More foster carers in England leaving than signing up, says Ofsted report

The number of foster carers in England has sunk to a 10-year low, prompting urgent calls for the recruitment of thousands more families, improved retention and moves to tackle a “national crisis” that is exacerbating trauma for the most vulnerable children in society.

The latest figures produced by Ofsted show the number of foster carers fell from 43,405 to 42,615 in the year to March 2024. For the past three years, more carers have been quitting than signing up, meaning the sector has suffered a 2,920 net loss in carers during this period.

The shortage of foster carers means sibling groups entering care are being split up, children are being placed far from their local communities and a n acute lack of specialist carers are available to look after children with additional needs.

“The children are the ones that suffer,” said Sarah Thomas, chief executive of the Fostering Network. “It’s really difficult to find the right [carer] with the right skills in the right place.

“More and more children are placed further from home, more children are placed in residential [care], or sometimes unregulated placements. The outcomes for children and the potential impact on them is significant.”

The new figures reveal that 13% of children were being moved more than 20 miles from their home local authority.

“For a child who has to move to another county – or sometimes another country – just to access a safe home, what that means for them is a loss of school, loss of friends, loss of clubs and commitments,” said Thomas. “So they lose everything in addition to having the trauma of being removed from your family.”

Brenda Farrell, head of adoption and fostering at Barnardo’s, said the shortage of foster carers was compounded by a rising number of children with increased care provisions.

“We can’t get the required environment as part of their care plan,” she said. “So that means children or young people are experiencing more moves, and that impacts on attachment, it impacts on security, stability and love. It adds to the trauma.

“We need a public broadcasting information campaign – like we did with HIV and Aids – where we recognise as a society that we want this to be part of our children’s social care, and therefore we need to educate our society on what [fostering] actually means, and the benefits for both children and families.”

Nigel Minns, chair of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) health, care and additional needs policy committee, said: “These latest statistics highlight a pressing need for more foster placements and reveal the ongoing challenges that local authorities face in providing love and support to our most vulnerable children. While ADCS welcomed recent new investment in both kinship and fostering, it is imperative that local and central government continue to work together to ensure we have enough foster carers and that they have the resources, training and support needed to thrive in their roles.”

The recent budget pledged £44m to trial a kinship care allowance for family members and friends looking after children, and increase the reach of regional recruitment hubs, but stopped short of overhauling foster care allowance, which local authorities are not obliged to meet and varies depending on location. Thomas said increasing financial incentives for foster carers would improve retention in the sector and attract the 6,500 carers the Fostering Network estimates are needed to ensure children are placed in the right home for them.

“The government is not taking action fast enough, and that’s one of the reasons we’re seeing this continuing decline,” Thomas said. “Why would somebody give up their full-time work to care for a sibling group, for example, of traumatised children, when they would receive greater financial reward by working full-time in a different care setting?”