Through our policy and campaign work we aim to ensure all care experienced children have the care and long-lasting relationships that will provide them with the stability and security they need to be able to thrive throughout their childhood and beyond. We believe all children have the right to speak out and participate in decisions which affect their lives.
Did you know that...
Over 100,000
children are in the care system across the UK.
Most of these children (about 70 per cent) live with foster carers.
Stability
Children and young people coming into care often want to maintain relationships with their families and communities but, due to a lack of foster families, many children are having to move miles from home and are sometimes separated from their siblings.
We are calling for all governments across the UK to:
- stop children being placed far from away from their local community (unless in their best interests)
- ensure there is a diverse and locally available pool of foster carers to enable all children to be placed with carers who meet all their needs
- support every child to stay with their foster family up to the age 25 years if they wish; and
- enable every child to maintain lifelong and trusting relationships with their family and others who are important to them, including foster carers, in line with our ‘Keep Connected Principles’. Find out more about Keep Connected campaign
Security
We believe all children in foster care should have the financial security to allow them to experience childhoods full of opportunities.
We are calling for governments across the UK to:
- invest in foster care by increasing the national minimum foster care allowance in line with The Fostering Network’s recommended rates so they meet the full cost of caring for a child.
Find out about our Cost of Fostering campaign.
Children and young people's voices
We believe all children and young people in foster care have the right to have their voices heard and participate in decision making which affects their lives. We work with young people’s advisory boards across the UK to support them to campaign and ensure young people can have their voices heard in the development and implementation of policies and laws.
Find out more about The Fostering Network’s participation work.
Our campaigns
Visit our campaigns page to find out more about our campaigns and sign up to our campaigners mailing list.