Urgent action is needed to address the crisis in foster care, as new figures from The Fostering Network show there remains a significant shortage in carers across the UK.
Nationwide, there is a shortfall of 6,000 foster carers, a figure highlighted during Foster Care Fortnight (12 – 25 May), the charity’s annual awareness campaign.
This shortage underscores the retention and recruitment crisis in foster care, with more carers continuing to leave than join each year across the UK.
Declining numbers of foster carers mean that sibling groups can be more likely to be split up when they enter care, children are being placed far from their communities, and fewer fostering families with the right skills and experience are available to support children and young people.
To ensure children and young people can live in foster homes within their communities, The Fostering Network is calling on all governments across the UK to make urgent changes and further invest in the social care system.
The Fostering Network’s 2024 State of the Nations’ Foster Care survey found that 60 per cent of foster carers have considered resigning for several reasons, including; lack of support from their fostering service, lack of respect from other professionals, and burnout, and poor wellbeing related to fostering.
These challenges are putting immense pressure on an already strained system, making it difficult to retain existing foster carers while also recruiting new ones. Without urgent change it will become even harder to provide the right care for children and young people, potentially putting them at risk.
In the State of the Nations survey, foster carers said strong relationships with social workers, and in the fostering community, would make them less likely to consider resigning from fostering.
Those who felt they were treated as equals by their social workers were also significantly less likely to consider resigning, as were those who had a strong support network to provide occasional overnight care for the children they foster.
This year’s Foster Care Fortnight focuses on the power of relationships and how supporting foster carers to build these vital connections can help turn the retention crisis on its head.
The charity is urging governments to create and resource recruitment and retention strategies for foster care in each nation of the UK, to increase the pool of available foster carers and address the reasons foster carers are leaving.
This would help fostering services to prioritise improving support for their foster carers, ensuring they all have access to a strong support network or person who can provide overnight care for the children they foster.
Sarah Thomas, Chief Executive of The Fostering Network, said: “Foster Care Fortnight is an opportunity to celebrate the fostering community and highlight what needs to change in the future. I want to say a huge thank you to our incredibly dedicated foster carers, who work tirelessly to provide stable, loving homes for children and young people. It isn’t an easy role, and they face challenges every day, but we are deeply grateful for their commitment.
“The figures released today speak for themselves – we need more skilled, locally based foster carers to prevent children from being moved away from everything they know. We also need to ensure we retain the dedicated foster carers we already have. Children need stable, loving homes close to their local communities to maintain relationships with their families and friends, which will help them thrive.
“Relationships are vital to fostering. We must nurture relationships with foster carers to ensure they feel respected, valued, supported and motivated to continue in their crucial roles.
“Change will only come if we take a strategic and collaborative approach, led by government who continue to state their commitment to improving the sector.”
Anyone can learn about fostering and consider whether it’s right for them – there is no typical foster carer, and people from all walks of life can foster, regardless of age, gender, relationship status, or sexual orientation.
The Fostering Network encourages anyone fostering, or would like to learn more about what it involves, to contact their local fostering service or Fosterline during this Foster Care Fortnight.
The charity’s Fosterline advisors in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales are available to support at any point of the fostering journey.
Find out more about Foster Care Fortnight and how to get involved here: Foster Care Fortnight | The Fostering Network
