What is fostering?

Fostering is a way of offering children and young people a home while their own family is unable to look after them.

About 79 percent of children who are looked after away from home in the UK live with foster families. Foster carers are child care experts working alongside a team of professionals providing children with the highest standard of care.

Fostering is not easy; but it offers the opportunity to make a huge difference to the lives of the children who need it. Fostering can be a very rewarding experience.

Fostering is often a temporary arrangement, and many fostered children return to their own families. Children who cannot return home but still want to stay in touch with their families often live in long-term foster care.

How is it different from adoption?

Adoption is where a new family is provided for children who can no longer live with their own family. An adoption order transfers the child's legal relationship from their birth family to the new adoptive family.

Adoption is the best option for a minority of children, with around 4,000 children needing adoptive families each year. However, the vast majority of children in care do not need a new family, but rather to be given the highest standard of care until they can return to their own family or move on elsewhere.

If you are interested in adoption, please visit the National Adoption Week website to find out more.