Foster Care Fortnight

If you have found yourself on this page, it might be good to assume you have an interest in fostering, or you are curious about Foster Care Fortnight. If we are right, you have come to the right place! We will give you an introduction into Foster Care Fortnight, along with some information on fostering.

What is Foster Care Fortnight?

Foster Care Fortnight was established in 1997 by The Fostering Network and has since taken the fostering community by storm. Celebrated every year for 2 weeks, it helps spread awareness of the need for foster carers in hopes to inspire someone to jump on board with fostering.

Each year The Fostering Network has a new theme for FCF, this year is #FosteringCommunities! This will be to shine a light on how fostering communities support one another.

Are you ready to find out more?

To become a foster carer there are some requirements made by the Government.

We have a button with a page from our website which will take you through what it's like to go through the fostering process and your responsibilities as a foster carer.

Request An Info Pack

Full Name *

Phone *

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Our requirements:

• You must be 21 or over. There is no upper age

limit!

• You must be a British citizen OR have the right

to remain in the UK.

• You must have a spare bedroom

We're always looking for foster carers from different cultural, religious and racial backgrounds, single people, couples (whether married or living together, with or without children). Let’s make a difference, together

Why should you foster?

Fostering is a great way to show love to children who may have never experienced it. If you are a patient person with time on your hands, love to give and a spare bedroom, what better way to share those things?

The number of children going into care grows every day. Although the numbers of fostering households and foster carers in England are at their highest ever levels, the increases are not keeping up with the number of children going into care.

There is still a desperate need for more foster carers, so Foster Care Fortnight is a very helpful way for

foster agencies to try and increase the interest of fostering, as well as spread awareness for the need of carers.

Why are there not enough carers?

There are a record number of children coming into care in the UK. Over the past five years, the number of approved places and approved households have only increased by 2% while the number of children in placements rose by 9%.

Not many people know enough about fostering and are quick to judge due to hearing a negative opinion on the profession. This can lead to people avoiding looking into it, and not educating themselves about the processes and requirements.

Another reason there are not enough carers in comparison to children in care is due to people lacking space in their house to take in multiple children or groups of siblings. Each child is required to have their own bedroom, apart from in some special cases, and unfortunately, not enough people have enough bedrooms to acquire multiple children. This causes an increase in sibling groups being split up.

Ofsted's National Director of Social Care said, "Foster carers make such a difference to children’s lives. But year on year we see more children coming into foster care, and too few carers with the right skills to give them the support they deserve. How long can this go on before the care system reaches breaking point?"