Private Fostering Policy (2024)

What is Private Fostering?
Private fostering is an arrangement in which a child under the age of 16 (or 18 if the child has a disability) lives in the care of someone who is not the child’s parent(s), a person with parental responsibility for the child, or a relative of the child for a period of 28 days or more. This is contained in S.66 Children Act 1989.

Private foster carers can be from the extended family, e.g. a cousin or a great aunt, but cannot be a relative as defined in the S.105 Children Act 1989.

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