Adoption, fostering and surrogacy

Services

Maternity pay and leave
Your Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and Leave - what you get, how to claim, maternity rights and extra help
Paternity pay and leave
Your Statutory Paternity Pay and Leave - what you get, how to claim, eligibility
Shared Parental Leave and Pay
You can start Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) if you're eligible and you or your partner ends your maternity or adoption leave early - eligibility, entitlement, starting SPL and splitting blocks of leave
Child adoption
The adoption process - eligibility, assessment, adoption agencies, overseas adoptions and the rights of birth parents.
Looking after someone else's child
Support and benefits you can get if you're looking after someone else's child, court orders - kinship care, private fostering, friends and family care

Adoption support fund (ASF)
- Detailed guide
- 11 July 2022
- Department for Education
Fostering services: national minimum standards
- Guidance
- 8 March 2011
- Department for Education
Special guardianship guidance
- Statutory guidance
- 26 January 2017
- Department for Education
Children Act 1989: private fostering
- Statutory guidance
- 25 July 2005
- Department for Education
Fostering services: assessment and approval of foster carers
- Statutory guidance
- 15 July 2013
- Department for Education

Children Adopted from Care in Northern Ireland 2021/22
- 28 September 2022
- Department of Health (Northern Ireland) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency
- National statistics
Adoption support fund: baseline survey of families
- 3 March 2022
- Department for Education
- Research
Adoption support fund: first follow up survey
- 3 March 2022
- Department for Education
- Research
Evaluation of regional adoption agencies
- 3 March 2022
- Department for Education
- Research
Children looked after in England including adoption: 2020 to 2021
- 18 November 2021
- Department for Education
- National statistics

Future inspection of Cafcass from 2021
- 17 March 2021
- Ofsted
- Consultation outcome
- Date closed 11 November 2020
Changes to the Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020
- 9 March 2021
- Department for Education
- Consultation outcome
- Date closed 28 February 2021
Changes to the adoption and children regulations: coronavirus (COVID-19)
- 8 September 2020
- Department for Education
- Consultation outcome
- Date closed 05 August 2020
Adoption strategy: achieving excellence everywhere
- 26 July 2021
- Department for Education
- Policy paper
Fostering better outcomes
- 20 July 2018
- Department for Education
- Policy paper

Adoption scorecards
- 15 July 2021
- Department for Education
- Transparency
Intercountry adoption: list of restricted countries
- 12 March 2021
- Department for Education
- Transparency
Adoption Leadership Board quarterly data reports: 2016 to 2017
- 8 May 2018
- Department for Education
- Transparency
Adoption Leadership Board quarterly data reports: 2015 to 2016
- 20 January 2017
- Department for Education
- Transparency
Adoption Leadership Board quarterly data reports: 2014 to 2015
- 27 March 2016
- Department for Education
- Transparency