Re S (Foster Care or Placement for Adoption) [2026] EWCA Civ 47

The Court of Appeal dismissed a local authority’s appeal against the refusal of a placement order for a four-year-old girl whose realistic permanence options were adoption or long-term foster care. Although the judgment contained no side-by-side balance sheet, read as a whole, it adequately evaluated the competing options, and the judge was entitled to prioritise S's settled placement and her need for frequent direct contact with her mother.