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Our allegations campaign

Most foster carers accept that, given the troubled background of many of the children they foster, they face a high risk of having an allegation made against them. Yet despite the potentially devastating impact it can have on them and their families they continue to foster. The scale of this risk was highlighted in a major survey of over 1000 foster carers conducted by the Fostering Network in 2006. This found that one in three foster carers had experienced an allegation at some point in their fostering career. While foster carers recognise this risk as part of their commitment to the children they care for, the damage caused by the failure to investigate allegations in a timely and appropriate manner and to support foster carers who are subject to an investigation is unacceptable.

The Fostering Network is calling for government action to ensure:

  • enforceable statutory time-scales for investigations are set and the performance of fostering services is monitored against them
  • fostering services continue to pay fees to foster carers, who are effectively suspended from working as a foster carer during an allegation, until the investigation is completed and they resume work, or their approval is terminated
  • fostering services pay a proportion of the allowance to cover ongoing costs such as insurance, utility bills and rent or mortgage to foster carers who are effectively suspended from working as a foster carer during an allegation.
  • all fostering services provide foster carers with independent support throughout any allegation. Government guidance must be issued to clearly define the required level of independent support and inspection agencies must ensure delivery
  • the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish governments set up transparent, accessible and independent appeals systems to review decisions about foster carers whose approval has been terminated or modified after an allegation
  • the proposed independent review system for foster carers (Children and Young Persons Bill 2007) is established and accessible by foster carers whose appeal is terminated or whose terms of approval are severely limited following an allegation.

If you would be willing to join our campaign to improve allegation procedures for foster carers please sign up to our rapid response group.

Report from our 2006 study of allegations in foster care

We asked foster carers about their experiences of allegations and the results of this survey are now available in a compelling report:

Guidance on handling allegations, October 2007

The government has been working for some time to ensure that systems for dealing with allegations provide effective protection for children against abuse.

New guidance was published in April 2006 in Working Together to Safeguard Children and a review is underway to examine how effective the implementation of this guidance has been in the handling of allegations.

Download the Fostering Network's response to the DCSF's consultation on this guidance.

What is an allegation?

An allegation is where a child or young person, or an adult on behalf of the child or young person makes a complaint or allegation of ill treatment against a foster carer. Children and young people may make an allegation against a foster carer for a number of reasons. The allegation may be true or it may result from misinterpreting everyday actions or it may arise because of a young persons desire to break their current placement. The Fostering Network's survey showed that 52 per cent of allegations made against foster carers were of physical abuse, 16 per cent of poor standards of care and 16 per cent of sexual abuse.

What happens when an allegation is made?

Investigations into allegations can take three forms: police investigations into a possible criminal offence, a child protection enquiry and assessment by the local authority (Health Trust in Northern Ireland), and investigations by a fostering service into the family's suitability to continue as foster carers. Whilst many allegations lead to formal child protection procedures, most do not involve the police.

The Fostering Network survey showed that almost a third of foster carers were suspended from fostering at some point during the investigation. However, on completion of the investigation, over two-thirds of foster carers did not have any children removed from their household and only in a handful of cases was action taken to review their approval as a foster carer.

Why the system is failing foster carers

Going through an allegation is immensely distressing. Foster families say that they feel like they are in limbo during this time, that they become demoralised and feel isolated and ignored by the system created to investigate the allegation. Guidance published by the Government in England in 2006, Working together to safeguard children, considers that it is reasonable to expect that 80 per cent of cases should be resolved within one month, 90 per cent within three months and all but the most exceptional cases should be completed within 12 months. However these timescales are indicative and not compulsory and the Fostering Network's survey found that only 50 per cent of cases are completed within three months and 10 per cent take over a year. No indicative timescales exist in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Despite the national minimum standards in England and Wales requiring that all foster carers must be entitled to receive independent support when they are the subject of an allegation, our survey showed that two-thirds of foster carers are still not receiving this service. Furthermore there is no requirement at all in Northern Ireland and Scotland to provide independent support to foster carers while under investigation following an allegation. Over half of foster carers in our survey thought the allegations process was unfair and that the lack of support they received put them off fostering for a long time.

A further difficulty is that unlike other members of the children's workforce, foster carers have no recourse to independent appeal when they are a victim of poor decision making by their fostering service.

If this was not troubling enough, half of all foster carers who are suspended had their fee payments and allowances frozen placing them and their families in great financial difficulty. Given that for over two thirds of foster carers fostering is their only source of income, and for many of them it is a full time occupation, this is an unjust and unacceptable way to treat committed and professional foster carers.

Whilst the safety of the children in care is of paramount importance, the system can not continue to let down and penalize foster carers who give so much to help some of the most vulnerable children in society. At a time when there is a desperate need for 10,000 more foster carers across the UK, the failures of the allegations system cause many good foster carers to quit and put many people off fostering. The Fostering Network believes allegations must be dealt with swiftly, efficiently, and fairly, within an agreed formal framework, that is understood by all those involved including foster carers.

Further information

For information and guidance on how to deal with an allegation, visit our Foster Care Resource Centre or contact someone via our advice services.

Allegations links

Other links