Website of the UK government

Adoption applications

Adoption is a legal act that permanently transfers parental responsibility for a child from one family to another, including adopting stepchildren.

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Contact and residence

When parents are separating, divorcing or applying for civil partnership dissolution and can't agree on arrangements for their children, the family courts can issue a Contact or Residence Order that will determine visiting rights and where the child will live.

If, however, the parents are willing to communicate and negotiate such arrangements among themselves, then family mediation could be an effective alternative to make the process potentially less costly and easier to bear. For more information on mediation you may wish to contact the Family Mediation Helpline on 0845 60 26 627 or visit the Family Mediation Helpline website.

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• More contact and residence information Opens new window

Children in care

Social services can ask the courts to issue:

• emergency protection orders
• care orders
• supervision orders
• secure accommodation orders

if they feel it would be in the child’s best interest or is for the child’s safety.

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A CAFCASS (The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) practitioner will advise the court so that the decisions they make are in the best interests of children.

Making the family court system more open

Most family court proceedings are held in private, with the media not allowed in and the decisions usually not made public. Even on reaching adulthood, children whose lives have been changed by a decision are not always able to discover what the court ordered and why. This has led to a feeling that family courts operate in secret and are unaccountable.

The Department of Justice recently proposed plans to open up family courts to the media - provided individuals involved in the case remain anonymous. The public has been consulted on the proposals, and the government has produced a formal response paper based on the public's comments.

• Read the government's response to the family courts consultation Opens new window