Membership Spotlight highlights the work of our member organisations and outlines how other individuals and NGOs can support them. We are shining the light on The Fostering Network who have now been a member for nearly four years. It’s Foster Care Fortnight and we are sharing how individuals and organisations can get involved #FCF24 #FosteringMoments!

Tell us about the work of your organisation in Scotland (e.g where, type of work, who works for you etc).

We’re a small but mighty team in Scotland! As a membership organisation for foster carers and fostering services, run forums, organise training, and provide advice and support to help foster carers provide the best possible care to the children and young people they foster. We run a free advice line called Fosterline Scotland which anyone can call about fostering-related issues or questions. We also work directly with children and young people across the whole of Scotland through our Young People’s Advisory Board and other participation work (more on this below). And we meet regularly with Scottish Government officials to inform and influence their policy.

What projects are you currently working on?

Yesterday was the start of Foster Care Fortnight – the UK’s biggest annual awareness-raising campaign for foster care. This year’s theme is #FosteringMoments and we’re asking foster carers, children and young people in foster care, and the wider fostering community to share the big and small moments that define foster care for them. We have an exciting programme of events lined up including a family Foster Walk at Mugdock Country Park near Glasgow, a session on children’s rights to health from Children’s Health Scotland, and a chance to meet our Young People’s Advisory Board! You can view the programme and find out more about sharing your #FosteringMoments on Twitter(X) , or email us at scotland@fostering.net. And look out for a debate in the Scottish Parliament this Thursday after First Minister’s Questions!

We’ve also just launched our 2024 State of the Nations’ Foster Care survey, the largest independent survey of the UK’s fostering community. Run every three years, we’ve used previous findings to lobby for unprecedented investment in recruitment and retention of foster carers; secure increases to national fostering allowances to ensure children in foster care get the same opportunities as their peers; achieve funding for crucial programmes to support foster carers to provide the best possible care for children; and influence national care reviews across the UK. The survey is open to foster carers, former foster carers, and fostering services until Sunday 16 June – find out more and get the survey links here.

How can children and young people make their views heard to influence your work?

Another important area of work for us is our Young People’s Advisory Board, which was set up in October 2022 to create a space for children and young people to shape our work. The Board is open to young people aged around 16-21 who have experience in foster care or are children of foster carers. We currently have six members who meet every two weeks online and roughly every two months in person, as well as for occasional residentials. We have space for one or two more members so if you or a young person you know might be interested in joining, you can email our participation worker Zoe at zoe.roy@fostering.net or send her a WhatsApp on 079030 79567.

If you’re under 16, don’t worry, you can still get involved! We’re keen to engage more with lots of different age groups, so please do reach out to Zoe if you’re interested. And if you are – or know – a member of a local Champs Board or another group for care experienced young people, Zoe would love to come along to one of your meetings.

Does your organisation influence policy development on issues affecting children and young people?

We’ve been campaigning for a long time for the Scottish Government to introduce a national allowance for foster carers, to make sure all foster carers have enough money to meet the needs of the children and young people they foster. In August 2023, the Scottish Government finally introduced the Scottish Recommended Allowance (SRA) for foster carers and kinship carers across Scotland, which we welcomed. But the SRA still doesn’t meet our recommended rates so we’re continuing to campaign for it to be increased and reviewed each year in line with inflation.

We’ll be responding to the Scottish Government’s Promise Bill consultation, calling for Care Experienced to be considered a protected characteristic and for the protections for children in care in the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 to be enshrined in Scots Law.

How can other organisations or individuals get involved or support your work?

You can sign up to The Fostering Network’s Scotland e-newsletter by emailing scotland@fostering.net for updates on our work, opportunities to get involved, and fostering news from the Scottish Government. Visit our website for more information or keep up to date with us on our Scotland Twitter account and our UK Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

If your organisation was an animal what would it be and why?

We should probably say a mockingbird, because that’s the name of one of the programmes we deliver! Mockingbird is an innovative model of foster care which provides children and young people in foster care with a kind of extended family, made up of other fostering families and a ‘home hub’ in the middle who are there to support everyone. Barnardo’s have been running a Mockingbird ‘constellation’ in Edinburgh and we’ve received funding to launch one with Falkirk Council, building on our experience of running the programme in England.

That was a bit of a sneaky way to talk more about our work… so, if not a mockingbird, then maybe a bee! We have a strong bright brand, we work everywhere to share information, create networks and spread knowledge, and we have a clear sense of our roles.

Sign-Up and Become a Member (Individual or Organisational)

• Would you like to find out further information about joining Together’s Membership?  Then visit our website page ‘Become a Member’ for further information.
• Are you a Together organisational member and would like to collaborate for a Membership Spotlight? Email: caitlin@togetherscotland.org.uk

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