Established in 2014 and conducted every three years, our State of the Nations' Foster Care surveys are the largest and most comprehensive of the UK's fostering sector. We survey foster carers, fostering services, and for the first time this year, former foster carers and non-members.
Our 2024 State of the Nations survey is now live!
Spread the word and share your views using the links below.
Take our 2024 State of the Nations survey
Our 2024 State of the Nations survey is now live!
We're urging foster carers and fostering service managers to take the opportunity to share your views and be part of real change. For the first time the survey is open to non-members and foster carers who have left fostering, so please share with your networks to help us include the widest range of voices possible.
The foster carers' survey takes 30-45 minutes to fill in and the service managers' survey takes 20-30 minutes. Grab a cup of tea, get comfortable and share your views!
Take the foster carers' survey
Take the fostering service managers' survey
Take the former foster carers' survey
The surveys will be open for six weeks until 23:59, 16 June 2024. We will publish the findings towards the end of the year.
Read our last State of the Nation's Foster Care report from 2021 here
2021 was the fourth time we conducted our State of the Nation survey. We also surveyed our fostering service members for the first time, enabling us to gain a deeper insight into the challenges within the system and how they impact on overall service.
The 2021 survey covered key practice and workforce issues such as placement stability, training and support for carers, and status and authority of the workforce. In total, 3,352 foster carers and 99 fostering services took the survey, maintaining its position as the largest and most comprehensive survey of fostering in the UK.
We used the findings of the 2021 survey to lobby for unprecedented investment in recruitment and retention, secure uplifts to national allowances, achieve funding for crucial programmes to support foster carers, and influence national care reviews across the UK.
Previous State of the Nation research
State of the Nation's Foster Care 2019
State of the Nation's Foster Care 2016
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