What a day to start!

​And so I couldn’t be prouder to be starting my journey as chief executive of The Fostering Network on the day that Foster Care Fortnight 2015 is launched. Having worked in fostering for over 25 years – most recently as chief executive of TACT – I know how important The Fostering Network is in bringing together everyone involved with fostering and the lives of fostered children, and helping to make life better for those children and their foster families.

Which is why, when I saw the opportunity to apply for the chief executive role, I didn’t hesitate. For me, The Fostering Network is the organisation that over the past four decades – since it began in 1974 – has encouraged, pushed and pulled fostering forward, to try to ensure that the hundreds of thousands of children in care over that time could have the best possible childhoods and experience of family life.

Take training and campaigning. It was The Fostering Network that first introduced pre-approval training for foster carers into the UK, and continues to develop it today through the almost universally used The Skills to Foster. And it was The Fostering Network that led the debate around the professionalisation of foster carer, arguing that the skills and abilities that are required of foster carers should be matched and supported by ongoing training and practical and financial support, as well as respect and recognition as a key part of the team around the child.

Just last year, the charity’s Don’t Move Me campaign led to a change in the law to allow children to stay in foster care until 21 in England, Scotland and Wales. And it doesn’t stop there. The organisation continues to invest in innovative practice, exploring how to make foster care better for children, for example through the introduction of social pedagogy to fostering through the innovative Head, Heart, Hands programme, and the Fostering Achievement programmes aiming to improve educational outcomes of children in care.

What I have always loved about The Fostering Network is its passion for foster care, and the ambition – demonstrated by its trustees, staff and members – to continue making positive change for fostered children. I am honoured to have been given the chance to lead this amazing charity on the next step of its journey, and am looking forward to meeting and working with members and supporters in the months and years to come. Together, we will continue to make a difference to the lives of children in foster care.