This week marks the first half of Foster Care Fortnight (10-23 May) and today, as members of the Fairer Fostering Partnership, we are pleased to announce our support for the new campaign #ForChildrenNotProfit

All members of the Fairer Fostering Partnership believe in children over shareholders, in bettering lives and not making a profit from placing children and young people with fostering families. We're in good company with the likes of Action for Children, Barnardo's and TACT Fostering also being members.

We believe many people aren't aware of the difference between independent fostering agencies i.e. those that are commercially led vs not for profits and the members of FFP feel it's important for foster carers and local authorities alike to be aware of these differences. For people considering fostering, we think this would be of significant interest and yet, many of those enquiries we speak to have no idea that there are companies making a profit from the care system.

Our CEO Mark Kingston says,

"For me, it’s really important to lead a charity, where we can solely focus on children’s needs rather than having to prioritise the needs of investors or shareholders.  This ensures we remain solely focused on our mission to realise a better future for young people and families."

While we understand commercial fostering agencies serve a huge need within the care industry, answering to shareholders and, with that, seeking to bring in significant profit, it concerns us that there are priorities coming in above the children for which they serve.

Andy Elvin, FFP Chair and CEO at TACT Fostering says,

“All our members’ resources are invested in meeting the needs of vulnerable children and young people, and not  in making a profit from them. This transparency and accountability is welcomed by local authorities and foster carers alike, but we need to continue promoting the message that excessive profits are being made by some agencies at a time when there is less money in the system. That clearly can’t be a good thing for children in care.”