As part of the Department for Educations fostering action plan, they are consulting on proposals to amend the role of fostering panels and improve the handling of allegations and standards of care concerns. Along with this, they are seeking more evidence on a range of topics such as financial transparency, a foster carer register and DBS checks and vetting for prospective foster carers.
The Fostering Network will be responding to this consultation and call for evidence on behalf of our members. Therefore, we are holding four online focus group sessions for foster carers and services to join. These will also be attended by DfE colleagues so that discussions can fed directly into their consultations as well as ours.
- Session 1 – Panels – Tuesday 3 March, 10am-12pm – sign up here
- Session 2 – Allegations – Tuesday 3 March, 1pm-3pm – sign up here
- Session 3 – Standards and Guidance – Wednesday 4 March, 10am-12pm – sign up here
- Session 4 – Foster carer register – Monday 9 March, 12pm-2pm – sign up here
Each session is limited to 100 attendees to enable everyone to meaningfully participate in the discussions. We will also allocate spaces equally between services and foster carers. We will confirm your place as soon as possible.
You can also respond directly to the consultation and call for evidence.
Take our survey on the action plan
If you are unable to attend a focus group session, we still want to hear your views. Please respond to our survey to let us know your thoughts on the proposals which we will feed into our written response to the consultations. This survey also includes questions on the call for evidence which asks for further evidence around introducing a foster carer register and financial transparency.
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