Fostering visits and reviews in Wales from April 2026
From 1 April 2026, Wales changes how fostering visits, reviews and assessments work. If you look after a child, sit on a fostering panel, or support a family, this is a practical guide to what will change and how to prepare.
These changes come via the Fostering Panels and Care Planning (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026, signed on 23 January 2026. They amend two existing rulebooks: the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (Wales) Regulations 2015 and the Fostering Panels (Establishment and Functions) (Wales) Regulations 2018. The legal text sits on legislation.gov.uk and is the reference point for casework and training.
Visits after the early months of a placement are being rebalanced for kinship care. Where a child is placed with a relative, friend or other connected person under section 81(6)(a) of the 2014 Act, the responsible authority will set the visit timetable following consultation with the independent reviewing officer (IRO), the foster carer, the child’s parent(s) and the child. The maximum gap allowed is six months.
For foster homes that are not kinship placements but are intended to last until the child is 18, the maximum gap between visits remains three months. In any other case, the limit stays at six weeks. Extra visits can still be arranged whenever the child, carer or parent reasonably asks.
Case reviews are also being recalibrated. As a rule, reviews must still happen at least every six months. For connected person placements, the authority will again set the schedule in consultation with the IRO, carer, parent(s) and child, and the maximum interval is twelve months.
What counts as a connected person? It means someone already known to the child - a relative, a family friend or another significant adult. The new review and visit limits are upper bounds, not targets. If risks rise or plans change, meetings and visits should happen sooner.
The 2018 fostering panel rules now spell out that someone is part of your household if they live in your home, whether they are there through a placement or another council arrangement. This matters because household members are included in checks and assessments.
Assessment duties are being tightened and modernised. If you have previously been approved as a foster carer in Wales or in England, and you consent, your new fostering service must request your old assessment report, your most recent review of approval and relevant records. Requests must be made in writing.
The records that can be requested include material held under Wales’ 2018 and 2019 fostering regulations, and reports prepared under England’s Fostering Services Regulations 2011. This is designed to avoid repeat assessments, cut delays when carers transfer, and give panels a fuller picture.
A new obligation sits on the agency receiving those requests: provide the information unless the law forbids it, do so within fifteen working days, and charge nothing. In plain terms, if a family moves provider, their file should follow quickly and without fees.
What agencies must gather is now organised more clearly. For mainstream applicants, the full Part 2 list in Schedule 1 still applies. For relatives, friends and connected carers, a new Part 3 focuses on family dynamics, culture and language, any past local authority involvement, current lifestyle and commitments, care skills, risks that need support, and willingness to work with help.
What to do now. If you are a carer, ask your supervising social worker how your visit and review plan will look after 1 April 2026, and keep asking for extra contact if you or the child need it. If you are a social worker or panel chair, update local policies, build the new consultation step into review planning, and set up a simple written template for record requests so you can meet the fifteen‑day turnaround.
Finally, there are tidying changes: the 2018 regulations drop the words “and family” from headings, correct a minor wording error, and remove a redundant paragraph in the assessment rule. None of these affect day‑to‑day practice.
This rule change sits alongside Wales’ wider programme to remove profit from children’s social care under the 2025 Act. From 1 April 2026, only not‑for‑profit organisations and councils will be able to register new fostering services. Expect further guidance as April approaches.
If you are a birth parent in a kinship arrangement, your views are explicitly named in the rules when agreeing the visit and review rhythm. Use that voice: raise new risks, practical barriers, or support that would help contact work well.
A quick reminder on language you may see in official papers: IRO is the independent reviewing officer; “F” in the regulations refers to the foster carer, “P” to the parent(s) and “C” to the child. Section 81(6)(a) refers to kinship arrangements with a connected person.