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Today, Humza Yousaf has been nominated as the new First Minister of Scotland. The Fostering Network have written a letter outlining our number one priority ask for 2023 – to implement a national minimum allowance, now.
Scotland is the only country in the UK without a national minimum allowance and we at The Fostering Network have been campaigning for its implementation for many years.
Kevin Williams, chief executive of The Fostering Network, is to retire after almost 40 years in the voluntary and public sectors.
Kevin, who has spent the past eight years at The Fostering Network, has previously been chief executive of the fostering and adoption charity TACT and DGSM yourChoice. He began his career as a social worker and worked in a variety of roles in children’s social care in local authorities.
The Welsh Government have published details of a 5.5% uplift to fost
On 27 January 2023 The Northern Ireland Children’s Commissioner (NICCY) published a report ‘Looked after? A Formal Investigation into the Life of a Child in the Care of the State’.
Following the publication of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England in May 2022, the Government have released their long-awaited strategy for the reform of children’s social care: Stable Homes, Built on Love.
Independent evaluation of The Fostering Network's Fostering Wellbeing programme found it to be a valued and effective model, promoting a holistic approach to supporting children and young people.
The independent evaluation released today by CASCADE at Cardiff University reported that following engagement with the programme, foster carers have felt empowered to become stronger advocates for the children in their care and much of the learning and understanding of the importance of children’s prior experiences has also been retained.
There will be some changes to our helpline opening hours over the festive period. However, there will still be support available to our members through our legal and stress support advice lines, which are open twenty-four seven.
Changes to our helpline services
• Our Member Helpline (England) will close at 3.00pm on Friday 23 December and reopen at 10.00am on Tuesday 3 January 2023.
• Fosterline Wales will close at 12.30pm on Friday 23 December and reopen at 9.30am on Tuesday 3 January 2023.
The UK’s leading fostering charity, The Fostering Network, have announced plans to carry out vital research into the retention and recruitment of foster carers in England to achieve a diverse and stable foster care workforce.
The research, supported by the KPMG Foundation and conducted by the Centre for Evidence and Implementation is currently underway.
The Fostering Network, the UK’s leading fostering charity, warns that foster carers, hit by the cost-of-living crisis, struggle to afford looking after the children in their care. The allowance they receive, which is supposed to cover the cost of looking after a young person, is not sufficient and with the rising cost of living, many face difficulties to make ends meet.
Yesterday saw the launch of this year's Christmas ad campaign from John Lewis, which highlights foster care and the company's commitment to support young people with care experience through their Building Happier Futures programme. The Fostering Network is pleased to welcome this campaign and the increased awareness of foster care it will bring. We are also looking forward to working closely with John Lewis as part of the Buildling Happier Futures advisory board.
