Private fostering is one of safeguarding's most overlooked areas — arrangements that are invisible to the system unless someone reports them, and children who can fall outside normal oversight entirely. Schools are often the only institution with regular contact with these children. This guide explains what private fostering is, the school's legal duty to notify, and what to look for.
⚠️ A legal duty, not a professional judgement
The duty to notify children's services of a private fostering arrangement is a legal obligation under the Children Act 1989 and the Children (Private Fostering Arrangements) Regulations 2005. It applies to school staff who become aware of such an arrangement, not just to the adults directly involved. It does not require a safeguarding concern to be present — the arrangement itself triggers the duty.
A private fostering arrangement is one where a child under 16 — or under 18 if disabled — is cared for by someone who is not a parent, guardian, or close relative for 28 days or more, and that arrangement has been made privately between the adults involved, without involvement from children's services.
Close relatives are defined narrowly in law: they include grandparents, brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts, whether by blood, half-blood or by marriage. A family friend, a neighbour, an unrelated adult who is caring for the child — even if they have known the family for years — is not a close relative in the legal sense. If a child is living with that person for more than 28 days, it is a private fostering arrangement in law, regardless of whether anyone has used that term.
Who counts as a "close relative" in law?
| Is a close relative | Is not a close relative |
|---|---|
| Grandparent | Family friend, however long-standing |
| Brother or sister (including half-siblings) | Neighbour, community member |
| Aunt or uncle (by blood, half-blood, or marriage) | Parent's partner or ex-partner (unless they are a step-parent with parental responsibility) |
| Step-parent (if they have parental responsibility) | Godparent, cousin, great-grandparent |
Formal foster care — local authority-arranged placement with a registered foster carer — is regulated and monitored. The local authority visits, social workers are involved, and there is a legal framework ensuring oversight. Private fostering has none of that unless someone makes a notification.
Many of the families and carers involved genuinely do not know that a legal notification duty exists. A parent who asks a trusted family friend to care for their child while they deal with a crisis, or an international student placed with a host family rather than a blood relative, may have no idea that the arrangement needs to be reported. The absence of a notification is not always a red flag — it is often simply ignorance of the law. That is precisely why awareness matters: if the adults involved do not know, the school may be the only institution that can trigger the oversight process.
Children in private fostering arrangements are known to be at higher risk of harm than children in formally supervised placements, because the absence of oversight means that problems can develop unseen. That is the case even where the arrangement itself began from a place of genuine care and good intention.
Many families set up private fostering arrangements out of genuine necessity and genuine care. The notification duty is not about judging those arrangements — it is about ensuring that any child living outside their own family has some degree of professional oversight.
Under section 67 of the Children Act 1989 and the Children (Private Fostering Arrangements) Regulations 2005, both the private foster carer and the child's parents are required to notify the local authority of the arrangement. They must notify at least six weeks before the arrangement begins — or, if it is not planned in advance, as soon as it starts. The local authority must then check the arrangement and satisfy itself that the child's welfare is being properly safeguarded.
Crucially, the duty does not stop with the families directly involved. Under the same legal framework, anyone who becomes aware of a private fostering arrangement — including a teacher, a school nurse, a pastoral lead or a DSL — has a responsibility to either notify the local authority themselves, or to satisfy themselves that the local authority is already aware. In practice, for school staff, this means notifying the DSL, who should then make the referral to children's services if the local authority is not already informed.
The arrangement does not need to be concerning to trigger the duty. A stable, loving arrangement where the child is clearly well cared for still needs to be notified, because the oversight duty belongs to the local authority, not to the school's subjective assessment of whether everything looks fine.
Private fostering often comes to school attention not through a formal disclosure but through something a member of staff notices in passing. These are the patterns worth a follow-up conversation:
A change of address to a household that isn't a close relative
A pupil whose home address changes to that of a person who isn't a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle is a prompt to ask a careful question. The change might be recorded on a school registration update form, in the address section of a parental consent form, or noticed by a form tutor. It does not require alarm — a simple, straightforward conversation with the pupil and the adult collecting them will usually clarify the situation quickly.
A different adult consistently collecting or registering the child
If someone who is not a parent or known close family member is consistently collecting a child, providing consent for trips, or responding to school letters as if they are the responsible adult, that is worth understanding. Schools regularly deal with family friends collecting a child in a one-off emergency — that is not what this is about. It is the pattern of a different adult acting in the parental role, consistently and over time, that raises the question.
Inconsistent or vague explanations about living arrangements
Children sometimes give different answers on different occasions about where they live, who they live with, and where their parents are. This can reflect a genuinely complicated family situation — it can also reflect a child who has learned to give a non-specific answer because the adult caring for them has asked them not to say too much. A gentle, direct conversation with the child — not a formal interrogation — will often clarify things.
International students or extended-family placements with a family friend
Children who have come to the UK from another country, particularly to attend school, and are living with a family friend rather than a blood relative are in a private fostering arrangement. This is common in some communities and cultures and is not inherently concerning — but it does trigger the notification duty. If a pupil is living with a host family they met through a community or religious network rather than with a relative, check whether the local authority has been notified.
Once a DSL has reason to believe a child may be in a private fostering arrangement, the steps are straightforward. The school's role is to notify — not to investigate, not to assess the quality of the arrangement, and not to wait for the families to make the notification themselves.
✓ Bottom line for DSLs
Private fostering is not rare, and it is not always obvious. The legal duty to notify is clear, and the school's role in triggering that duty is important precisely because schools are often the only institution with regular contact with these children. Spot the pattern. Ask the question. Make the referral. That is all that is required of you — the oversight responsibility then sits with the local authority.
📚 Statutory References
Sources
[1] Children Act 1989. s.66–67. legislation.gov.uk.
[2] The Children (Private Fostering Arrangements) Regulations 2005. SI 2005/1533. legislation.gov.uk.
[3] HM Government / Department for Education (2026). Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026. GOV.UK.
This article has been reviewed against the Children Act 1989 and the 2005 Regulations and does not constitute legal advice. Always refer to the official statutory text and consult your local authority if uncertain whether a specific arrangement meets the legal definition. Last reviewed: August 2026.