Private Fostering
Last updated: October 7, 2008
Table of Contents
1. Introduction and definition
A private fostering arrangement is essentially an arrangement between families / households frequently made without the involvement of a local authority for the care of a child under the age of 16 [under 18 if disabled] by someone other than a parent or close relative. Close relatives are parents, step-parents, siblings, siblings of a parent and grandparents. The private fostering arrangement should be for 28 days or more and should be continuous and not broken by the occasional short break.
Private fostering arrangements are made by mutual agreement between parents and the carers or a situation where a child has left home against their parent’s wishes and is living with a friend and the friend’s family.
Privately fostered children are diverse and may be vulnerable, such children may include the following:
- children sent from abroad to stay with another family, usually to improve their educational opportunities;
- asylum seeking and refugee children;
- teenagers who, having broken ties with their parents, are staying in short term arrangements with friends or other non-relatives;
- children of prisoners placed with distant relatives;
- language students living with host families;
- trafficked children
A child in a private fostering arrangement is not a looked after child and parents retain parental responsibility.
It is the responsibility of the parents and private foster carers involved in this arrangement to inform the local authority of the arrangement within:
- a minimum of 6 weeks prior to a planned placement beginning; or
- 48 hours of a child’s arrival for emergency placement.
