Media releases

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.

With the coronavirus vaccine rollout underway, The Fostering Network is urging UK governments to issue guidance to local authorities and health services that all foster carers fall within priority group two as an essential part of the social care workforce.

The UK’s leading fostering charity has today published a report calling for tailored transition arrangements for children in foster care on their return to school, and for the primary focus of the initial return to school to be on students’ mental health and wellbeing. 

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been widespread, affecting the lives of every baby, child and young person in the country. This generation of children face unprecedented threats to their childhoods and life chances. They deserve an unprecedented response.

As people around the world protest against racism and injustice in society, the staff and trustees of The Fostering Network stand with them and add our voices to theirs, condemning racism and prejudice in all its forms.

The Fostering Network welcomes the announcement of additional funding to support all foster carers in Northern Ireland during the Covid 19 crisis, made by the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) in Northern Ireland last week.

This new funding is in addition to a single payment of £100 per fostering household announced by the board at the end of March and it will put money directly into the fostering household through increasing the weekly allowance for food and household costs by approximately 20 per cent. This funding is for twelve weeks initially, subject to review.

Every day 55,000 foster families across the UK are offering 65,000 fostered children and young people a loving, secure and stable home, and this commitment from foster families is ongoing during the coronavirus outbreak.

The UK’s leading fostering charity, The Fostering Network, is using this year’s Foster Care FortnightTM to raise awareness of the extraordinary dedication and work of foster carers at this time, while calling for more people to come forward to foster.

Every day 55,000 foster families across the UK are offering 65,000 fostered children and young people a loving, secure and stable home, and this commitment from foster families is ongoing during the coronavirus outbreak.

The UK’s leading fostering charity, The Fostering Network, is using this year’s Foster Care Fortnight^TM to raise awareness of the extraordinary dedication and work of foster carers at this time, while calling for more people to come forward to foster.