campaigning

Our manifesto

We are calling on political parties to:

• Focus on care experienced children and young people.

• Support fostering families.

About the survey 

The survey, which took place in the summer of 2021, covered key practice and workforce issues such as placement stability, training and support for carers, and status and authority of the workforce.

In total, 3,352 foster carers and 99 fostering services took the survey, maitaning it as the largest and most comprehensive survey of fostering in the UK.

Look out for our 2024 State of the Nations survey findings

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to our 2024 State of the Nations survey. We’re thrilled to have heard from more than 3,000 foster carers, former foster carers, and fostering services.

We’ll be using the findings to campaign for change with the new government and will be publishing a report with the key findings later this year.

Our 2021 State of the Nation survey showed that both foster carers and fostering services agree that improving the status of foster carers in the team around the child is the number one thing that will change children’s experience of foster care for the better. Read our full report into foster carer status here. 

EU Nationals: Foster Carers and Fostered Children - 2018

Following on from the Government initiating the official EU withdrawal process in March 2017, there was – and continues to be – much speculation as what would happen to EU nationals who were currently residing in the UK. The Fostering Network received enquiries from fostering services worrying about approving people as foster carers who were non-UK EU nationals, and also about the long-term stability of placing fostered children with foster carers who were non-UK EU nationals.