Many foster carers worry about what will happen when their foster child reaches legal adulthood. In this blog post, we’ll explain Staying Put arrangements and transition planning, and explore the post-18 support that’s available.

The average age that young people leave home in the UK is 24[1]. Yet, until relatively recently, looked after young people were expected to leave their foster families at 18. That’s a big difference – and given that young people in foster care are often in need of greatest support, we always felt it was an unfair one.

Thankfully, things have changed. Foster care for over-18s isn’t the same as foster care for under-18s (we’ll explain why in a moment), but it is possible for older foster children to remain with their foster families beyond the age of 18, as long as everyone agrees that that’s what they would like to happen.

Foster care after 18: what happens?

In the UK, a child becomes an adult at 18. At that point, the young person is entitled to make their own decisions about their future. They may decide it’s time to live independently. They might decide to live with friends. They may go to university and live there. But what if they don’t do any of that, and instead want to stay with their foster family?

Foster care for over-18s: Staying Put arrangements

Young people can stay with their foster families past the age of 18 under what is known as a Staying Put arrangement.

Because they are over 18, this is no longer a placement (because they are adults and can choose where they live). That’s why we use the word ‘arrangement’ because it reflects the idea that everyone involved does so through choice. At this point, a foster carer also ceases to be a formal ‘carer’ and instead – legally at least – becomes more like a landlord. In reality, foster families carry on as normal and the relationships evolve naturally, as is the case for every family with adult children.

Staying Put arrangements help young people transition to adulthood without the hard cut-off of turning 18. As their former foster carer, you’ll help with that transition, preparing them for adult living. The arrangement will formally cease when the young person reaches 21.

Setting out the ground rules

It’s not as if someone flicks a switch when a foster child turns 18 and they become a completely different person. You may well have already had to deal with issues around relationships, behaviours, work, higher education and more as they have progressed through adolescence.

But at 18, the legal shift to adulthood does mean that a young person is entitled to make more of their own decisions, and those decisions may not always match your wishes. That’s why it’s important to ensure the Staying Put arrangement lays out the ground rules, so everyone knows what to expect.

The arrangement covers lots of areas, but some key ones are:

• What happens if the young person wants to use your address on applications for loans, credit cards and contracts (e.g. for a mobile phone).
• What happens if the young person wants to claim benefits while living with you.
• What happens if a young person wants to sleep away from the home – this sets out how you expect to be kept informed of their whereabouts.
• What happens when the young person wants friends or partners to stay over.
• Arrangements for moving on at the end of the arrangement.

The arrangement will also set out how you’ll help the young person prepare for adulthood. This might be through helping them learn to cook or carry out simple DIY tasks. It might be about managing finances or applying for jobs. It might be about building self-esteem and resilience.

Do foster carers still get paid for foster care after 18?

Yes. You’ll still get paid an allowance. This should be roughly equivalent to the fostering allowance you used to receive, but there may be differences in exactly how much you get and how the allowance is made up.

Where young people in Staying Put arrangements are working or on benefits, they will be expected to contribute to your allowance. They will, effectively, pay a small amount of rent.

Some allowances that you used to have when the young person was a foster child may continue. Others, such as clothing allowances and pocket money payments may change as the young person may now be expected to cover these themselves.

What happens when a foster child turns 18 in the UK? Things you might not have thought about

There are lots of consequences of your looked after child turning 18 that you might not have thought about. For example:

• Arrangements can take some time to pull together. If you know (or suspect) that your foster child is likely to want to stay with you beyond 18, start planning for it early – most families start doing this when a child turns 16.
• If you have other foster children in the household, a young person in a Staying Put arrangement will need a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check as they are now an adult.
• The support that someone aged 18 or over needs from their former foster carers is likely to be different from an under-18. Your local authority will work with you to understand the training and support you’ll need.
• If a young person leaves the home during a staying put arrangement (for example, to attend university or undergo armed forces training) you may receive a retainer payment to ensure there’s still a place for them to return to when needed.

What happens at 21?

It’s important not to simply switch the cliff-edge of 18 with another at 21. So although your formal role with the young person will end at 21, your local authority will continue to support the transition to adult living in line with what was agreed in the staying put arrangement.

As for your relationship with the young person, although you are no longer the foster carer, there’s no reason for the relationship to end as long as that’s what you and the young person both want.

Lots of our foster carers still see their now adult foster children from time to time.

Talk to us

Thinking about fostering? To talk things over (without making any commitments!)  please get in touch.

[1] Office for National Statistics