Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether local authority fosters carers will be eligible to host Ukrainian (a) groups and (b) individuals under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Any household can come forward to the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme. The decision to become a host family should involve everyone living in the household, including children, whose views, wishes and feeling should be taken into account. There will be additional considerations when the household includes children in foster care.
Foster carers are required to give written notice to their fostering provider when there is a change in the composition of the household. The department would expect foster carers to contact their fostering service provider and the local authority/authorities for any children already living in their care when considering applying to the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme (where the local authority is not their fostering service provider).
If a foster carer has capacity to take additional children, the department encourages them to approach their local authority about what support they can provide, including to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children already in the country and those who continue to arrive.