Globally, there is a movement to place more children in need of alternative care arrangements in foster care and family environments. Recruiting, retaining and appropriately supporting foster carers can help children in care thrive. In England, despite the growing number of children in care, the national statistics show a recent decrease in the number of approved foster carers - leading to greater challenges in matching children in care with foster carers who can meet their needs and leading to a focus in social care reform on foster carer retention and recruitment.
Dr Ott led a scoping study conducted by the Centre for Evidence and Implementation, commissioned by The Fostering Network and funded by KPMG Foundation, aiming to systematically and comprehensively understand the evidence on the national picture of recruitment and retention. This research presents a new re-analysis of the national-level English Ofsted data of all foster carers, a re-analysis of the Fostering Network’s 2022 State of the Nation survey on foster carers and fostering services (the largest survey of English foster carers), a new survey 2023 of over 1,000+ foster carers in England, and individual and group interviews with prospective foster carers, current foster carers, and previous foster carers. In doing so, the research highlights surprising trends in the trajectory of foster carers by age and ethnicity and gaps in the national data about why enquiries don’t lead to applications and applications don’t lead to approved foster carers. Throughout the research, an emphasis is placed on equity to understand how prospective foster carers’ trajectories differ by characteristics and intersect with stigma, discrimination and social inequalities.
The research challenges a focus on ‘recruitment’ and ‘the foster carer market’ to think about perspectives on what we can learn from the foster carers who stay, the quality of care, and on retention. The research also presents systematically what foster carers think would improve retention and recruitment. It proposes next steps for data in England and for future research on foster carer retention and recruitment, with implications for thinking about foster carer retention and recruitment within and across countries.
18 сен 2024
