Written question WQ87587

Our Programme for Government (PfG) includes a number of commitments relating to a new vision for children’s services in Wales, which are about a whole system change, including a commitment to support the national fostering scheme in Wales.

We value the role of foster carers in Wales. They provide children and young people who are unable to live with their parents with the opportunity to experience warmth, stability and support through a family environment that will enable them to develop and flourish.

Since 2020, we have invested £1.45m to implement the Foster Wales brand, which was launched in July 2021, and is a collaborative national network of all local authority fostering teams. It aims to improve the ability of local authority fostering services to significantly increase the number and diversity of foster carers recruited and retained and presents an opportunity to rebalance service provision, address demands, and improve quality of placement choice for children within their home area, who need a family. We will continue to support the infrastructure of Foster Wales through annual funding arrangements.

A key element of the Foster Wales work programme is to provide a consistent offer of support to all foster carers. This is known as the “national commitment” and will improve the way foster carers are trained, supported and remunerated. As part of this work, we are reviewing the fees and allowances available to foster carers to support them to look after the vulnerable children and young people in their care.

To raise awareness of the Foster Wales brand, a national website, linked to all 22 local authority websites to channel enquiries, has been developed. A number of national marketing campaigns have been designed to attract new foster carers, including targeted campaigns to attract foster carers who can support diverse groups such as refugees and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, and to address issues which may prevent people coming forward to become foster carers, such as finance, and tackling mis-information about who is eligible to foster.

Adoption is an important permanence option offering a loving and nurturing family for those children who cannot live with their birth families. For it to be successful, there has to be the availability of appropriate families that can meet the needs of children, alongside needs and rights-based help and advice available for the child or young person and the family.

We have supported the National Adoption Service (NAS) to undertake marketing campaigns to increase awareness of adoption such as:

• Truth Be Told’ hearing directly from adoptive parents on their experience of adoption

• Choose Family Campaign – aimed at encouraging people to consider adopting older children, boys and brothers and sister group so they can find a family sooner.