- Campaign launched at 10 Downing Street with backing of foster
carers and care-experienced influencers.
- New polling commissioned by the DfE shows thousands of people
potentially interested in fostering, as government plans to
create 10,000 new foster places.
- Funding confirmed for innovative new projects designed to
make fostering more accessible and inclusive.
More children in the care system in England will get the loving,
supportive homes they need as the government calls on people to
open their hearts and homes to some of the most vulnerable
children in society.
A new national recruitment campaign the first of its kind in
England will encourage adults to consider fostering, highlighting
the fact that all kinds of different people can foster.
The campaign launch was marked by a celebration event at 10
Downing Street on Tuesday 13 October, bringing together foster
carers frontline workers and people with lived experience of
care.
The new campaign will target adults in their 30s and 40s who have
the values and capacity to foster but may never have seriously
considered it, supporting the government's ambition to create
10,000 new foster care places by the end of this Parliament
There are more routes into fostering than ever before, but recent
DfE polling found that too many adults are ruling themselves out
before they find out more. The polling found that two thirds
(66%) of people believe they could be a good foster carer if
practical barriers were removed.
To enable more people to become foster carers, the DfE is
providing £88 million of funding to reform fostering, including
£12.4 million for the fostering innovation fund which will trial
new models of foster care, such as short term respite fostering'
or fostering at weekends, to open it up to a wider range of
people.
The number of approved foster carers has fallen by 12% since
2019, while the number of children needing care has increased.
This is why the government aims to create 10,000 new foster
places by the end of this parliament.
Children's Minister said:
"Fostering changes lives, not just for the children who finally
get the stability and love every child deserves, but for the
carers themselves, who tell us it's one of the most rewarding
things they've ever done.
"Right now, thousands of children need that chance, and that's
exactly what our national campaign is about: cracking fostering
open to ordinary people across England who have the values, the
commitment, and the love to foster.
"This is part of a bigger reset of children's social care, one
that puts loving, stable relationships back at the heart of the
system."
Dame Carol Homden, CEO of Coram, said:
"We are pleased to support the government's campaign encouraging
more people to consider a life-changing role in foster care,
enabling more children and young people to grow up in safe and
supportive families.
Coram's own research published today indicates there is a
substantial pool of people open to becoming foster carers if we
support them through the process and help them to thrive as a
foster family.
"The campaign is an important step in realising the ambitious
plans to ensure every child has the support they need in family
care, now and in the future."
The launch event at Number 10 is being attended by public figures
with experience of the care system, including former NFL star Efe
Odaba, care-experienced broadcaster and author Ashley
John-Baptiste, and TOWIE star Lydia Bright.
The campaign follows the launch of the Fostering Action Plan
[LINK] by the Children's Minister in February and the launch of
the Enduring Relationships Programme in June.
It is supported by further reforms to fostering, including a new
rulebook for foster carers that humanises the decision-making
process, digital tools to speed up recruitment, and funding for
innovative and more flexible new approaches to fostering. Over
70% of local authorities are now part of a Fostering Hub, showing
real progress.
All of this is intended to make it easier not just to become a
foster carer but also to ensure that existing carers are better
supported and can understand the processes behind fostering at
every stage.
The government is also announcing today the programmes receiving
funding through the Fostering Innovation Fund, designed to test
dynamic, more flexible new approaches to delivering foster care
and build evidence about what works in fostering.
The 11 successful programmes include programmes focused on
recruiting weekend foster carers, supporting carers through
allegations, parent-and-child fostering, therapeutic training,
increasing diversity among foster carers and helping children
move from residential care into foster families where this meets
their needs.
ENDS
Notes to editors
- The poll was conducted by Censuswide among a sample of 1,686
respondents in England. The data was collected between 18 and 21
September 2026 and is being released in full by the PR Agency
commissioned by the Department for Education [LINK].
- Censuswide is a member of the Market Research Society and the
British Polling Council and is a signatory of the Global Data
Quality Pledge. Censuswide adheres to the Market Research Society
Code of Conduct and ESOMAR principles.
