How to get involved

A guide for fostering services

This Foster Care Fortnight, we want fostering to get the recognition it deserves. This Is Fostering is about celebrating foster carers, sharing real stories, and raising awareness of the powerful impact foster care has on children and young people. Fostering services play a vital role in bringing this campaign to life locally - below are simple, flexible ways your service can get involved.

Arrange a foster care get-together

This Is Fostering is about celebrating the skills, love and determination shown by foster carers, often in challenging circumstances. During Foster Care Fortnight, say thank you to your foster carers by organising a get-together that suits your service and community. This could be anything from a picnic in the park or coffee morning to a summer fête or day at the beach. Choose what works best for you and the families you support.

The aim is simple:

• bring fostering families together
• make carers feel valued
• help raise awareness of the impact of fostering

To support you, we’ve created a get-together pack with games, activities and fundraising ideas for fostering families to enjoy together. If appropriate, share photos on social media using #ThisIsFostering and #FCF26. Download the get-together pack

Share your stories

This Is Fostering is about showcasing the everyday realities of foster care. This Foster Care Fortnight, we’re asking fostering services to share real stories from your fostering community that show what fostering truly involves and the difference foster carers make. Stories might include:

• a snapshot of a typical day
• a moment that shows a foster carer’s skills supporting a young person towards independence
• advocating for a child’s needs

This Is Fostering also celebrates the diversity of the fostering community. Foster carers and kinship carers come from many backgrounds and family structures - and this diversity helps children feel safe, supported and able to thrive, so we encourage you to share a wide range of voices and perspectives.

Download the social media pack, including graphics and template posts. Use #ThisIsFostering and #FCF26

Share learning

We want foster carers to feel truly valued during Foster Care Fortnight — and beyond. We know there are many inspiring ways fostering services recognise the skill, dedication, and commitment foster carers show every day. Complete our poster and share it on your social media using the hashtags #ThisIsFostering and #ValueFosterCare, so others can learn from and be inspired by what you do.

Have a visible presence in your community

During Foster Care Fortnight, help bring fostering into focus locally. In previous years, fostering services have raised awareness by:

• visiting schools
• creating fostering-themed displays
• hosting stalls at community events
• using creative ideas that spark conversation

Community spaces such as fairs, high streets, stations and supermarkets can be great places to connect with the public. A simple stand or stall sharing real stories from your fostering community can help people understand what fostering really looks like and why it matters. 

Engage the media

Foster Care Fortnight 2026 is an opportunity to highlight:

• the impact foster carers have on children’s lives the need for foster care to be properly valued and supported 
• the urgent need for more fostering households

To help you engage the media:

• We’ve created a pre–Foster Care Fortnight press release you can share with local and regional media ahead of the campaign.
• In the week before Foster Care Fortnight, we’ll send all fostering services a media pack and template press release to help you share local This Is Fostering stories.

These materials will be embargoed until Monday 11 May 2026, so you’re ready to engage with the media as soon as the campaign launches.

Resources for fostering services

• Get-together pack
• Social media graphics and template posts
• Pre–Foster Care Fortnight press release
• Media pack and template press release
• Placards for printing
• Social media header images
• Recruitment and retention support

A guide for carers

This Foster Care Fortnight, we want fostering to get the recognition it deserves, and that starts with celebrating you. This Is Fostering is about sharing the real, everyday moments of foster care and recognising the skills, commitment and care foster carers show every day. 

It’s a chance to come together, feel valued, and help others understand the powerful difference fostering makes to children and young people. There’s no right or wrong way to get involved.

Whether you join an event, share a story, or simply take a moment to celebrate and raise awareness  of your role, every contribution helps.

Come along to a foster care get-together 

Foster Care Fortnight is a time to connect, celebrate and say thank you to foster carers. During the fortnight, your fostering service may be organising a get-together for foster carers and families. These could be anything from a picnic in the park or coffee morning to a summer fête or a day at the beach. Get-togethers are a chance to:

• spend time with other fostering families
• relax and have fun together
• feel appreciated for the vital role you play

Get in touch with your service to find out if they’re organising a get together, or you can organise your own with other foster carers in your community. To support you, we’ve created a get-together pack with games, activities and fundraising ideas for fostering families to enjoy together.

If appropriate, share photos on social media using #ThisIsFostering and #FCF26. Download the get-together pack.

Share your fostering story

This Is Fostering is about showing the everyday realities of foster care. During Foster Care Fortnight, we’re encouraging foster carers to share real stories from their own experiences which showcase the skill it takes to be a foster carer, often in challenging circumstances. This helps others understand what fostering truly involves and the difference foster carers make. Your story could be:

• a snapshot of a typical day
• a moment you felt proud of a young person
• something that shows the skills involved in fostering
• a reflection on what fostering means to you

This Is Fostering also celebrates the diversity of fostering families. Foster carers and kinship carers come from many backgrounds, family types and life experiences - and that diversity helps children feel safe, supported and able to thrive. By sharing your story, you can help:

• raise awareness of foster care challenge myths and assumptions
• show why foster carers need to be valued and supported

Download our social media pack, including graphics and template posts, to help you share your stories.

This is Fostering shines a light on the everyday realities of fostering, raising awareness of the powerful impact foster carers have on children’s lives. It celebrates the skills, commitment and love they show, often in incredibly challenging circumstances.

It also captures the many different networks in our fostering community – including our amazing Fostering Friendly Employers! How you can get involved:

Join in on social media 

• Create and share videos about why fostering is important to your organisation. If you’re a Fostering Friendly employer, tell your followers why you decided to become Fostering Friendly. You can also share a story of a foster carer in your organisation, aligning with the theme This is Fostering.
• Share the Foster Care Fortnight graphics with the hashtag #FCF26 on your channels.

Say ‘thank you’ to foster carers in your community

• Send a ‘thank you’ card or flowers to foster carer employees. 
• Hold a celebration event – e.g. a coffee morning – to celebrate foster carer employees and bring them together.
• Thank your customers who are foster carers on social media.

Tell others about Foster Care Fortnight 

• Organise an online event for your staff in your organisation to raise the profile of fostering. You could invite a foster carer employee along to talk about their experience of fostering, or arrange for the HR team to talk about your commitments to foster carers.
• If you haven’t already announced that you are Fostering Friendly, you might what to use Foster Care Fortnight as an opportunity to announce it.
• Organise a fundraising event for The Fostering Network. If you’d like to do this, please get in touch: [email protected]

Resources 

Access our resources here to help you raise awareness and celebrate foster care this Foster Care Fortnight.