Today, nearly 70,000 children are living with almost 55,000 foster families. The Fostering Network estimates that a further 7,200 foster families are needed in the next 12 months alone, in order to ensure all fostered children can live with the right family for them.
Foster care provides children with a safe, secure and nurturing family environment, and allows them to keep in contact with their own families if they wish and if it is in their best interests.
With record numbers of children in care and around 12 per cent of the foster carer workforce retiring or leaving every year, The Fostering Network estimates that fostering services across the UK need to recruit at least a further 7,200 foster families in the next 12 months alone. There is a particular need for foster carers to look after teenagers and sibling groups.
| UK | 7,200 more foster families needed |
| England | 6,000 |
| Northern Ireland | 300 |
| Scotland | 500 |
| Wales | 400 |
| North East | 416 |
| North West | 850 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 645 |
| East Midlands | 442 |
| West Midlands | 757 |
| East of England | 517 |
| London | 771 |
| South East | 1,091 |
| South West | 510 |
UK regional local authority breakdowns
- East Midlands
- East of England
- London
- North East
- North West
- South East
- South West
- West Midlands
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- Scotland
- Wales
Methodology
In order to calculate the recruitment targets, The Fostering Network uses the best available statistics and sector intelligence and makes a number of assumptions based on our market knowledge.
Replacing those who leave the fostering workforce during the year
Using the Ofsted dataset for England, we take the average percentage of the fostering workforce leaving across the previous three years. We assume it will hold for the forthcoming year and that it is applicable across the UK.
Number of children in care on any one day
The number of children coming into care has been rising in recent years. We look at the rise in the previous year in each nation according to government statistics, and, using sector intelligence about current trends, adjust this to provide an estimate for the rise in the next 12 months.
Increasing the size of the pool of available foster carers
Fostering services continue to report that in some parts of the country there are simply no available foster carers or specific shortages of households willing/able to care for teenagers, sibling groups, disabled children, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and so on.
We, therefore, include a further element to enable growth of the pool of available foster carers to improve placement choice.
The sum of these three elements gives a percentage rise which we apply to the number of existing foster families in each nation. In England these figures are taken from the Ofsted dataset, elsewhere they are calculated from The Fostering Network’s membership database plus an estimate of the number not in membership.
A slight adjustment is made to these figures to reflect some national differences, giving us the recruitment targets in each nation.
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