Foster Care Fortnight™ is The Fostering Network's annual campaign to raise the profile of fostering. It is also an opportunity for fostering services across the UK's to boost their retention and recruitment efforts.
Foster Care Fortnight 2020 is taking place from Monday 11 to Sunday 24 May.
A range of resources and support will be available to support fostering services to make the most of this year’s Foster Care Fortnight.
Please note: Foster Care FortnightTM is trademarked, so please make sure you use the correct name (not, for example, Fostering Fortnight) and refer to The Fostering Network when talking about Foster Care Fortnight.
We are aware that due to the changing situation surrounding coronavirus, there is also some uncertainty surrounding future events. However, Foster Care FortnightTM (11-24 May), our annual awareness raising campaign, will be going ahead. As well as the digital recruitment activity fostering services may be planning, the theme #ThisIsFostering provides an excellent opportunity to highlight the incredible work foster carers are doing, especially in such unusual circumstances. Help us raise the profile of fostering and make sure everyone in your local area knows about the transformational power of foster care.
Foster care transforms lives
The overarching message of every Foster Care Fortnight is 'foster care transforms lives'.
We are passionate about the difference that foster care makes to the lives of fostered children and young people, and Foster Care Fortnight is an excellent opportunity to showcase that difference. But foster care doesn't just transform the lives of the young people who are fostered, it also has the power to change the lives of foster carers, their families and all those who are involved in fostering. Along with fostering services, we use Foster Care Fortnight to share the stories of people who have had their lives transformed by foster care, and by doing so to raise the profile of fostering and the need for more foster carers.
#FCF20
The hashtag for this year's Foster Care Fortnight is #FCF20 and with the help of our members and supporters we hope anyone following the hashtag will see a varied and authentic picture of fostering in the UK, the contributions of the people involved in fostering and how foster care transforms the lives of children and young people across the country.
In the face of coronavirus it is now more important than ever to raise awareness of the important role foster carers play in society. This year's theme #ThisIsFostering provides an excellent opportunity to showcase the great work foster carers are doing in your local area. By getting involved in Foster Care Fortnight you can raise the profile of fostering locally and let everyone in your area know about the transformational power of foster care. As we find ourselves in unusual circumstances, we encourage every fostering service to use this year’s campaign as an opportunity to thank your foster carers for their dedication to the children they look after, despite the challenges Coronavirus poses.
Ultimately we want wider society to understand and value fostering and the positive difference it can make to young people’s lives and we want to create the momentum for change, both inside and outside of the fostering community, that we know is needed to make foster care the very best it can be.
Foster Care Fortnight provides opportunities for you, as a fostering service, to tell local stories from foster carers, your fostering service staff or care experienced children and young people about what they feel describe what fostering is to them.
Share your stories through your website, social media and local media.
Visit our webpage about engaging the media
Retention and recruitment
Foster Care Fortnight provides an excellent opportunity for you as a fostering service to engage and reward your current foster carers as well as reaching out to people in your community who could become foster carers.
Read more about retention and recruitment
Ordering resources
Outlined below are a number of downloadable resources for fostering services to make use of during Foster Care Fortnight.
Members of The Fostering Network can order a limited number of printed versions of the resources (placards, posters, postcards and stickers) by emailing fcf@fostering.net.
Download and print your resources
Placards
Share a placard photo on Facebook, Instragram and Twitter as outlined above. If you're a member fostering service, email us to request some free professionally printed placards.
- Download the English full colour placard| printer-friendly placard | 'colour your own' placard | dot to dot placard.
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Download the Welsh full colour placard | printer-friendly placard | 'colour your own' placard | dot to dot placard
Posters
We will be producing a series of three A4 posters. If you are a fostering service member of The Fostering Network, you can request a professionally printed copy of each to be sent to you. There is also a customisable A3 poster available to download or print professionall.
Postcards
We also have a postcard sized version of the full colour placard which, if you are a fostering service member of The Fostering Network, you can order up to 25 and over print on the back with your fostering service details and particular recruitment needs. Or, we can send you the artwork so that you can order in bulk.
Logos
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A Foster Care Fortnight logo (for members of The Fostering Network only; other formats are available - please get in touch).
Stickers
We also have stickers for you to give to foster carers, staff and enquirers.
If you are a fostering service member of The Fostering Network, you can order up to 45 of these from us by emailing fcf@fostering.net.
Press release
We have produced a draft press release for you to amend and adapt to suit your local needs and objectives.
Show support through social media
The main two hashtags for Foster Care Fortnight are #ThisIsFostering and #FCF20. There are lots of ways you can join the campaign using social media.
Share a #ThisIsFostering picture
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we want to see #ThisIsFostering everywhere! We have placards you can print, but we would love you to be creative if you can – you could write the hashtag on your hand, stencil it onto a cake or sculpt it in plasticine! We love seeing your pictures shared online and featured in local news articles, so be inventive and think about how to make it relevant to your area – using local landmarks or asking a local celebrity or elected representative to join you in a photo could work well.
Share a #ThisIsFostering film
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encourage your foster carers, and fostering service staff to share our film or create their own 30 seconds clips showing or explaing what fostering is to them. You can work with local celebrities, sportspeople and elected representatives to generate local media coverage. You can then link this to your #ThisIsFostering recruitment campaign.
Share our personalised graphic
- members can request this by emailing fcf@fostering.net. See below for an example of the graphic which is also available in Welsh.
Add a twibbon
- Our Twibbon can be applied to your Twitter or Facebook profile picture. Go to bit.ly/FCF20twibbon and follow the simple instructions
Focus days
Every day of Foster Care Fortnight there will be a different focus, starting with a welcome and introduction to the campaign from our chief executive on May 11. We would encourage you to follow these themes to amplify the effect of our combined communications in raising awareness. During the first and second weekends of the campaign we will be highlighting members contributions such as photos or short films and we would urge fostering services to do the same with contributions from their staff and fostering families. As a UK-wide organisation we will focus on our work in the different countries of the UK on four of the days. Fostering services who are not UK-wide can use these days to highlight thier local recruitment need or regional events.
Mon 11: This Is Foster Care Fortnight - we will be publishing a welcome to the campaign from our chief executive
Tue 12 – This Is fostering in Northern Ireland - we will feature foster care in Northern Ireland
Wed 13 – This Is who fosters and needs fostering - we will highlight the need for more foster families for teenagers, sibling groups and children with a disability
Thu 14 – This Is how to become a foster carer - we will aim to explain the different types of fostering and the journey to approval
Fri 15 – This is Fostering in England - we will feature foster care in England
Weekend 1 – This Is not true about fostering - we will be busting myths about fostering
Mon 18 – This Is change through campaigning - we will highlight some of our ongoing campaigns and campaign successes
Tue 19 – This Is Fostering in Scotland - we will feature foster care in Scotland
Wed 20 – This Is support - we will demonstrate all the ways in which we can support our members and the benefits of being part of The Fostering Network
Thu 21 – This Is happening - we will discuss the types of events and opportunities we organise and provide
Fri 22 – This Is Fostering in Wales - we will feature foster care in Wales
Weekend 2 – This Is Fostering - we will feature some of the photos shared by our members and supporters during the campaign
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