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Campaign Objective

Support systems to ensure that foster carers and their families get the help they need to do their demanding job.

What kind of support do foster carers need?

Fostering is a demanding 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week job, and foster carers need a full support network, including 24-hour local advice and support, independent advice and support for foster carers facing allegations, and support for the sons and daughters of carers.

Why we campaign on support

  • Foster carers are deeply committed to the children that they and their families care for and are expected to deal with day-to-day crises as a regular part of their job
  • Everyone in the family is involved in fostering, particularly the sons and daughters of foster carers. Support services must take account of the needs of these sons and daughters
  • The importance of supervising social workers to foster carers cannot be overstated, but it is essential that a range of other support services is also available
  • These should include groups for carers, mentoring or buddy schemes, the provision of 24-hour support from social workers with specialist experience of working with foster carers, access to short breaks and the availability of independent support and advice
  • Like teachers and others who work with children, foster carers are vulnerable to allegations that they have abused children. All such allegations must be investigated carefully, because even though the majority of allegations eventually prove to be unfounded, it is vital that the voice of children and young people is always heard in these cases
  • Foster carers have often found that when an allegation is made against them, they are left without information or an independent source of advice and support. Unlike teachers and others who work with children, foster carers can also lose all their income while and allegation is investigated
  • All foster carers should have access to a range of support to help them overcome the isolation of managing difficult situations on their own, including 24-hour local advice and assistance from a fostering expert. They should have access to advice and support in the event of an allegation and they should not be out of pocket because of an investigation.

What we've achieved

The Fostering Network runs a dedicated HelpLine open to everyone, providing support for everyone involved in fostering, and is soon to open a full-time advice line for foster carers, funded by the Department for Education and Skills.

Immediate goals

Encourage proactive work by the UK governments on developing support networks, and lobby for more widespread development of local support for foster carers and their families.

How you can help

You can write to your MP, MSP, AM or MLA, in support of the Fostering Network's campaign to make sure foster carers feel valued and supported, and are able to pass on the benefits of that support to the children and young people they care for.

You can join our rapid response group, and be at the front line of our information-gathering and feedback operation, which is critical if we are to lobby governments with hard facts at our disposal.

You can email policy and campaigns manager Adam Hug directly, or call 020 7620 6434.