What is adoption, fostering and the care system?

There are thousands of children in the UK who are waiting to placed with foster carers or adoptive families.

If a child can't be looked after by their birth parents then will be put into care and fostered or adopted.

There are 78,150 children in England who are 'looked after' by local authorities. This means the child is in care and could be living with foster families or staying in a children's home.

There are lots of different reasons why children and young people go into care. It might be their parents aren't well enough to look after them or the child was at risk of harm if they stayed at home.

What is adoption?

Adoption is the process where a child or siblings who can not be brought up with their biological family become full, permanent and legal members of their new family.

It's so children, who for many different reasons can't be looked after by their biological parents, can find a new family.

Children who have been adopted have usually been living in care or fostered before children's services decide that the best option will be for them to be adopted - so they can permanently become part of a new family.

Kane spoke to Newsround about being adopted

Kane's birth parents weren't able to look after him and after spending time in foster care he was then adopted permanently into a family.

He has always known he has been adopted which he thinks is really good because there aren't any secrets being kept from him.

Who can adopt?

People from all backgrounds can adopt, it doesn't matter if they are single or married, gay, straight or lesbian, disabled, male or female, have children already or not.

They must be over the age of 21, be a non-smoker and have a spare bedroom. The most important thing is that the child is welcomed into a loving family that will care for them.

What is fostering?

Foster care is when a child goes to live with another family for a while, because their family can't aren't able to look after them.

Fostering provides the child with a safe and caring family which is usually in a fairly close location to their home.

Sometimes they stay there for just a weekend, other times they can stay for years.

Foster carers in the UK are trained and assessed before being approved to look after children.

There are many famous people who were fostered or lived in care when they were younger including gymnast Simone Biles, BBC reporter Ashley John Baptise and poet Lemn Sissay.

Simone Biles spent the first few years of her life in foster care before her grandparents adopted her. Simone now works with a charity that helps provide foster children with clothes and school items.

Simone told American magazine People: "This is such a personal cause for me...because I know firsthand what it's like to be in foster care struggles and all."

Ashley John Baptise lived in five different homes whilst he was in foster care. He took part in the X Factor as was part of boy band The Risk in 2011 before making the decision to pull out and leave the group. He studied at Cambridge University and now works for the BBC as a reporter.

What is the care system?

When the council or local authority decide it's better for children to be away from their parents for a while, it's known as living in care.

Most children in care are fostered, which means they live with another family for a while.

Others live in children's homes - like Tracy Beaker living at the Dumping Ground - but staff look after the children instead of parents.

The Dumping Ground is about children living in care and their experiences

Why do children live in care?

Children are put into care for lots of different reasons.

Sometimes it's because their parents can't look after them properly or it's unsafe at home and it's decided that it's better for children to live somewhere else.

Some reasons for a child being taken into care include abuse, neglect, family breakdown or a parent or child's illness or disability. It can also happen if a child's parent has to go into hospital or dies.

In most cases, children are only meant to live in care as a temporary measure although for some staying in care is the best option.