What’s the difference between fostering and adoption?
Here at TACT, we have over 30 years’ experience of providing care, advocacy and wider reaching services for children and young people. From 2006-2018 we also operated an adoption service. Whilst we no longer provide adoption or post-adoption support services, we are often asked about the difference between fostering and adoption.
How Is Fostering Different From Adoption?
Adoption and fostering can lead to amazing outcomes for children. They both involve providing a caring and nurturing home environment for young people who can no longer live with their ‘birth’ families. They also both involve similar application and assessment processes for those wishing to undertake either path. However, they are ultimately very different in terms of what they provide for children, for how long – and in terms of who has legal and parental rights.
About Fostering
To begin with, fostering is a temporary care arrangement that is made whilst more permanent options are explored for a young person. The ultimate goal is a child’s reunification with their birth family, but this is not always possible.
Whilst there are many different types of foster care, it can be superficially split into short and long term fostering. This could mean providing care for a single night right up to several years. Although foster care legally ceases when a young person reaches 18, there are options available to enable young people to stay with their foster carers until they are 21.
Foster carers can choose the type of fostering they want to undertake, and any potential fostering arrangement is fully explored with both the foster carers and young people prior to commencing.
Carers receive an allowance, which covers living expenses and a fee for their skill and dedication. They also receive full and ongoing training, and 24/7 fostering support from a Social Worker.
A foster carer will not have full parental responsibility and rights; this will remain with a local authority for the duration that they are in care.
About Adoption
Adoption is a permanent arrangement where full and legal parental rights are transferred to the adopter, via an ‘adoption order’. It is a life commitment and will provide a young person with their ‘forever home’.
To be adopted, a child must be under the age of 18 when the adoption application is made.
A young person can remain in contact with their birth families, but only if it is safe and in line with the child’s needs.
Adopters will undertake pre-adoption training – and will receive ongoing support. Whilst adopters can receive a degree of financial support, this is unlike the allowance paid to foster carers. This is because the arrangement dictates that children should be financially supported by their adoptive parents, as if the young person was their own ‘birth child’.
Once an adoption order has been granted and a child’s legal status changed, it cannot be overturned except in rare circumstances.
Fostering Vs Adoption: the Main Differences
| Fostering | Adoption | |
| For people wishing to… | Provide temporary care for a young person whilst more permanent options are sought by a local authority | Provide a young person with their permanent ‘forever home’, as if the young person was their own ‘birth child’ |
| Duration of care | Temporary. Depending on the type of foster care, between one night right up to several years | Permanent |
| Parental responsibility | Remains with the local authority | Full and legal parental rights via an adoption order |
| Child’s contact with birth family | Usually some form of regular contact, if appropriate | Direct and/or indirect contact with birth family if it conforms with child’s needs, and is safe |
| Training | Full training provided | Full pre-adoption training provided (local authority/agency specific) |
| Support | Full 24/7 support package from TACT, including a social worker, out-of-hours service, wellbeing and mental health support – and full support for all children in the household | Ongoing support (local authority/agency specific) |
| Financial Support | A fostering allowance, providing a carer fee, living expenses, help with council tax – and ad hoc discretionary funds (upon application) | Some financial support (local authority/agency specific) |
Should You Foster or Adopt?
Choosing whether to foster or adopt very much depends on your circumstances, and your goal of either providing task-based care or a permanent arrangement for a young person. Both routes can help achieve remarkable outcomes for children.
Some people, for many reasons, are unable to have children of their own. In these circumstances, adoption could be the best choice due to its permanency and transferal of parental rights.
Fostering provides an opportunity for many people to make a real difference in children’s lives whilst more permanent arrangements are sought by a local authority. Many people choose to foster with or without their own children, and there are many different ways to make a difference.
Ultimately, either care pathway must be right for you and your household.
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