At The Fostering Network, we have published our manifesto [link] for the 2026 Scottish Parliament Election. We’re calling on all political parties to recommit to the Promise that Scotland made to care-experienced people five years ago and accelerate work to keep the Promise by 2030.
1,844 children are ‘looked after ’ in Scotland and most are cared for in kinship care (35%) or foster care (32%). The number of children in care in Scotland has been falling since 2012, but the number of foster carers is falling at an even faster rate.
Our manifesto has three key strands. It urges all political parties to:
1. Focus on care-experienced children and young people
Every child deserves stability, love, and belonging. But too many young people in care have their lives repeatedly disrupted – moving schools, being separated from siblings, or leaving care before they’re ready. We’re challenging political parties to prioritise recruiting more local foster carers to enable every child to live with carers who can meet their needs, in their communities. We want to see investment and legislation to extend Continuing Care up to age 26, and support for policies that protect lifelong relationships for children. There needs to be more investment in children’s mental health services and additional support for learning, so every child can reach their full potential and thrive.
2. Support and value foster carers
Our manifesto also recognises the importance of support for foster carers, who are the bedrock of the children’s care system. The number of fostering households in Scotland fell by 8% in the year to December 2023, and many foster carers cite a lack of respect from other professionals, burnout or poor wellbeing related to fostering, and a lack of support from fostering services, as reasons for considering resigning. To address these issues, we’re calling for a national recruitment and retention strategy for foster carers, a national register to recognise foster carers as skilled professionals, and improved financial and wellbeing support. We’ve long campaigned for a national fee framework for foster carers, as well as increases to the Scottish Recommended Allowance which has been frozen for too long. We will continue championing these as essential steps to make fostering financially viable.
3. Invest in and reform the wider system supporting children and young people with care experience
Lastly, our manifesto places a spotlight on the systemic issues that need to be addressed if the Promise is to be kept by 2030. Care experience is closely tied to deprivation – which highlights the importance of early intervention, accelerated work to tackle child poverty, and investment in edge of care services to help keep children safely with their families. Social services are also under major strain and we’re urging political parties to consider measures to address social work turnover and caseloads.
Care-experienced people continue to face multiple disadvantages in health, housing, justice, education and employment, so we’re asking parties to commit to introducing measures to tackle stigma and discrimination against them, and to support work to create a lifelong right to independent advocacy services.
Find out more and get involved
You can read the full manifesto in here.
We’re sharing our manifesto with political parties in Scotland and encouraging them to include commitments on fostering and the Promise in their own party manifestos. You can get involved by sharing our manifesto with the Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) who represent you, or emailing them about the specific changes you’d like to see to foster care. Find your MSPs by entering your postcode on the Scottish Parliament website here.
For more information, please contact [email protected].
