How old do I have to be?

A child can be arrested by the police from the age of 10 years.

They can go to court to see if they are innocent or guilty of a crime from the age of 10 years.

• A child can be adopted by a step-parent after living with him or her for at least six months.
• A child can be adopted by a foster parent after living with him or her for at least a year.
• A child can be adopted by a new family from 19 weeks old.
• The maximum age for a person to be adopted is 18 years, so long as the application was made to the family court when they were under this age.

• There is no set age for your wishes and feelings to be taken into account when a family court is making decisions about your life and future.
• A judge may ask Cafcass to find out your views.
• Or you could write a letter to the judge.
• Or you might ask, or be asked, to meet the judge in his or her office (called chambers). There is no minimum age for this. However, judges will want to be sure you have enough understanding to speak directly with them, and that being involved like this will not cause you harm.
• A judge will never ask you to say who you love the most between your parents.

You have to be 18 to legally buy adult fireworks.

Adult fireworks are all indoor fireworks, garden fireworks and display fireworks.

There is no set age for you being able to change your name. Legally, you would have to have enough understanding – of what this kind of decision involves and the possible effects of changing your name.

The usual practice is for a young person to be 16 before making such a big decision.

If a family court has made decisions about you, you may not be allowed to change your name until the age of 16.

If a family court has made a care order for you, your surname cannot be changed without first getting written permission from your parents or agreement from the court.

Incredibly, the minimum age for drinking alcohol at home is 5 years. (It’s a crime before this age for adults to give you alcohol – unless for medical reasons!).

You cannot buy or drink alcohol in a pub or club until you are aged 18. However, an adult can buy you beer, wine or cider if you are aged 16 or 17 and having a meal in a pub or a restaurant.

• You can give consent to a piercing from the age of 16.
• Below this age, it all depends on your understanding.
• There are concerns that piercing in private areas could be a sexual assault. That’s one of the reasons the government in Wales recently banned under 18s from having intimate piercings.
• It is against the law for a person to give a child a tattoo.

The minimum age a person can get married or enter a civil partnership in England and Wales is 18 years.

• It is an offence in England and Wales for any person to cause a child (someone under the age of 18) to enter into a marriage or a civil partnership.
• Behaviour causing a child to enter into a marriage or a civil partnership is an offence whether or not it involves violence, threats, pressure or lies.
• All children who normally live in England and Wales are protected by this legislation, which was passed by parliament in 2023.

• You can give consent to medical or dental treatment from the age of 16.
• Below this age, it all depends on your understanding of what is involved in having the treatment, and your understanding of the possible implications for you of having the treatment – now and into the future.

The law says you have to be 16 before you can legally buy a pet.

• There is no minimum age for you to have an independent advocate.
• Since the main part of their job is to help you be heard, we’d find it strange if an advocate refused to be involved without the permission of an adult.
• As a general rule, we think children who have enough understanding to find an advocate have enough understanding to work with an advocate.

A child’s situation can go to court for many different reasons. Here are some examples:

• Parents do not agree on very important things relating to the child’s welfare
• The decisions or actions of a local council, school or hospital are against the law
• A child in care, hospital or prison wasn’t protected and they suffered abuse as a result

Most of the time a litigation friend will undertake the child’s court case for them.

There are legal rules about who can and cannot be a child’s litigation friend. The most important rule is that they must act in the best interests of the child and be able to carry out this role well.

If a child wants to instruct a solicitor themselves – that is, they do not want a litigation friend – an application has to be made to the court. The solicitor and the court must carefully consider whether the child has enough understanding about the situation that the court is considering. They have to make sure the child will not be emotionally harmed by being directly involved in a court case.

In 2005, the Court of Appeal decided that three brothers aged 13, 15 and 17 could instruct a solicitor themselves, instead of having a Cafcass guardian. Their parents were separating and the boys wanted to have a direct role in the court process.

• You can apply for a provisional driving licence when you are 15 years and 9 months old.
• You can legally drive a car from the age of 17 years.
• If you are getting (or have applied for) the enhanced rate of the mobility part of Personal Independence Payment (PIP for short), you can drive a car from the age of 16 years.
• Everyone is legally allowed to drive a mowing machine (which cuts the lawn!) from the age of 16.
• If it’s driving a bus you’re after – you’ll have to wait until you’re 24.

Care orders last until a person reaches 18 – though children in care can apply to a family court to bring the order to an end earlier than this.

The law says independent reviewing officers must inform children in care of their right to apply for their care order to end before they turn 18. Independent reviewing officers must give help with this, if needed.

The government encourages councils to keep looking after children in care until they become adults.

In foster care, young people can continue living with their carers until they are 21. We’d like to see the same right for all young people in care.

You can leave school at the end of June in the year you’ll be 16 by the end of the summer holidays.

Example: if you are 16 in August 2022, you can leave school at the end of June 2022.

Then the law says you must stay in education or training until you are 18 years old.

There is no minimum age for you to make a complaint.

You have exactly the same rights to ask to see information written about you as adults have.

If you are in care, children’s social care must keep information written about you until your 75th birthday!

Adoption agencies must keep records about children who were adopted for 100 years after an adoption order was made.

• You can be sent to prison from the age of 12.
• Boys under the age of 15 and all girls are usually sent to secure children’s homes or secure training centres.
• Boys aged 15 to 17 are usually sent to juvenile young offender institutions, unless they are especially vulnerable – in which case, they will probably be sent to a secure training centre.

Secure children’s homes must follow the rules and standards of ordinary children’s homes, but children cannot leave and they are locked in their rooms at night.

Secure training centres have their own rules which are a mix of how children’s homes and how prisons are run.

Juvenile young offender institutions are prisons for children (under 18-year-olds).

It is against the law for anyone to sell nicotine to a person under the age of 18.

It is against the law for anyone to sell a vape to a person under the age of 18.

Social media platforms like Tiktok, Instagram and Snapchat have a minimum joining age of 13.

This is because the law requires all social media companies to act responsibly to protect children from online harm. Social media companies include those who own and run websites.

Online harm refers to children being hurt, exploited and abused through the use of social media platforms. Serious harm can happen online or when a child meets someone face-to-face after communications online.