Government plans to boost foster care supported by Shropshire care provider
Shropshire based foster care provider Family Care is backing national Government plans to tackle a dramatic 10 per cent drop in foster carers across England in the last five years.
Latest figures provided by Education Sector regulator Ofsted show that up to March 2025 there were 33,435 fostering households in England – which marks a 10 per cent decline in the number of available carers since 2021.
In response the Government has announced plans for a package of reforms to try and tackle the growing shortage of foster carers in England, with the aim of increasing the number of foster places available for children and doing more to retain existing foster carers.
Family Care Group, which currently provides fostering homes for children across Shropshire and the West Midlands, is fully supporting the plans and says action has to be taken soon to try and reverse the decline in available carers.
A lack of available foster homes can push children into residential care, where they have worse expected outcomes in education, health and long-term prospects, as highlighted in the recent Casey Audit published last year. This can also leave them potentially more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. It can also lead to children being moved from their local area, with the added disruption of changing schools and other issues.
The new Government proposals to tackle the growing shortage of foster carers include plans to expand the criteria for who can become foster carers and to provide better support for carers to be able to fit fostering around their busy and working family lives.
It is hoped these reforms will help to increase the pool of potential foster carers, giving more children the chance to find a foster home, as well as boosting the support available for existing foster carers.
Dana Marrett, Fostering Registered Manager for Family Care Group said: “The fall in the number of available foster carers since 2021 is alarming and yet we feel it could be avoided if more people could be encouraged to take up fostering and appreciate the tremendous benefits it can bring to a child’s life and their own life.
“The Government’s plans to improve the support available to foster carers and widen the criteria for those thinking of fostering is certainly an important step in the right direction and we welcome those moves.
“It is vital that a child in care can have access to a safe, supportive and loving home environment and by having more foster carers available it can hopefully provide that security and support for a lot more children.”
Foster carer Jen Gibbons, who has been a foster carer for over 12 years, believes some people may be fearful about being rejected as foster carers when thinking of applying.
She said: “In some cases people may talk themselves out of applying because they don’t know what the role actually involves. They may feel, for example, because they are a single person that they will be deemed unsuitable but this is not the case. Fostering can be a lot more suitable for people than they realise.”
Dana Marrett adds: “We would encourage anyone considering fostering not to rule themselves out. If think you can’t do it because you’re a single parent, working, living with a disability or other issues you may well find you are actually suitable.
“If you have a spare bedroom at home and the desire to make a positive difference to a young person’s life you may well find fostering does work for you.”
Learn more about how to become a foster carer at family-care.co.uk/fostering
Further details on the Government’s new proposals can be found here.
Further details on the Casey Audit report are available here.
