Posted on: Friday 21 February 2025
We’re backing a national campaign to encourage more people to foster with their local authority and keep children in their communities.
The Foster Wales Staying Local campaign aims to highlight the benefits of local authority fostering over independent foster agencies, including local support and close links with children’s social workers.
It comes as the Welsh Government launches a bill to become the first country in the UK to prevent profit-making commercial agencies fostering children in Wales, other than in exceptional circumstances.
In Torfaen, 75 per cent of placements are made with local authority carers but an estimated 35 additional foster carers are needed to meet local demand.
Sharon-Ann, 53, began fostering with a commercial agency in 2015 before moving to Foster Wales Torfaen after working with the council's MyST team, who support children and carers with complex needs.
Sharon said: "I was put in touch with MyST while fostering a child who had experienced a number of adverse childhood experiences. I was really impressed by the team and decided to join them as a foster carer. I get excellent support from Simona, my supervising social worker, who is always ready to offer advice and support."
"By fostering with your local authority you're enabling children to maintain relationships with their family and friends and remain in their local community which makes it easier for them to settle in their new home.”
Children in need of foster care are initially matched with local authority foster carers, before being matched with a third-sector or commercial foster agency if a suitable placement cannot be found.
Last year, nearly 70 per cent of children placed with commercial fostering agencies were cared for outside their local area, compared to just 15 per cent of children in local authority foster care.
Councillor Richard Clark, Torfaen Council’s Executive Member for Children, Families and Education, said: “We’re grateful to all our foster carers who support children who cannot live with their families.
“We believe caring for children in their local communities has better outcomes for them and their families and is in line with our County Plan Well-being Objectives. To achieve that we need to support more people to become Foster Torfaen carers.”
To find out more about fostering with your local authoirity, visit the Foster Wales Torfaen website - https://fosterwales.torfaen.gov.uk/.