News

Earlier this week Margaret Ritchie, MP for South Down, met with Glen and Regina Mahon from Downpatrick, County Down, who have been fostering for 15 years and were recently named Foster Carers of the Year by leading charity, The Fostering Network, to discuss foster care in Northern Ireland. The conversation focused particularly on their experiences of foster care, and the benefits well supported foster care can bring to the community.

Sara Lurie, director of The Fostering Network in Scotland, said: ‘The Fostering Network welcomes the continued improvement in academic achievement by looked after children in Scotland, as indicated in the Scottish Government’s report released this week.

We would like to congratulate seven members of The Fostering Network who have recently received Birthday honours.

Mr John Palczynski, Mrs Wendy Palczynski, Mrs Carol Ann Smallworth, Mr Raymond Michael Smallworth and Mrs Deloris Collett all received MBEs for services to children and families. Mrs Anne Staniforth and Mr James Howard Staniforth also received a BEM for services to children and families.

You can view the full list of those who received honours on the Government’s website.

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The Fostering Network’s innovative Education Champions have recently been praised for their positive impact in an external evaluation report. The evaluation recommended that the Champion role, created as part of the London Fostering Achievement (LFA) programme, should be implemented more widely and The Fostering Network is delighted to be seeking services to partner with to develop this further and raise the educational outcomes and aspirations of looked after children.  

The Fostering Network is delighted to announce that Ashley-John Baptiste has become an ambassador for the charity.

Zoe Witherington first became involved with The Fostering Network in 2013 to support our Don’t Move Me campaign. During the campaign Zoe, between her studies, campaigned hard appearing in newspapers, on television, and on radio right across England sharing her story in the hope of creating a more positive future for other children and young people.

The Fostering Network warmly welcomes the publication of Lord Laming’s independent review of children in care’s involvement in the criminal justice system in England and Wales. We agree that ‘aiming to reduce the disproportionate number of young people who are, or have been, in public care progressing into custody’ is laudable, and we believe that, if implemented, the recommendations made within the report will make a positive difference to the lives of children in care.

A steadfast determination to care is one of the reasons why Glen and Regina Mahon from Downpatrick, County Down, who have been fostering for 15 years, were awarded The Fostering Network in Northern Ireland’s 2016 Foster Carer of the Year Award, sponsored by The Hilton, on Friday 20 May at the Hilton Hotel, Belfast. 

In response to the Queen’s Speech, Kevin Williams, chief executive of The Fostering Network, said: ‘While The Fostering Network welcomes the Prime Minister’s self-declared “unashamedly pro-adoption” stance, and his subsequent backing of this stance in his Government’s legislative agenda as set out in the Queen’s Speech, we ask the Government to understand that adoption and foster care are not mutually exclusive.