What is Early Permanence?
Early Permanency (EP) is a way for children to be placed with a family as early as possible, reducing the number of moves they experience. It allows approved adopters to first foster a baby or young child while the court decides on their long-term future. If the court approves adoption, the child stays with the same family permanently.
This approach is most often used for newborns and very young children, but it can also be an option for older children. The goal is to provide stability and continuity during a crucial stage in a child’s life.
Early Permanency carers receive extra training and a fostering allowance while the court process is ongoing. If the court decides adoption is the best plan for the child, the fostering arrangement transitions into adoption, keeping the child with the same loving family.
"You do have to remember that with EP your child could be returned to birth family so you need to prepare yourself for this and protect yourself, just in case.”
Early Permanence adopter
The advantage of EP is that the child already has a secure attachment to their carers and is settled with their growing up family early on, which is better for their long-term emotional development. For adopters, there is the opportunity to bond with a baby or child, enabling them to be part of the child’s life as early as possible and share key stages of their development.
Carers in this route to adoption need to be happy to be approved as foster carers, as well as adopters, as they will be fostering the child for the first phase of the placement when care/court proceedings and assessments of birth family are ongoing. The carers also need to be able to accept the uncertainty associated with this and be prepared to return the child to their birth family if the court decides that is the best plan for the child’s future.
More information about Early Permanence can be found on the Adoption England website here.