Northern Ireland’s Health Minister, Robin Swann, on Friday, announced additional funding of £754,800 for all foster carers and approved kinship carers in Northern Ireland.

Details of the additional funding was shared in a thank you letter to foster carers from Minister Swann, and equates to an extra 20 per cent of the weekly food and household elements of the allowance foster carers in Northern Ireland receive for each child they care for, for a limited period. 

Independent evaluation of The Fostering Network's Mockingbird Programme found it to be a cost-effective, sustainable model of foster care, with more capacity to care for children and young people than other existing fostering models.

The independent evaluation report published today by the Department for Education about The Fostering Network’s award-winning Mockingbird programme found the programme to found it to be a cost-effective, sustainable model of foster care, with more capacity to care for children and young people than other existing fostering models.

The Fostering Network's chief executive, Kevin Williams, has written an open letter to the Westminster Government's minister responsible for the rollout of the Covid 19 vaccine programme in England, Nadhim Zahawi MP, emphasising the importance of prioritised foster carers in England for a jab.

Foster carers should be a priority for the vaccine because of:

We welcome Ofsted’s latest research on matching in foster care, published today. It finds that good matches are not down to luck and chemistry but are something that can be developed through good practice.

Stability for looked after children is vital, this is why matching in foster care is so important. When matches do not work, fostering arrangements breakdown which causes instability for the child and, sometimes, results in the foster carer taking a break from fostering or leaving the workforce altogether.