With over 7,000 young people in care across Wales, the need for more Foster Carers is increasingly pressing.
There are currently 368 children in local authority foster care across RCT, but we need an additional 163 foster homes at the moment.
In January the national network of 22 Welsh local authority fostering teams, Foster Wales, launched a campaign to recruit an additional 800 foster families by 2026.
Foster Wales Rhondda Cynon Taf joined the campaign, ‘Bring Something to the Table,’ to share realistic experiences from the fostering community to respond to common barriers to enquiries.
Some of these include a lack of confidence, misconceptions around criteria, and a belief that that fostering doesn’t fit with certain lifestyles.
The latest phase of the campaign focuses on the role of foster care social workers and the ‘support bubble’ that exists around foster carers, to provide potential carers with:
In a recent public YouGov survey only 44% respondents said social work was well-respected and nearly two fifths (39%) of adults polled felt social work practitioners “often got things wrong.” While only 11% of social workers currently believe social work is well-respected.
Lisa Massey RCT Social Worker told us: “I previously worked as a teaching assistant for 14 years helping children with behavioural and / or emotional difficulties. I felt I wanted to do more to support children who are looked after, especially as I experienced some adversity myself, and felt that I wanted to work with and help children from similar backgrounds.
“Social workers want to do a good job supporting you to help provide the best outcomes possible for children.”
The latest ‘Bring something to the table’ campaign is guided by a newly commissioned survey to better understand preconceptions and motivations of social workers. There were 309 respondents and key findings include:
RCT Foster Carer Tracy Grenter (pictured) shared a message for her Social Worker and said: “Our supervising social worker is worth her weight in gold! She is a vital part of our support network. She knows us and our young people so well. Her support has been phenomenal over the years working alongside us and the children. Nothing phases her and we are blessed to have this respectful working relationship.”
In the research, foster carers highlighted the importance of close and long-lasting working relationships to support young people to overcome challenges. They were also keen to dispel myths about social workers and the support you receive, and paid tribute to the dedication of their social workers:
RCT Foster Carer, Lynnett Evans, also shared: “My supervising social worker always went above and beyond to support. I decided to apply to have an SGO (Special Guardian Order) for my foster child, and my social worker was an amazing support throughout the process. My foster child spends frequent periods of time in hospital and my social worker would always make sure I had all the support I needed to stay with him during these times”.
Annabel Lloyd, Head of Children’s Services in Rhondda Cynon Taf said: “In RCT we have a whole service commitment to outcomes for children and families. The teams in RCT never fail to impress me with their compassion and support for families as well as their resilience, skills and creativity. Excellent social work practice is at the very heart of everything that we do, and this helps our team put children and families front and centre. We support our social workers so that they in turn can lift up and encourage our foster carers to help deliver better outcomes for the children we look after.”
For more information about fostering, or to make an enquiry, visit: https://rct.fosterwales.gov.wales/
Notes to Editors
Survey details: The survey was conducted from 1st – 31st August 2024 and was shared in both English and Welsh language to Foster Carers, social workers and support workers in all of Wales 22 Local Authorities. The foster carers survey received 213 responses (211 English language / 2 Welsh Language) from foster carers across 22 Welsh Local Authorities. The social workers / support workers survey received 96 responses (93 English language / 3 Welsh Language) from foster carers across 21 Welsh Local Authorities. A full breakdown of responses is available upon request.
For further information on the survey, the campaign, for interviews, or media requests, please contact: Jo Reeves or Georgia Osborne Joanna.Reeves@rctcbc.gov.uk Georgia.Osborne@rctcbc.gov.uk
