Fostering Friendly

What is our Fostering Friendly Scheme?

Our Fostering Friendly Scheme helps employers to support and recognise the roles of their employees who foster and involves no direct costs, whilst supporting their wider community.

We are looking for all types of businesses, employers and organisations, large and small to get involved with our scheme. Members of the scheme can support in a variety of ways, bespoke to their organisation, including raising awareness in the community, offering discounts for foster carers, offering space for training or events, displaying posters or leaflets, sharing information on social media or agreeing to put in place a fostering friendly HR policy for all foster carers in their employment. This could include offering foster carers flexible working and paid time off for training and settling a new child into their home, providing similar flexibility for parents of their own birth children.

Fostering Friendly employers can further help promote fostering during our annual campaign supporting Foster Care Fortnight – raising the profile of fostering nationally. The campaign celebrates the fantastic and inspiring work that foster carers do and encourages people to consider becoming foster carers, offering children the care they need and to stay in their local area.

Did you know?

• Nearly 40 percent of foster carers combine fostering with other work
• Those who do say that a supportive employer can make all the difference; enabling them to balance employment with looking after children
• This is where you can help

What is Fostering?

Fostering is a way of providing a family life for children who cannot live with their birth families or relatives. Some children return to their families, but others may stay in long term foster care, some may be adopted, and others will move on to live independently when the time is right. Children in care have a variety of unique needs and our foster carers are required to provide a safe, healthy, and nurturing home and give these children the opportunity and loving environment to thrive and grow.