The Law

The Children Act 2004 (England and Wales)

About the Act

The Children's Bill has now received Royal Assent (and so has become the Children Act 2004). Consultations on implementation are likely to begin in the new year.

The Act includes an amendment to introduce a power to establish a national minimum allowance for foster carers, which BAAF has long campaigned for and supported

BAAF is delighted to have been able to help influence this - a number of peers mentioned the work that BAAF has done in the debate on the Children Bill in the House of Lords.

Read the House of Lords debate (on the Hansard site) >>

BAAF's work on the Children Bill

These documents are in the pdf format.

To read pdfs you will need Acrobat Reader (download free from Adobe).

BAAF calls for national minimum allowances for foster carers

• The Children Bill House of Lords Briefing (pdf)
• The Children Bill Report Stage Briefing (pdf)

The Children Bill Commons Committee Stage Briefings:

• Briefing on Private Fostering for House of Commons Committee Stage (pdf)
• Report on the prohibition of private foster carers (pdf)
• The Children Bill Briefing on National Minimum Allowances (joint briefing with The Fostering Network) (pdf)
• Additional information on fostering allowances in response to points raised by Ministers in recent correspondence(pdf)

Earlier work:

• BAAF's response to the first reading of the Children's Bill (pdf)

Also see:
> Press release: BAAF welcomes Government plans to establish a national minimum fostering allowance
> Our fostering position statement
> Our fostering campaign