Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support adults with (a) adopted and (b) fostered children in Surrey Heath constituency.

The department continues to fund the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) with £50 million in 2025/26. The ASGSF funds therapeutic support for adoptive families, including parenting courses to help new adoptive parents support their child as they join their family.

Additionally, £8.8 million is being invested in Adoption England to improve adoption support. Adoption England supports regional adoption agencies, including Adoption South East, to agree a support plan with prospective adopters when they have been matched with children, which evolves over time as the child grows and develops. Adoption South East’s support offer for adoptive families can be found here: https://www.adoptionsoutheast.org.uk/post-adoption-support.

Foster carers are able to build relationships in a short period of time that can be loving, long-standing and incredibly valued by the children for whom they care. But we are clear that in order to do so, they must be supported, valued and respected as experts on the child in their care. Standards 20 and 21 of the ‘Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards’ detail the expectations required of all fostering providers: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7abe16e5274a319e77a6a1/NMS_Fostering_Services.pdf.

The department funds Fosterline, a free-to-access independent advice and support service for current and prospective carers on a wide range of fostering issues.

Financially, foster carers benefit from qualifying care relief (QCR), a tax relief that ensures a carer’s income is not taxed unless it exceeds an overall QCR allowance. All carers should also receive the national minimum allowance each week to help cover the cost of caring for a child. Current national minimum allowance rates are accessible here: https://www.gov.uk/support-for-foster-parents/help-with-the-cost-of-fostering.