Fostering charity receives National Lottery Community award to support relationships of children in foster care in Scotland

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.

The project will support children to keep in contact with a foster family after they have left their care, in particular with a foster carer’s birth children when they have formed a positive sibling relationship with them. The project will also support foster carers and their own children when a child moves on.

Children come in to foster care for many reasons, and often form strong relationships with foster carers and their children. Whether they are moving on to a new foster family,  relatives, or returning to their birth family, it is vital that they are supported to maintain positive relationships through these changes. 

The Moving On project team will work through a series of workshops and activities to develop resources that will support not only those involved but also help a child in foster care to establish and sustain future relationships, helping to break the cycle of broken relationships and fractured families.

During the two year project, the team will work with 120 children and families and 15 volunteers across Scotland.

Sara Lurie, director for Scotland at The Fostering Network, said: ‘We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our work in this way and are excited  about this new project. Thanks to National Lottery players we will be able to help more young people as they go through foster care to develop their relationship building skills and have a  more positive care experience.’ 

The award is one of 300 being issued by the National Lottery Community Fund in Scotland.

The National Lottery Community Fund Scotland Chair, Kate Still, said: ‘In these uncertain times our priority is to ensure that National Lottery money continues to flow to charities, voluntary sector organisations and grassroots groups. I would like to congratulate The Fostering Network on their award, theirs is an important project and will support people now and in the future when they can physically come back together to make great things happen in their community.’