Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help retain skilled and experienced foster carers.

Currently, there are ten fostering regional programmes active across England, collaborating with 64% of all local authorities to recruit and retain foster carers who will provide loving homes, local to the children who need them. An additional £15 million was announced to support this programme in the budget, and the department intends to move towards full national roll-out in the next financial year.

As part of this model, the department is supporting foster carers, and the children they care for, by expanding ‘The Mockingbird Family Model’. This innovative evidence-based approach, where relationships are central to the design of the programme, involves six to ten satellite families grouped into a constellation around a hub home carer. Research shows that carers who participate in Mockingbird are 82% less likely to de-register than households that do not participate.

In addition, the department funds ‘Fosterlink’, a diagnostic support service for local authority fostering services, which will review current processes to identify areas for service and practice improvements, as well as creating a national network in which to share best practice. Finally, the department is continuing to fund ‘Fosterline’, a free helpline service for current and prospective foster carers.