European e-Justice Portal

1 Is there an obligation under your national law for prior consultation and the obtaining of consent before the cross-border placement of a child? Please mention possible exceptions.

Yes – under Article 26 of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (the Children Order) there is a requirement to ascertain the wishes and feelings of the child, their parents or anyone else with parental responsibility or any other relevant person and to give due consideration to those wishes and feelings with regard to making a decision about that child’s welfare.

2 If prior consultation and consent are required, which authority is to be consulted and to give the consent?

The Northern Irish legislation tends to mirror the Children Act 1989 of England and Wales. There are three categories -

• Informal – arrangements between parents and relative(s) with no involvement from social services;

• Voluntary accommodated – arrangements between parents and local authority (Articles 21 and 27 of the Children Order refer);

• Care Order – obtaining this Order requires an application to Court (Articles 27 and 50 of the Children Order refer).

Private fostering arrangements are similar to England and Wales (see the factsheet for England and Wales)

3 Please describe shortly the procedure for consultation and the obtaining of consent (including required documents, deadlines, modalities of the procedure, and other relevant details).

There is a suite of pro-formas available to facilitate the exchange/provision of information when a child or young person becomes looked after and for on-going review purposes.

4 What is a “foster family” according to the national law of your Member State?

The Children Order does not define ‘family’. The Children Order defines ‘authority foster parent’ as placing with a family, a relative of his or any other suitable person as defined by Article 27(3) of the Order.

5 Does the notion of “foster family” encompasses relatives or not? If yes, which ones?

Article 27(2)(a) of the Children Order permits placing a child with –

(i) a family;

(ii) a relative of his; or

(iii) any other suitable person.

A “relative” is defined in Article 2(2) of the Children Order as “in relation to a child, means a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt (whether of the full blood or half blood or by marriage or civil partnership), or step-parent”.

Last update: 15/04/2020

The national language version of this page is maintained by the respective EJN contact point. The translations have been done by the European Commission service. Possible changes introduced in the original by the competent national authority may not be yet reflected in the translations. Neither the EJN nor the European Commission accept responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to any information or data contained or referred to in this document. Please refer to the legal notice to see copyright rules for the Member State responsible for this page.

Cross-border placement of a child including foster family

1 Is there an obligation under your national law for prior consultation and the obtaining of consent before the cross-border placement of a child? Please mention possible exceptions.

2 If prior consultation and consent are required, which authority is to be consulted and to give the consent?

3 Please describe shortly the procedure for consultation and the obtaining of consent (including required documents, deadlines, modalities of the procedure, and other relevant details).

4 What is a “foster family” according to the national law of your Member State?

5 Does the notion of “foster family” encompasses relatives or not? If yes, which ones?