Staying Put: What Happens When a Foster Child Turns 18

Your foster child turns 18 and stops being a looked-after child that day. Nothing about who they are changes overnight. Staying Put is the arrangement that lets them carry on living with you, and most young people take it.

Please note: this is general information, not personal financial, tax or legal advice. Tax figures are for the 2026/27 tax year and are correct at 17 August 2026. Read the government’s Staying Put guidance and check current rates with the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group. Your own position depends on your circumstances, so take advice before you commit to anything.

What is Staying Put?

A young person keeps living with their foster carer after their 18th birthday. That is the whole idea.

The duty sits in section 23CZA of the Children Act 1989, put there by the Children and Families Act 2014. The local authority has to monitor the arrangement and give advice, assistance and support to both of you. That support has to include money. The duty runs until the young person turns 21.

Do many young people stay?

Most of them do.

Of the 18-year-olds in England who were in foster care and stopped being looked after on their 18th birthday, 62 per cent were still living with their former foster carers three months later. That is the Department for Education figure for 2025, unchanged from 2024.

Who can stay put?

Four things need to be true.

• They were looked after right up to their 18th birthday, as an eligible child, and had been in care for at least 13 weeks since turning 14.
• You were their approved foster carer immediately before they turned 18.
• You both want it. Nobody can make either of you agree.
• It is written into their Pathway Plan, which the local authority has to have in place by the time they are 16.

There is no minimum length of time they have to have lived with you. A young person who moved in at 17 can stay put at 18.

What actually changes on the day?

A fair amount on paper. Very little in the kitchen.

• Your foster child becomes a care leaver.
• You become a Staying Put carer rather than a foster carer.
• The fostering regulations and the national minimum standards stop applying to the arrangement.
• You get a Staying Put allowance instead of a fostering allowance and fee.
• You and the young person sign a Living Together Agreement.
• If you carry on fostering other children, the young person will need a DBS check, and you may need to go back to fostering panel.

At 16 the young person is assigned a Personal Adviser who works alongside their social worker. That person becomes your main point of contact for the practical side of the arrangement.

Will you be worse off?

Usually a bit, yes. We would rather say so now than let you find out in November.

The Staying Put allowance is normally lower than what you were paid to foster. In return, the young person pays you rent each week and contributes towards heating and food. If they are not earning enough and are not eligible for Universal Credit, the local authority will usually cover the rent instead.

Your income can also dip while they are away. University terms, a training course, a posting with the armed forces: all of these can reduce what you receive.

On tax, you stay self-employed and Qualifying Care Relief still applies. For 2026/27 that is a fixed 20,440 pounds per household, plus 515 pounds a week for each person aged 11 or over, and a Staying Put young person counts in that weekly figure. Our article on Qualifying Care Relief works through how the sums fit together, and our piece on foster carer allowance and pay covers what you are paid while a child is placed.

Who actually pays you varies. Sometimes the local authority pays and supports the arrangement directly. Sometimes we keep paying you and the local authority provides the support. Sometimes we do both. Ask early, because it changes who you ring when something goes wrong.

What is a Living Together Agreement?

It is the awkward conversation, written down and signed.

Planning meetings usually happen between 16 and 17 and a half, with you, the young person and their social worker. The agreement covers:

• rent and what they put towards the bills
• house rules: visitors, smoking, what happens when you go away
• who does what around the house
• the independence skills you are going to help with

It gets reviewed with the Personal Adviser, normally every six months alongside the Pathway Plan, sometimes yearly. That review is where you say the thing you have been putting off saying.

When does it end?

At 21, in the ordinary course of things. It can also end sooner:

• the young person decides to move on, and their local authority helps them find somewhere
• you cannot carry on, whether for health reasons or because the room is needed
• the local authority decides the arrangement is working against the young person’s welfare

Check the notice period in your local authority’s Staying Put policy before you need it.

Support does not stop at 21. Every care leaver keeps a Personal Adviser up to the age of 25. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, which became law on 30 April 2026, also requires councils to assess whether care leavers up to 25 need Staying Close support and to publish what they offer locally. Those provisions are being brought in over time, so ask the Personal Adviser what applies right now.

Should you say yes?

If the young person wants to stay and you have the room, say yes.

Eighteen is a rough age to be handed keys to a bedsit in a town where you know nobody. The young people who do well after care are usually the ones who still have somebody to ring at half past ten at night. That somebody is often you.

It is not tidy. There will be the lift home from a late shift, the argument about whose turn it is to do the washing up, the driving lessons, the week they barely speak to you. A 19-year-old living in your house is a 19-year-old living in your house.

Staying Put is not an extension of fostering. It is closer to how most families handle their own children at that age.

You will not be doing this on your own

Our supervising social workers each support around six families, so the person who knows your household knows it properly. Planning for what happens at 18 starts well before the young person’s 16th birthday, in the Pathway Plan and in supervision.

We run independence workshops for young people covering first aid, vaping, and rights and entitlements. Our lead education consultant tracks how children in our care are doing at school and college, which matters a great deal if a young person is staying with you while finishing a course. Our article on life skills and independent living goes into what that looks like day to day, and you can see the wider picture on our support for foster carers page.

Frequently asked questions

Does the young person stop being a looked-after child at 18?

Yes. They become a care leaver on their 18th birthday, and the fostering regulations no longer govern the arrangement. What replaces them is the Living Together Agreement and the duty on the local authority under section 23CZA of the Children Act 1989.

Can I keep fostering other children during a Staying Put arrangement?

Usually, yes. The young person staying with you will need a DBS check, and depending on your terms of approval you may need to return to fostering panel. Talk to your supervising social worker before you agree dates with anyone.

Do I still get paid?

Yes, a Staying Put allowance, which is normally lower than your fostering payments. The young person pays rent and contributes towards household costs, and if they cannot afford it the local authority usually covers the rent.

What if the young person only moved in with me recently?

There is no minimum time they need to have lived with you. What matters is that you were their approved foster carer immediately before their 18th birthday and that they had been looked after for at least 13 weeks since turning 14.

What happens when they turn 21?

The Staying Put arrangement ends, but their Personal Adviser stays with them until they are 25. Plenty of young people carry on visiting long after the paperwork stops, which is rather the point.