Fostering in crisis: can flexible care models fix England’s child placement shortfall?

A new initiative aims to attract adults in their 30s and 40s to foster children, seeking to establish 10,000 additional foster care placements. The campaign follows the story of a long-time foster carer who spent over two decades providing a stable home for more than 100 children before stepping down during the pandemic. Her own experience of being cared for after losing her mother at a young age inspired her lifelong commitment to fostering. The push highlights the ongoing need for dedicated individuals to support vulnerable children in need of temporary homes.

New recruitment campaign to target adults in their 30s and 40s in bid to create 10,000 new foster care places Viennetta Basterfield, 67, spent two decades fostering more than 100 children in her west London home before she and her husband handed in the reins during Covid.Her own mother had died when she was nine and she was brought up by another woman who took her in. There was no doubt in her mind that she wanted to dedicate her life to passing that gift on to others. Continue reading...