Retaining, recruiting, and appropriately supporting foster carers throughout their journey can help ensure children in care thrive. More foster carers mean a wider variety of homes available to support better matching and creating stable, well-supported environments for these children; this is a focus of the UK Government’s plans for Children’s Social Care Reforms 2023.

The challenge in England is that in the last reported fiscal year (ending March 2022), more mainstream foster carers (not family and friends foster carers) stopped fostering than were approved, leading to a net decrease in fostering capacity. At the same time, the number of children in care increased.

This research provides the most comprehensive picture of foster carer retention and recruitment in England to date. The aim is to provide a robust evidence base that can underpin a strategic approach to foster care recruitment and retention, building on existing evidence. A diverse and stable pool of foster carers, supported to meet the needs of children in care, will contribute better lifelong outcomes for children who have experienced trauma and adversity.