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Every 15 minutes in the UK, a child will come into care. Many will have suffered neglect or abuse, all will experience trauma and loss. Each one deserves a home where they will be loved, nurtured and enabled to thrive, whether that’s through short-term or long-term foster care, with a new adoptive family or with a supported lodgings host. But more families are urgently needed to ensure all children and young people can grow up in the family and setting that is right for them.
Each year, thousands of additional foster carers are needed both to meet the needs of children coming into care and to account for carers who will retire in the year ahead. Fostering is an opportunity to give children and young people a safe place in a stable and loving home while they are unable to live with their birth family. There are many different forms of fostering, and foster carers are needed for children of all ages, but there is often a particular need for families who are able to look after groups of siblings, children with disabilities or medical needs, children of Black and minority ethnic heritage, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and teenagers.
Find out more about fosteringFor a small percentage of children in care, adoption is deemed the best way to achieve permanence and stability. In 2021, there were more than 2,000 children in England waiting to be matched with an adoptive family [1]. Recent figures show that around 50% of children waiting for an adoptive family have already been waiting at least eighteen months [2]. The average age of a child at adoption is 3 years and 3 months – often old enough to have an awareness of what is going on [3]. Adoption is not right for every child, but when it is, it’s an opportunity to give a child a loving family to belong to for the rest of their lives, who will commit to them, nurture them and advocate for them. Adoptive families are needed for children of all ages and genders, but there is often a particular need for families who are able to adopt groups of siblings, children with disabilities or medical needs, children of Black and minority ethnic heritage and children over the age of four.
Find out more about adoptionSupported lodgings is a provision for young people aged 16+ whereby they live in a room in the house of a ‘host’ family, individual or couple. The young person has greater independence than in foster care, with the host holding less parental responsibility but tasked with providing emotional and practical support to the young person, including supporting them to develop practical skills for adulthood such as cooking and budgeting.
Find out more about supported lodgingsReferences:
[1] Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board. 2021. Headline Measures: Q1 2021/22. Available online. [Accessed 17 November 2021].
[2] Ibid.
[3] Department for Education. 2021. Children looked after in England including adoptions. Available online. [Accessed 23 November 2021].
The Home for Good team are here to help you begin your fostering, adoption or supported lodgings journey, so phone us on 0300 001 0995. We can answer your questions, help you to explore your options and point you in the right direction. If you’d like, we will do our best to connect you with foster carers or adoptive parents in your area, and we’d love to tell you about our pathways to fostering, adoption and supported lodgings.
Our enquiry line is open 9:30am – 5pm from Monday to Friday, or you can complete the form below and one of our team will get in touch with you.
You can also attend an information event, where our experienced team will answer your questions and help you navigate your next steps.
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