Urgent call to recruit more foster carers

The government is calling on people to open their hearts and homes to some of the most vulnerable children in society through a new national fostering recruitment campaign.

The first campaign of its kind in England aims to encourage more adults to consider fostering. The government believes the initiative will highlight the fact that all kinds of different people can foster.

The campaign launch was marked by a celebration event at 10 Downing Street today [13 October]. It brought together foster carers, frontline workers and people with lived experience of care. This included former NFL star Efe Odaba, care-experienced broadcaster and author Ashley John-Baptiste, and TOWIE star Lydia Bright.

Responding to a growing need for foster carers

The number of approved foster carers has fallen by 12 per cent since 2019. Yet the number of children needing care has increased.

To help address this challenge, the new campaign will target adults in their 30s and 40s who have the values and capacity to foster but may never have seriously considered it. It supports the government’s ambition to create 10,000 new foster care places by the end of this parliament.

There are more routes into fostering than ever before. However, recent DfE polling found that too many adults are ruling themselves out before they find out more. Two thirds (66 per cent) of people believe they could be a good foster carer if practical barriers were removed.

Fostering can change lives, says minister

Children’s minister Josh MacAlister said:

“Fostering changes lives, not just for the children who finally get the stability and love every child deserves, but for the carers themselves, who tell us it’s one of the most rewarding things they’ve ever done.

“Right now, thousands of children need that chance, and that’s exactly what our national campaign is about: cracking fostering open to ordinary people across England who have the values, the commitment, and the love to foster.

“This is part of a bigger reset of children’s social care, one that puts loving, stable relationships back at the heart of the system.”

Dame Carol Homden, CEO of Coram, said:

“We are pleased to support the government’s campaign encouraging more people to consider a life-changing role in foster care, enabling more children and young people to grow up in safe and supportive families.

“Coram’s own research published today indicates there is a substantial pool of people open to becoming foster carers if we support them through the process and help them to thrive as a foster family.

“The campaign is an important step in realising the ambitious plans to ensure every child has the support they need in family care, now and in the future.”

Further fostering reforms and innovation funding announced

The campaign is supported by further reforms to fostering. The DfE has committed £88 million to fostering reforms, including £12.4 million for the Fostering Innovation Fund. The goal of this fund is to trial new models of foster care, such as short-term ‘respite fostering’ or fostering at weekends, to open it up to a wider range of people.

As part of this, the government is announced the programmes receiving funding through the Fostering Innovation Fund. The 11 successful programmes include initiatives focused on:

• recruiting weekend foster carer
• supporting carers through allegations
• parent-and-child fostering
• therapeutic training
• increasing diversity among foster carers
• helping children move from residential care into foster families where this meets their needs

The government believes the reforms will make it easier to become a foster carer. However, it also intends to ensure that existing carers are better supported and can understand the processes behind fostering at every stage.