Fostering in England - morale, motivation and the realities of waiting for overdue reform
In May 2024 I wrote about the need for a national fostering strategy. A year and a half later I am returning to this with an even greater sense of urgency about the need for essential changes to policy and practice in foster care through a National Fostering Strategy. One essential aspiration underpinning changes should be increasing fairness and consistency of the daily experiences of children in care and their foster carers. Currently too often the realities and outcomes for children in care are defined by inequity and being let down.
The ambition of the Children’s Minister, Josh MacAlister MP, to improve the lives of children in care are welcome. We have been talking with officials in the Department for Education and making the case for reform, and we eagerly await further news about the priorities and details of reform over coming years. It is crucial to note that any reforms should aim to simultaneously retain excellent and strong local practice that exists within fostering, whilst making the necessary changes to improve outcomes for all children in care. In all the conversations I have with CoramBAAF members about recruitment we always circle back to the most important role to fostering services and that is retention.
The recently published official Ofsted statistics confirm what our members are telling us. There is a long‑running decline in the number of foster carers, however, the rate of the drop is slowing. England had 42,190 fostering households at 31 March 2025, down 1% year‑on‑year and 7% since 2021. The rate of decline has eased compared with 2023/24, which could be interpreted as a sign of stabilisation, yet the system is still losing capacity overall. The pressures are still being felt acutely in local authorities, despite the 2% drop in the number of children in care. The shortage of foster carers, depleted workforces and foster carers facing burnout who are weighing up whether to move agency or leave and the impact of that can have devastating consequences for children in care. Not being able to provide children in care with a stable loving home not only has a direct impact on the children themselves, it also affects morale and motivation and weighs heavy on foster carers and the workforce who support them as well as wider partners in children’s social care. Any major changes will likely require foster carers and social workers to utilise their resilience in embracing them.
Looking at the recent data, of 8,290 applications received, 61% ended in withdrawal; the most common reasons were changes in household circumstances (not financial) - 36% and process not as expected - 20%. Approximately two thirds of applicants withdraw themselves and one third are withdrawn by the fostering service. What we know from fostering services is that the reasons behind the withdrawals are nuanced and complex. Often applicants themselves change their minds because they discover fostering is not right for them now but it may be in the future. Fostering services are using innovative ways to ‘keep warm’ these future potential applicants. It is important to remind ourselves that what we expect of our foster carers is a lot. The assessment process will always filter out applicants and this is essential to ensure that, as far as possible, our children in care have the best possible experience they can. It is crucial to understand why many prospective carers found the process not as expected. Feedback from members tells us that once applicants consider fully the impact on their whole family, or realise they might need to give up their job, or comprehend the amount of training, meetings and reporting that is required then they decide that this is not a good fit for them at this time. Preparatory training (Skills to Foster) and assessment is there to enable applicants to unpack some of the realities. It is much better that this understanding is developed and informs decisions at the assessment stage as opposed to later down the line which can mean a move for a child. A priority has to be improving stability for children and preventing unnecessary moves.
At CoramBAAF we are continually evolving and adapting our support to members. This year we launched our revised Form F, which includes new, “What does the child need?” sections informed by “what they feel makes their lives good” from the findings of the Coram Voice Bright Spots report 10,000 Voices: The views of children in care on their well-being.
Feedback on the new Form F assessment has overall been positive. Members are reporting that asking applicants to respond to the questions about what a child needs, knowing these have been influenced by the voices of children in care, has given practitioners the confidence required to explore these areas. What we ask of applicants during the assessment is in-depth and complex, because what every child in care must experience from their foster family is a sophisticated and exceptional level of care. We are hearing that where fostering assessment teams are adequately resourced, assessments are being completed in 16-20 weeks. We are also hearing that when support during assessment and post approval is timely and tailored it makes all the difference to foster carers’ morale and motivation. This in turn is absorbed by the supervising social workers and fostering services more broadly who know they are doing a good job. This translates to word-of mouth recruitment from foster carers happening again, whereas sadly the past few years have eroded this from happening as much.
Our hope is that the incoming changes will make significant positive differences for children in care and their foster carers. The ideas and solutions we have are informed through engaging with our members. These contribute to better experiences for those being assessed, better experiences for approved foster carers and crucially better outcomes for children. Including a consistent and efficient approach for transfer between agencies (we are working on this), harmonising allowances, more short breaks, high quality 24/7 out of hours support for foster carers, enhanced and more integrated specialist therapeutic support for children and innovative ways to make the prospect of fostering more accessible and less Eurocentric should all be considered.
We will continue to provide timely opportunities for our members to share promising practice, explore the dilemmas and problem solve together, and are hosting two key events in the new year. We will be keeping our members up to date with how the forthcoming reforms will impact them and we will support them through this period of change.
Fostering reform – implications for social workers and local authorities - Tuesday 3 February 2026 11.30am - 1pm FREE online briefing session
Event aim: To explore what the fostering reform agenda will mean for fostering social workers, managers, strategic leaders, carers, children and others impacted by the reforms.
Fostering Conference – Fostering reform – the opportunities, challenges and realities – Monday 2 March 2026 10am - 4.30pm in person at the Coram campus
Event aim: Providing an opportunity for fostering service managers and others to come together to think about the impact of the fostering reforms on practice and specifically the potential realities for children in care and foster carers.
Emma Fincham, Fostering Consultant, CoramBAAF