Looked after children
A “looked after child” is a child who is in a) the care of a local authority, or b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school.
A child is regarded as being in state care outside of England if they were in the care of or were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other provider of care whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society. This includes children who were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 (Section 12 Adoption orders) and children adopted under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (Section 46 adoption orders).
Child arrangements orders are defined in Section 8 of the Children Act, as amended by Section 12 of the Children’s and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22/4/14 is deemed to be a child arrangements order. Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a “special guardianship order” as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian(s).