News

Stoke City FC has today become the first Fostering Friendly football club in the UK.

The Potters and bet365, who combined employ more than 4,000 staff in Stoke, have joined The Fostering Network’s Fostering Friendly employer initiative.

The accreditation aims to make a real difference to children and young people’s lives through implementing fostering friendly HR policies such as offering foster carers flexible working or paid time off for child care training, fostering-related meetings, or settling a new child into their home.

Yesterday, the Department for Education announced a further £50 million for councils to support care leavers. The majority of this funding, £33 million, is for further investment in Staying Put, the scheme which allows care experienced young people in England to remain living with their former foster carers after they turn 18. This is a 40 per cent increase on the funding allocated in 2019/20 and is based on the increased number of young people opting to stay put.  

Last weekend, the whole of the UKs fostering community came together to recognise the work of foster carers during the Covid19 pandemic and to thank them, and to remember those from the fostering community who sadly lost their lives.
 
In the past year, and amidst the Covid19 pandemic, over 55,000 foster families provided stable and loving homes to more than 65,000 children across the UK. This has been done in the most extraordinary circumstances, making foster carers one of the many unsung heroes of the pandemic.
 

The UK’s leading fostering charity, The Fostering Network, is calling on those with the right skills and experience to consider becoming a foster carer this Foster Care Fortnight^TM (10 – 23 May).
 
With over 8,600 new foster families needed across the UK in 2021, becoming a foster carer could be the ideal opportunity for those with the right skills to give back to their community and make a positive difference to the lives of children and young people. 
 

Updated 12/4/21

The Fostering Network is today celebrating that it will receive a National Lottery award of over £120,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund in Scotland.

The award will be put to good use by the charity to deliver the Moving On project, which aims to support positive transitions through and out of foster care.

Responding to the reports published by the Children's Commissioner for England today, Kevin Williams, chief executive of The Fostering Network, said: 'We welcome the reports from the office of the Children's Commissioner for England.

'The vast majority of children in care in the UK are living with fostering families and it is essential that all children who need a foster family are able to live with one.

For this festive season, Arthur Cox, our corporate partner in Northern Ireland, has come up with something special. The leading law firm will be giving bespoke gifts to children who are taking part in our Step up Step Down programme, where foster carers support families on the periphery of care to help the children remain within their family home.