The improving educational achievements of young people in foster care were celebrated this week at an event in Stormont. The celebration was to mark the tenth birthday of Fostering Achievement, a unique scheme which offers practical support to foster families to help fostered children and young people achieve their potential and improve educational outcomes.

The Fostering Network, which delivers Fostering Achievement, reports that 66 per cent of young people who received GCSE tuition through the Fostering Achievement scheme received five GCSEs A* - C, compared to 27 per cent of all looked after children in Northern Ireland.

The Fostering Achievement scheme, commissioned by the Health and Social Care Board, works with foster carers and kinship foster carers as primary educators. A significant element of the programme is ensuring those carers have the support and resources they need to support the young people they care for.

In the past year Fostering Achievement has helped 1,431 looked after young people in foster care, providing resources such as tuition, driving lessons and extra-curricular activities such as drama classes and sports coaching.  Over the ten years of the programme, almost 14,000 young people and  over 9,200 foster carers have been supported by Fostering Achievement.

Kathleen Toner, director of The Fostering Network Northern Ireland, said: ‘Research shows that improving educational outcomes of looked after children contributes significantly to improving their future opportunities. That is why we are so proud of the impact of the Fostering Achievement scheme on thousands of fostered children in Northern Ireland.  It is a truly visionary programme which is one of a kind in the UK.’

Angela, 20, one of the young people who has benefited from the scheme said: ‘Fostering Achievement has helped me in many aspects of my life. Through its support I have got the grades I need in school, made new friends and increased in confidence. I am hoping to go to university to study youth work and wouldn’t be where I am today without Fostering Achievement.’ 

Caption: Angela, a care leaver who has benefited from Fostering Achievement, celebrating ten years of the programme, along with Kathleen Toner, director of The Fostering Network Northern Ireland and former director Kate Lewis

You can read more about Fostering Achievement here and download an impact infographic here.