Foster Care Fortnight

Foster Care Fortnight ™ is the UK’s biggest foster care awareness raising campaign, and is delivered by The Fostering Network. Established in 1997, the campaign showcases the commitment and dedication of foster carers. It also supports fostering services to highlight fostering in their local area and the positive impact fostering makes to the lives of children and young people.

This year, Foster Care Fortnight (#FCF20) is taking place 11th – 24th May and the theme is #ThisIsFostering. The Fostering Network are hoping that the theme will provide a fantastic opportunity for everyone to highlight the hard work foster carers are doing, particularly in the current unusual circumstances surrounding the coronavirus.

The need for foster carers

All too often, fostering stories that make headlines are the few negative tales of something that went wrong. With 68,000 children and young people in care at any given moment, and with 8,500 of those children and young people needing foster homes immediately, it is essential that people in the UK are able to see a more accurate and positive picture of foster care.

By building awareness in this way, The Fostering Network hope that the wider society will understand and value fostering, and the positive impact it can have on young people’s lives by enabling them to live safely and happily. The campaign also challenges the stigma that can surround children and young people in foster care. By doing this, hopefully, the campaign will encourage more people to consider becoming foster carers.

At the Acorns, we find that existing foster carers are the best advert for recruiting and spreading the word about fostering. Sharing fostering stories and telling people how fostering has changed lives seems to really resonate with prospective carers, so we are really pleased that this year’s campaign is built around this concept. We wish The Fostering Network every success with the campaign. Remember, if you live in the North East and are interested in discussing how you could change a young person’s life, get in touch with us. We’re always happy to talk (safely, of course!).