Fostering for Adoption is where a child in care is placed with registered foster carers who have also been approved as adopters. The foster carers care for the child whilst the child's social worker works with and assesses his or her birth family and makes a recommendation to the Court about the child's future care.

If it's decided that adoption is the best option to secure the child's future wellbeing then the fostering placement becomes an adoption placement. The foster carers become the adopters and make an application to the Court to formally adopt the child.

family, parents and child paddling in the sea

Early Permanence

Fostering for Adoption is one of the early permanence placement types Adoption Focus is able to offer through the Triangle Project. These placements are intended to speed up a child’s journey through care and minimise the disruption of repeated moves to different families. It allows children to be placed with approved adopters who have also been approved as foster carers, enabling the children to experience a loving, settled and secure home as quickly as possible.

When a child can’t live with their birth family, local authorities and the courts are responsible for finding a new family without delay. All available options for the child's care must be fully explored before a decision is made to seek adopters. In most cases, during this time the child lives with foster carers.

In early permanence placements, children are fostered by the people who are likely to become their adopters at an early stage, reducing the likelihood of multiple temporary placements. This decreases uncertainty for children by reducing the number of moves they experience and the trauma associated with this upheaval.

Triangle Project Early Permanence logo

The Triangle Project

The Triangle Project is a partnership between Adoption Focus and St. Francis’ Children’s Society (SFCS), both successful and experienced adoption agencies. The Triangle Project trains, prepares, assesses and approves early permanence carers for vulnerable children. We work with potential parents, helping them to become dual-approved as both foster carers, approved through the Triangle Project fostering agency and adopters, approved through either Adoption Focus or SFCS, depending on the adopter’s geographical location.

The Triangle Project is registered with Ofsted and has been funded by the Department for Education’s Practice and Improvement Fund for Adoption Services.

Are you interested in exploring a different route to adoption? Could you offer an early permanence placement to a vulnerable child? For more information visit the Triangle Project website or call the switchboard on 0300 303 3707.

You can also download the Triangle Project leaflet and read more detailed information about early permanence in our Guidance Notes.

How to start the adoption process

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