Fostering
At times, children need to be legally removed from their birth families and placed into foster care. Children could be any age from birth to 18 years. They could still have contact with their birth family but this is arranged by their case worker.
A goal of foster care is to strengthen families so children can return home safely - and the birth family and foster family are supported by the case worker to help this happen.
Adoption
Adoption is a permanent arrangement, where birth parents legally relinquish their parental rights regarding a child.
The adoptive family takes on responsibility for the child's care and parenting. The child is legally recognised as part of that family and have the same legal rights as any of the family's biological children.
