The Foster Wales community has been reflecting on everything that has changed since we launched, and we’re proud of the small but important steps made together.
how have foster children’s lives in Wales changed since 2021?
Since launching on 15th July 2021, Foster Wales has taken important steps to improve what matters most: children’s lives.
they’ve stayed close by
During this time, we’ve given safety to 5,954 children – that’s almost two children a day, every day, for the last five years – and 84% of children cared for by Foster Wales carers have been able to stay in their local area (when it was right for them). Staying close has meant being near to school, friends, and support networks so children feel safe, settled, and supported.
We’ve also welcomed more people into fostering – 704 more. Enquiries and approvals have increased around 30%. With less foster carers leaving too, and more foster carers transferring from agencies, we are continuing to build our community of local authority foster carers.
In the words of a care experienced young person
“My dream is stability. Enough foster carers locally. The right carer first time. No moving and moving. Stay local when it’s safe to.”
That’s our dream too.
they’ve stayed put
Saying goodbye is hard, but with improvements in foster carer matching and support, we’ve reduced the number of placement breakdowns by 25%.
With a focus on building life-long connections, we know many young people have stayed on with their foster carers after turning 18 years old and into adulthood.
they’ve a caring community around them
Whether through organised social events and activities or by reaching out to pioneer foster carers for experience and guidance, there’s now a thriving community of foster families who love spending time together, in every local authority in Wales.
We’ve also introduced a New Family Social membership for all foster carers to access LGBTQ+ support and independent advice. We’ve attended Pride Cymru together every year, and some local Prides too! We’re happy to say the number of LGBTQ+ foster carers in Wales has now increased by 60% over the last three years.
Read more:how LGBTQ+ families are shaping the future in Wales
how has foster wales changed since 2021?
We’ve come a long way in half a decade. Here are just a few improvements we’ve made to support our community.
we’ve introduced ‘big welcome’
We’ve listened to children and acted on what they told us: they wanted clearer information when they enter care.
And, we agree.
Arriving in care shouldn’t feel like stepping into the unknown.
So, we’ve introduced our children’s zone website with localised, online, and child-friendly information about the care system, co-created with care-experienced young people.
Our new ‘Big welcome’ profiles can also help children see where they’re going and who they’ll be living with, before they arrive.
So far, 762 foster carers have profiles, with more to come!
Read more: A big welcome for every foster child in Wales
we’ve bolstered learning and development
We want to be able to provide foster carers with the confidence they need, and a big part of facilitating that has been the introduction of a new learning and development portal and involving foster carers in setting our new L&D programme.
This ensures that foster carers’ voices are heard; we provide the training they want to learn; experts are involved in setting consistent learning outcomes; and logging activity is easier and recognises that learning can take many forms.
But, that’s not it, we’ve also:
Run inductions for all council children’s services teams every quarter to advocate for the role of the foster carer, as an important, valued and respected equal member of the professional team.
National Parent and Child fostering training has been rolled out to share the knowledge of this unique but important role in keeping families together.
We’ve ran surveys and working groups to continually listen and be guided by our fostering community.
we’ve supported the removal of profit from children’s care
When fostering with your local authority, the focus has always been the children – not money.
However, there are independent fostering agencies that work differently.
While we think it’s important to pay carers an allowance – and have proposed allowance payment changes to reflect the true cost of caring for a child – we’ve supported the Welsh government in its pledge to remove profit from fostering in Wales, keeping children at the heart of everything we do.
we’ve improved support for kinship carers
We know that our kinship carers sometimes feel isolated, with a lack of community and support around them.
So, we’ve developed the good practice guide for kinship assessment and support.
With more kinship specific support groups and training on offer than ever, we’ve also developed an active offer so that kinship carers can access support groups and training wherever they live in Wales, even if they’re approved by a different local authority.
we’ve helped make fostering more affordable
We know that raising children can be expensive, so we’re dedicated to reducing your costs any way we can. One such way is encouraging local authorities to offer council tax reductions to foster carers. And, we’re pleased to say more than half of the local authorities in Wales now do.
we’ve made employers more aware
In the last five years, we’ve increased the number of fostering-friendly employers in Wales with new and improved HR policies and partnerships. This includes the Welsh Government, Admiral, John Lewis, Sport Wales, and many of our local authorities.
what’s next?
Over the last five years, we’ve achieved a lot and come a long way, by working together as 22 local authorities. We’re proud, but there is still work to be done. To make the lives of children in Wales better, we realise we need to evolve and improve.
We know this can be done – by sharing ideas, good practice and using the experience and expertise across Wales. Together, we are making local authority fostering better for children and carers, wherever you live in Wales.
With your help, we’ll keep listening, learning, and improving, because children in Wales deserve nothing less.
Find your local authority foster team and join the conversation today.
