Foster Care Fortnight 2025: relationships and the role of law

This Foster Care Fortnight (13–25 May 2025), I am proud to join the national conversation around The Power of Relationships, the theme set by The Fostering Network for 2025. It’s a powerful reminder that the love, trust and resilience shared within foster families form the bedrock of children’s futures.

Forbes Solicitors supports the wide range of family arrangements that exist today, including foster parents, LGBTQ+ parents, kinship caregivers, blended families and single parents. Legal support is a crucial but frequently invisible component that underlies many of these family tales. Every day, our UK legal team strives to foster and safeguard the essential connections that enable the success of children in care.

Forbes Solicitors is dedicated to supporting families in all their forms and promoting the power of connection at every level, whether that means navigating complicated family court rulings or assisting foster carers in understanding their rights.

Understanding the Legal Landscape of Foster Care

The Children Act 1989 prioritises the child's wellbeing in all choices and serves as the foundation for foster care in the United Kingdom. Local authorities have a statutory duty to protect and support children who cannot safely remain with their birth families and the law offers several routes to secure a child’s future.

Among the key legal mechanisms are:

• Care Orders - local authorities share parental responsibility and arrange placements

• Special Guardianship Orders - relatives or foster carers, long-term legal responsibility

• Kinship Care - where children live with extended family or friends, often informally at first, but increasingly supported through legal frameworks

The family court and local authority decision-making processes are complex. Legal clarity is essential to ensure that children’s needs are met and that the relationships they rely on are preserved, protected and prioritised. Legal professionals play a pivotal role in interpreting the law and using it to give children a sense of belonging and stability.

Our Commitment to Modern Families

Our legal team is deeply committed to championing the rights and realities of modern families. We recognise that families today come in many forms and that every child deserves to grow up in a safe, loving home.

Legal professionals may not always be the face of a fostering journey, but we are often the foundation. We help ensure that families, however formed, are recognised, respected, and protected by law.

Get Involved This Foster Care Fortnight

There are many ways to support The Power of Relationships campaign both within and beyond the legal profession. Learn more about foster care from The Fostering Network.

Let’s work together to support the relationships that change lives and ensure the law continues to be a force for family, in every sense of the word.

If you'd like to learn more about how we support foster families or need legal advice tailored to your situation, we're here to help.

Please contact Adrienne Baker via email at [email protected] or call 01254 580000.