At Home for Good we are committed to seeing change from the top down – sparking systemic improvements to the care system plays a crucial role in our mission to find homes across the UK, and we are thrilled to share with you our priorities for 2023. Here are five changes we want to see.

Statutory adoption pay for self-employed adopters

Stepping into 2023, we will keep on advocating for self-employed adoptive parents who currently are unable to access statutory pay when they go on adoption leave, even though this is available to employed adopters. Momentum is building, with many politicians voicing their support for legislative change to end this disparity.

Although achieving legislative change takes time, we remain hopeful and continue to pray that change will come in the near future. Achieving statutory pay for self-employed adopters will make an enormous difference in the landscape of adoption, releasing hundreds of potential adoptive parents immediately and many more in years to come. This change will be a significant step towards our aim of finding a home for every child who needs one.

Lifting the lid on the reasons why we struggle to recruit foster carers

Our research is a great tool for unlocking solutions to the challenges facing children’s social care. There are thousands more foster carers needed across the country, but at the moment, as few as 1% of prospective carers who enquire about fostering go on to be approved carers¹.

Moving into 2023, we will contribute to work lifting the lid on this statistic and explore the barriers that are stopping so many prospective foster carers in their tracks. Without a change to this drastically low conversion rate, no marketing campaign will successfully recruit the number of new foster carers that are urgently needed. We’ve gathered some early evidence which suggests Home for Good’s approach to recruitment - where we journey with prospective foster carers for as long as they wish, sharing practical insights into foster care along the way - has a much higher conversion rate compared to the national average.

Our research will shine a light on the differing approaches to fostering recruitment. The findings will be instrumental to the success of any foster carer recruitment campaign the Government implements.

A shift towards peer-led support groups in Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, an Independent Review of Children’s Social Care is ongoing. With the final report expected to be published in June 2023, we continue to advocate for a ‘child-centered’ care system to be established as well as an increase in the number of peer-led support groups.

If children are to experience the stability that will allow them to thrive, it’s vital to have strong support for families who foster, who have adopted or who provide supported lodgings. However, in responding to a recent Adoption UK survey, 74% of adoptive families in Northern Ireland said it feels like a continual struggle to get support².

Through our engagement in the Review, we are urging the review team to recommend more peer-led support groups be established across Northern Ireland. There are currently 48 support groups connected to Home for Good across the UK, seven in Northern Ireland, occupying four of the five Trust areas. We long to see this number increase and have plans to develop more groups in the coming years. As for the Review, we offer our expertise and experience to support any development and facilitation of a peer support groups across the five Trusts.

We have a deep yearning that this Review would sow seeds of change among children’s social care in Northern Ireland. We will advocate tirelessly on behalf of children in care and their families to help facilitate a child-centred system where every family can access support and thrive in loving, stable, homes.

Implementing Government response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care

The starting gun is raised as we wait for the trigger to be pulled. The Government have been considering over 80 recommendations made in the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England and are due to set out their response early in 2023.

The response, delayed by the turbulence and changes in Government throughout 2022, will be instrumental for any success in overcoming the challenges currently facing children’s social care in England. To read more about Home for Good’s impact on the Care Review, click here.

Doubling up for supported lodgings

One of the major changes in the landscape of children’s social care has been the rise in the number of teenagers in care, with latest figures showing one in four children in care are aged 16 years and over³.

Last year our report Brimming with potential: The case for supported lodgings sparked significant progress in the area of finding homes for teenagers. We established the Supported Lodgings National Network, a network of Local Authorities and organisations offering supported lodgings schemes which already has over 60 members eager to share best practice and increase the use of supported lodgings.

Our prayer is that this momentum will carry over into 2023 as we: call on the Government to activate local authorities to commission services; seek members of the public to come forward as hosts; and enable best practice to be shared among practitioners. As part of our Ready to launch campaign, we recognised the overwhelming need to level up provision for teenagers in care. Our goal for 2023 is to continue the fulfilment of our ‘doubling up’ targets which can be found here.

Achieving these changes will confirm that caring for teenagers in a loving home through supported lodgings is not only a credible option but also achievable for every young person who wishes.

We are so grateful for your continued support as we go on advocating for children in the care system, and those who step forward to give them a home. We’d love for you to join us in praying that justice would roll like a mighty river, and the right voices would be heard and heeded by those in power as we seek to spark systemic change and find a home for every child who needs one.

References:

1. Ofsted. 2022. Fostering in England 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. Available online.
2. Adoption UK. 2022. The Adoption Barometer. Available online.
3. Department for Education. 2022. Children looked after in England including adoptions. Available online.