This Care Day (21 February), Foster Wales Rhondda Cynon Taf is joining Wales’ fostering community in highlighting the benefits of local authority care as the Welsh Government’s landmark Health and Social Care Bill begins the process of removing profit from the children’s care system.
Wales is the first country in the UK to legislate to remove profit from both residential and foster care for children.
Foster Wales’ Staying local campaign, led by care experienced people and local authority foster carers, aims to show how the policy will support young people in care to stay connected to their local area, community, friends, and school.
Last year, 85 per cent of young people with local authority foster carers remained in their area. However, only 31 per cent of young people cared for by commercial fostering agencies stayed local, with 7 per cent being moved outside of Wales entirely.
Foster carers, Tim and Victoria, from Pontypridd, started fostering with a commercial fostering agency in 2015. They decided to transfer to Foster Wales Rhondda Cynon Taf in 2021 – a move that they described as “the best decision we ever made”.
Victoria explained: “Previously, we’d always cared for older children. When we started fostering through our local authority, we started caring for a younger girl – something we’d never done before. But the help we received was so refreshing.
“Our social worker was, and still is, always at the end of the phone. And, there’s a proper fostering community here. Now, we know more people who are foster carers than ever before - we’ve even got our own WhatsApp group, and we really care for each other.”
In Wales, there are more than 7,000 children in the care system, but only 3,800 foster families. Foster Wales has set out with the bold aim of recruiting over 800 new foster families by 2026 to provide welcoming homes for local children and young people.
There are currently 368 children in foster care in RCT, and we need an additional 163 foster homes currently.
Annabel Lloyd, Director of Children's Services at Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, said: "“I am delighted that the Welsh Government’s programme for government puts children and families first. It contains a commitment to remove profit from the care of children looked after, transitioning to a not-for-profit future of care in Wales aims to ensure that public money can be reinvested back into children’s services to support better outcomes, sustainable services, and the professional development of those caring for children.
"In RCT this will mean that we can re-focus our resources with an emphasis on prevention and excellent local support to parents and carers in future.
"We have always put the care of our children at the heart of everything that we do, and we do not make any profit from this process. Local authorities are responsible for all children in foster care, however sometimes we need to outsource homes of foster carers from independent agencies or charities. I look forward to a future when all of our resources will be focused on great local services for children and families as profit is removed.
"Last year, only 31% of young people cared for by commercial fostering agencies stayed local, whereas 85% of young people with Local Authority foster carers remained in their local area.
"It’s vital that foster children in Wales can stay in their local communities, connected to the people and places that mean the world to them. We know that this creates better outcomes for children and I look forward to working with all of our existing and new Foster Wales RCT local authority foster carers over the next few years to lead the way in providing care when and where it is needed.”
Councillor Gareth Caple, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care at Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, said: “I am pleased that the Welsh Government’s programme for government contains a commitment to remove profit from the care of children looked after - fundamentally changing how Wales provide services to children and their families through community-based services that safeguard and promote the welfare of the young person. It contains a commitment to remove profit from the care of children looked after - transitioning to a not-for-profit future of care in Wales aims to ensure that public money can be reinvested back into children’s services, meaning that our council can spend significantly less to make sure that our children get the care that they need, in an area already familiar to them.
"Local authorities are responsible for all children in foster care, however sometimes we need to outsource homes of foster carers from independent agencies or charities. I am relieved that over the next few years the independent agencies will be prevented from charging us fees that enable them to focus on profit rather than care.
"Last year, only 31% of young people cared for by commercial fostering agencies stayed local, whereas 85% of young people with Local Authority foster carers remained in their local area. It’s very important that foster children in Wales can stay in their local communities, and I look forward to meeting more Foster Wales RCT local authority foster carers over the next few years.”
For more information about fostering, or to make an enquiry, visit: https://fosterwales.gov.wales/
Notes to Editors
For further information on the campaign, for interviews, or media requests, please contact: Jo Reeves or Georgia Osborne Joanna.Reeves@rctcbc.gov.uk Georgia.Osborne@rctcbc.gov.uk
Posted on 21/02/2025