a) and (5)).
5. The court makes its final decision. If the plan is adoption and the parents have not formally consented, the council must apply for a placement order (Adoption and Children Act 2002, s.22). The court can make one only if each parent consents, or if it decides to dispense with consent (s.21(3)). Our guide to placement orders explains this stage.
6. Adoption needs one more order. The carers can apply once your child is placed with them for adoption and has lived with them for the 10 weeks before the application (s.42(2)). The court then decides whether to make an adoption order.

Knowing the stages is not the same as knowing what to say at each one. That is why advice before each stage matters more than advice after it.

Where do birth families lose ground?

Most setbacks come from waiting, not from one big mistake. Watch for these pressure points.

• Leaving family names until later. The law puts family and friends who can foster ahead of carers who hope to adopt (s.22C(9B)). Meanwhile, each week your child spends with the carers who foster and hope to adopt still passes. In adoption decisions, the court considers the child’s relationship with a prospective adopter they are placed with (s.1(4)(f)).
• Treating the move as final. It can be tempting to stop engaging if adoption feels settled. It is not settled until the court decides. GOV.UK says a court will give you the chance to explain why you do not want your child adopted (GOV.UK, birth parents: your rights).
• Letting contact slip. If sessions are hard to reach, perhaps because the carers live further away, raise it early and in writing. Once the council has authority to place for adoption, any court order for contact with a child in care ends (s.26(1)).
• Signing consent in a hurry. Consent to adoption is a formal legal step. A mother’s consent to an adoption order does not count if she gives it less than six weeks after the birth (s.52(3)). Take advice before you sign anything.
• Waiting until after a placement order. By then, a parent can only oppose the final adoption with the court’s permission. The court can give that permission only if circumstances have changed since the placement order (s.47(5) and (7)).

Foster to adopt: are you on track before the next hearing?

Tick what is already true for you. The list shows where you stand, but it cannot tell you what to do next.

Frequently asked questions

Expert Tip

Parents often tell us they stayed quiet at first because they feared speaking up would make things worse. Silence early on is the harder position to recover from. If a relative could care for your child, give their name to the social worker in writing now, not after the next hearing. Go to every contact session, and if one is hard to reach, say so in writing straight away.

Iblal Iqbal, Partner & Family Law Strategist