Finding permanent homes for sibling groups in the care system has been a long-standing problem.
As part of ongoing reforms to the adoption system, the government is allowing social workers more flexibility to decide whether they place siblings together or separately.
So what impact will it have on practice and will it mean more siblings being placed apart?
The existing guidance states that siblings should be placed together "unless there is good reason why they should not be". This assumption is removed altogether in the proposed new guidance.
Instead, it states there should be a clear decision-making process to allow social workers to decide early whether it is in the best interests of each child to be placed together or separately, and the impact on each child of the decision.
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