Fostering isn’t just about opening your home and heart - it requires skill, time, dedication, and ongoing training to meet the needs of children and young people. 🕜
Julie’s story brings this to life. A single foster carer, she began her journey after a health condition meant she couldn’t have biological children. She admits she felt nervous at first, but embraced every training opportunity to build her confidence and develop the skills she needed. 📚
That commitment has made a lasting difference. The children in Julie’s care - who she calls her “forever children” - have grown in confidence and independence, enabling them to thrive and embrace new opportunities. ✨
Julie’s experience reflects the life-changing impact foster carers can have. But that impact doesn’t happen by chance - it takes time, skill, and dedication.
That’s why this Foster Care Fortnight, we’re calling on the government to #ValueFosterCare, so foster carers can continue providing vital care and transforming lives. 📢
Read Julies story in full via the link in our bio.
#ThisIsFostering #FCF26
As we come to the end of the first week of Foster Care Fortnight, we just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has taken the time to get involved. ❤️ 🙌
From joining conversations online and encouraging others to speak about fostering to arranging events for foster carers and finding creative ways to raise awareness in your area - we’re incredibly grateful that you’re part of the conversation. 🗣️
The response from fostering services has also been overwhelming, with so many get-togethers organised to celebrate and thank foster carers, as well as inspiring initiatives taking place across the country to raise awareness of fostering.
This response has truly embodied our theme, ‘This Is Fostering’ - highlighting the diversity of people and experiences within the fostering community. We've heard the inspiring and uplifting moments alongside the very real challenges faced by foster carers, care experienced children and the wider system around them.
Thank you for being part of this movement - we can’t wait to see what everyone gets up to during the rest of the fortnight! 👀
We're going to leave you with this beautiful reflection from foster carers Jim and Jemal:
"Fostering has taught us patience, resilience and empathy in ways nothing else could. It’s not always easy, but it is one of the most meaningful things we’ve ever done, because the impact you make can stay with a child for the rest of their life."
#FCF26 #ThisIsFostering
We were delighted to be in Parliament yesterday alongside members of the fostering community to celebrate Foster Care Fortnight and launch Foundations – What Works Centre for Children & Families’ new Foster Care Practice Guide. 🙌
It was a powerful and inspiring event, celebrating the extraordinary dedication of foster carers while also shining a light on the significant challenges they face - and the urgent changes needed to make fostering more sustainable for the future.
We were especially grateful for the support of Lord Watson of Invergowrie, Helen Hayes MP and Josh MacAlister MP, and to the brilliant speakers who shared their insight and experiences. In particular, foster carer Hannah, a Mockingbird Hub Home carer, who spoke movingly about her fostering journey and the transformative impact the Mockingbird model can have for both carers and children. 💕
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us to mark #FCF26 and champion the vital role of foster care. 👏
You can read Foundations’ Practice Guide via the link in our bio.
#FCF26 #ThisIsFostering
Foster Walk in Wales 👣 🌞
The fostering community came together in Cardiff this week to walk and talk in the sunshine for #FCF26. It was a fantastic opportunity to catch up in person and raise awareness of the incredible fostering community. ✨
We rounded things off with a trip to John Lewis in Cardiff who generously provided tea, coffee and cake! Perfect refreshments after a busy morning.
Thank you so much to everyone who came along and helped make this event happen. 💕
Are you getting out and about this Foster Care Fortnight? Don’t forget to share your pictures and use the hashtags #FCF26 #ThisIsFostering. 🙌
“You don’t look like you’re fostered”
This was the response Amy received when she first told a friend she had been in foster care. It’s a reaction many care-experienced people recognise, often shaped by media stereotypes rather than real understanding.
Although Amy’s experience was largely positive – staying with the same foster carers throughout her teenage years – she still felt the effects of an often unstable and disjointed system.
Over time, her sense of foster care and family changed. Living in a small village, Amy found support not just from her foster carers but from the wider community, who showed care and kindness in meaningful ways.
Amy said: “Our fostering story wasn't about the foster family, it was about the whole village that did everything they can to keep me on the straight and narrow. They were also my family rather than just our immediate family network.” 💬
This is Fostering highlights the wide range of experiences within the fostering community – from the challenges of an overstretched system to the lasting impact of small acts of kindness. 💕
Thank you so much to Amy for sharing her experiences this Foster Care Fortnight. 🫶
Read Amy's story via the link in our bio.
#FCF26 #ThisIsFostering
This is Fostering in Northern Ireland ✨
We had a brilliant start to Foster Care Fortnight in Northern Ireland on Monday, delivering the launch event at the Stormont Parliament Buildings with our partners HSC Adoption and Foster Care.
We were delighted to be joined by Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt, who thanked foster carers for the care, commitment and passion they bring and we heard from MLA Robbie Butler, who shared his own experiences of fostering. 💬
Children and young people shared their stories through creative displays and performances. We also heard from foster carers, kinship foster carers and birth parents who spoke about their own experiences of fostering.
Our theme ‘This is Fostering’ shown through every part of this moving event – thank you so much to everyone who helped make it happen. ❤️
#FCF26 #ThisIsFostering
This is Fostering 💬
Richard and Hannah have been fostering for six years, alongside their two birth sons Asher and Cohen. Hannah shared these powerful words with us, which truly encapsulates what it means to be a foster carer – the moments of joy, the challenges and everything in between. 💕
“Fostering is both the best and the hardest thing we do! It is in our home, in our family and grafted into the heart of who we are and all we do, so when children come and stay, they see the real you in all your early morning, pre-coffee state! ☕
“Personally, my greatest joy is in the 1000 tiny changes you see when a child learns to trust, grow and develop. One moment for me was a moment in the park with a toddler, who called to me from the slide to look at him. Before then, he would usually never look at me while playing – or, given the chance, would try and scoot out of the park on his own adventures! It was a small win, but as those wins stacked up, he grew into a more secure boy, who knew that he was loved.
“He has now moved into adoption which is a raw mix of loss and immense joy. It has been the greatest thing to be a part of a child finding lifelong stability, security and love - even better is that we get on so well with his new family, our family just grew bigger!”
Watch this video to for more about what fostering means to Hannah and her family. 📽️
This is Fostering - Paul's story ✨
During Foster Care Fortnight we’ll be sharing experiences from across the fostering community to highlight the skills and dedication it takes to be a foster carer, and celebrate the many different forms a family can take. 💡
A few years ago Paul faced a big question when he left the Army – what do I do next? He served for 30 years, but as someone active and on the go, Paul knew he needed to find purpose in his next chapter.
Having spent some time as a youth worker, he felt himself naturally drawn towards foster care. Paul now cares for a 10-year-old boy on a long-term basis, and says fostering has enhanced his own life as much as it has for the children he looks after.
Paul is also actively involved in the fostering community. He takes part in a men’s foster carer group and recently launching a men’s walking group to support fathers and fellow foster carers and boost men’s mental health. 👏 He's also making it his mission to encourage other single men to consider fostering too!
Paul has shared his experiences with us this Foster Care Fortnight – read the full article via the link in our bio. 🔗
#FCF26 #ThisIsFostering #ValueFosterCare
Our latest figures, released this Foster Care Fortnight, show 6,000 additional foster carers are needed across the UK to give children the safe, stable and loving homes they need. 🏠
However, this isn't just about recruitment – urgent action needs to be taking by the government to properly value foster carers before more foster carers are lost.
Leigh, who has been fostering for 27 years, shared with us: “If the Government genuinely paid attention to foster carers, as the people on the ground dealing with these challenges every day, change would happen much more quickly.” 💬
That’s why this #FCF26 we are urging the Government to place equal focus on retaining existing foster carers, as well as recruiting new carers, by:
- Increasing financial remuneration in line with inflation, so it covers the full cost of caring for a child
- Increase wrap-around support – so there’s always help on hand when needed
- Introduce a register for foster carers across the UK to improve professional recognition and help local authorities find homes for children more quickly.
Read our full press release via the link in our bio. 🔗
#FCF26 #ThisIsFostering #ValueFosterCare
This Foster Care Fortnight we’re sharing this powerful video, created with our amazing foster carer members, calling on the Government for urgent change. 📢
Foster carers are not only parents – providing warmth, stability and a place to call home – they are highly skilled. They juggle many roles: educators, mediators, advocates and organisers – with deep knowledge of children’s social care. 🧡
And yet, they don’t feel valued – many carers are struggling with low allowances and fees, inconsistent support – feeling excluded from decision making about the children in their care. These challenges are systemic, contributing to falling foster care numbers nationwide, putting more children at risk of instability.
This Foster Care Fortnight, we’re calling on the Government to #ValueFosterCare. 📽️
#FCF26 #ThisIsFostering #FosterCareAwareness
Foster Care Fortnight is here! 🙌
This year’s theme is #ThisIsFostering, so over the next two weeks we’ll be shining a light on the everyday realities of fostering while raising awareness of the life-changing impact foster carers have on children and young people. 💡
We want to start by saying a huge thank you to foster carers for the incredible commitment, compassion and dedication you show every single day to ensure children and young people feel safe, supported and loved. We know fostering isn’t always easy, and that more must be done to make foster care sustainable for the future.
That’s why, this Foster Care Fortnight, we’ll be calling for change and urging governments across the UK to #ValueFosterCare. 📢
Keep an eye on our social media channels over the next two weeks for inspiring stories from across the fostering community.
Our CEO, Sarah Thomas, has shared a few words to kick off #FCF26. 📽️
Fostering services – help us spread the message far and wide this Foster Care Fortnight 📢
We’ve created a media pack filled with resources to help you secure media coverage during Foster Care Fortnight (11-24 May) and raise awareness of the urgent need for more foster carers. 💡
Inside, you’ll find:
• A template press release highlighting the need for more foster carers in your area
• A quote from our CEO, Sarah Thomas
• National and regional recruitment figures
• Key information and statistics about fostering
Download the media pack today via the link in bio and help us amplify the message. 🔗
#FCF26 #ThisIsFostering #ValueFosterCare
