DfE update to benefit 'thousands of young people' but might not be 'enough'

The Department for Education has announced a £12.4million Fostering Innovation Fund to modernise the UK’s foster care system, attracting younger carers, trialling new forms of care and creating 10,000 more foster care places for young people to benefit from over the course of this Parliament. Fostering expert Trevor Elliott warned that this push for recruitment won’t be enough if it isn’t paired with other improvements too. Drawing on his own experience, the Kennedy Elliott founder shared: “What’s important, though, is that innovation is matched with proper support for carers. “Recruitment alone isn’t enough; foster carers need ongoing training, therapeutic support, and financial stability if we want children to experience long-term consistency and positive outcomes. “I also think there’s a real opportunity for stronger collaboration between fostering services, residential providers, and local authorities, because children’s needs are becoming increasingly complex and the sector works best when it works together.” One way the department hopes to modernise the system is by stopping the assumption that foster carers should be in a traditional, married relationship with one partner staying home in order to be successful. Trevor’s own experience proves this isn’t the case as he took on three teenage boys as a single foster carer at the age of 24. His foster children have since left home and he has received an MBE for his work with vulnerable children. He hopes to foster again in the future, previously telling Reach it was the “best thing I’ve done in my life”, but also advocates for fostering to be seen as more of a career than an “expectation” of the good natured in society. Trevor praised the reform as a whole, saying: “I think this is a positive and much-needed step for the sector. The fostering system has to evolve with modern life, and there are many people who could provide safe, stable, and loving homes if fostering became more flexible and accessible. “The care system is under significant pressure, with increasing numbers of children needing placements, so improving recruitment and retention of foster carers is critical. Innovative models such as respite and weekend fostering could help support children earlier, strengthen placements, and reduce unnecessary admissions into residential care.” The new Fostering Innovation Fund will be allocated to Fostering Hubs and Regional Care Co-operatives to help them expand successful fostering programmes and trial news ways of supporting foster families. Other changes included in the DfE’s reform include new forms of care like weekend-only fostering or fostering for shorter periods during a week. The fund is only part of the Government’s Fostering Action Plan which is set to make fostering more flexible, improve support for carers and update decision-making processes on who can become a carer. Children’s Minister Josh MacAlister said: “Every child deserves the chance to grow up in a safe and loving home, and I’ve been truly inspired by the foster carers I have met who make that happen. “This investment will help us bring fostering into the 21st century, moving on from outdated assumptions about who can foster and how care should be offered and opening it up to a wider range of people. “This will help us recruit more carers, and change more children’s lives by giving them a stable home.”