Age Restriction on Fostering

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum. My parents are foster carers, and recently a new born baby was put in their care. Today a foster worker informed them that the child was being taken from them and placed with another foster family because they were too old. My Mom is 52 and my Dad will soon be 51.

Is there such a rule concerning age? I've never read or heard about such a rule and was wondering what their situation is.

Thanks in advance for any help.

lilyrose

unfortunatly yes there is such a age limit - the same as for adoption not sure exactly what the limit is - but an aunt of mine had been fostering children for 30 years and had adopted three of their foster kids. they found a way to still see the child after he was taken away because of this age limit - the only way for them to see the child was for their daughter to start fostering - the child is now in her care .
its a complete disgrace as it completly disturbs they child unfortunatly there is nothing you can do legally about it.

lilyrose

lilyrose wrote: »

unfortunatly yes there is such a age limit - the same as for adoption not sure exactly what the limit is - but an aunt of mine had been fostering children for 30 years and had adopted three of their foster kids. they found a way to still see the child after he was taken away because of this age limit - the only way for them to see the child was for their daughter to start fostering - the child is now in her care .
its a complete disgrace as it completly disturbs they child unfortunatly there is nothing you can do legally about it.

I know of a foster family who are substantially older than my parents. The husband is in his early 70s and the wife is in her mid 60s. They still have their foster child. It is disgraceful that they have such a rule. A lot of foster families are running it like a business. There is one I know of that currently has 6 children in their care. I was always told the limit was two, and that they two had to be siblings.

The_Conductor

I was told the age limit to be considered for adoption is 40- that any older would be unfair on the child, and the restriction is in the best interests of the child.

littlebug

I've no business being in this forum really... sorry but I had a conversation with a foster mum lately. She's just turned 50 and her youngest foster child is almost 3 and she has another who is 7. They've been with her since they were babies and are with her for the long haul. She has real concerns about her age/ health etc and the impact this could have on them.. not necessarily now but if anything happened to her over the next 5-6 years. Her own children are all grown up and moved away. Also thinking about the fact that she'll be 60 when the little one is just becoming a teenager. I assume that's the reason for the rule... the longer term implications rather than the person's ability to be a foster parent at the age of 50. As I said.. I don't know enough about fostering to comment really. It was just a conversation and I could see the anxiety in the woman's face. I got the feeling she's not in the best of health and was terribly worried about it all

Gabsdot

Currently there is no upper age limit for adoptive parents although I beleive that the agencies involved in domestic adoption will not accept couples who are over 37.
Most families go the intercountry adoption route and In practise couples with one person who is over 50 will have difficulties getting through the assessment process.
When the new adoption Act is passed an upper age limit of 50 will be imposed. I think this is sensible. people can't usually have biological children over the age of 50 for good reason. As for foster families, I would imagine it depends on the age of the child. MY MIL fosters teenagers and she is 52. She has a 15 year old at the moment. Technically he could be her bio child.