Future of foster care: consultation analysis – updated final report

5. Recruitment of Foster Carers

Part 6 of the consultation paper sets out plans to increase recruitment of foster carers in Scotland. It sets out a recruitment ‘offer’ involving national action to recruit more foster carers within local authority fostering services, developed through significant engagement with key stakeholders. The recruitment ‘offer’ consists of five key parts:

• A national recruitment campaign funded by the Scottish Government.
• Targeted national recruitment approaches to recruit diverse foster carers.
• Working with local authorities to develop joint national and local communications, including developing a national toolkit for local authorities to use locally.
• Creation of a Foster Scotland brand.
• Ensuring the Scottish Government's online presence is up to date, clear and easy to navigate, ensuring that prospective foster carers and current foster carers can find all the information they need easily and quickly.

Implementing these activities is intended to achieve a range of outcomes. These include increasing the recruitment and retention of a diverse range of foster carers and enabling better outcomes for children and young people in care. In addition, it is hoped to raise public awareness of foster care and increase understanding of the care system. Views were sought on the proposed ‘offer’ as well as what else could be done to increase foster carer recruitment.

Q11. What are your views on the recruitment ‘offer’ described in this section of the consultation document?

Four fifths of all respondents commented at Q11. Most prevalent were views supporting the proposed approach to recruitment. Suggestions were given for how any campaign could be delivered, and support for foster carers was highlighted.

Support for the recruitment ‘offer’

Several respondents provided positive comments about the recruitment ‘offer’, including that it was a ‘very good’, ‘positive’ and ‘comprehensive’ approach. Perceived benefits were that the approach would be successful in recruiting a diverse range of carers, that it could allow more children to be cared for nearer to their community or provide a greater choice of carers during matching of children to foster carers (hereafter referred to as ‘matching’).

Several respondents, three quarters of whom were organisations, specifically supported the idea of a national campaign. This was viewed as helpful for local authorities, for instance, by freeing up their resources or to achieve a greater reach than could be achieved locally. It was also viewed as a way of increasing consistent understanding and appreciation of the role of foster carers.

“The funding and structure from a national recruitment campaign will allow local authorities an increased opportunity to promote family-friendly policies and can showcase what local authorities offer.” - Aberdeen City Council

Agreement with creating a Foster Scotland brand was mentioned by some respondents. Where reasons were given, these were similar to support for a national campaign, i.e. that it would assist in creating a sense of belonging for foster carers, enable a better focus and understanding of the foster carer role, and allow local authorities to raise awareness of their offer and reach a wider pool of prospective carers. Attendees at one engagement event suggested the Promise logo should be on promotional materials.

“This approach to branding, while retaining the local duties and flexibility of fostering agencies, will enable a better focus and understanding of the task of foster care, enabled by expertise which is often not available in local areas. Scotland is a small country and utilising Scottish ‘branding’ will be beneficial. We believe that it will also contribute to better public perceptions of why children may need alternative family care and a resultant reduction in stigma.” - Social Work Scotland

Concerns with the proposed ‘offer’

Some respondents raised concerns with the proposal, with some others raising potential issues with any national campaign and some disagreeing with the need for a national Foster Scotland brand. Most commonly, views were expressed that the ‘offer’ would have no or limited impact, that it excluded recruitment of carers for non-local authority providers or that a national approach might work against the concept of foster care being rooted in local communities. A few respondents felt a national ‘brand’ was a waste of money.

“For the purposes of recruiting foster carers, we feel a localised approach to targeting foster carers within Glasgow to support our children and young people within their local community will achieve the best outcomes for children, young people and foster carers. We are unsure if a national approach to recruitment would facilitate a localised, organic response to the diverse range of families’ needs, conveying the importance and value of existing support networks.” - Glasgow City Health & Social Care Partnership

Other issues

Several respondents commented on support for foster carers, with two calling for more specificity on ‘having better supported foster carers’, mentioned in the consultation paper. Two respondents commented on the reference to reducing the number of foster carers that retire or de-register, both advising caution around this and the need to acknowledge that people will wish to retire at some stage.

Q12. What more can the Scottish Government and local authorities do to recruit foster carers?

Four fifths of all respondents commented at Q12, and suggestions given at Q11 on how the recruitment ‘offer’ could be delivered are included here. The most prevalent themes were suggested ways to deliver any ‘offer’, the need for adequate support for carers, using existing carers to encourage others into caring, providing more information especially at an early stage, and suggested topics to include in any campaign.

Suggested ways to deliver any recruitment ‘offer’

Several respondents at Q11, and several at Q12, gave a wide range of suggestions on how the recruitment offer could be delivered. These included using:

• Developing recruitment campaigns with input from people with experience of foster care, as well as foster carers, to help avoid triggering or demeaning messaging.
• A joined-up approach with fostering services, so that enquiries can be directed to local providers.
• Word-of-mouth testimonies from children or using celebrities, sporting icons or business people with previous care experience to raise awareness.
• Targeted approaches that address diverse needs and reach local communities, for example, to address financial barriers or time constraints in rural or urban areas.
• Regional preparation groups across local authority areas or using national online preparation groups.
• A long-term approach to providing information and support to prospective and existing foster carers.
• National resources, such as a database or website that maps out fostering services or links to Fosterline Scotland, a helpline for foster carers.
• Places to promote fostering include television, social media, billboards, drop-ins, or stalls in public buildings such as supermarkets or children’s services.

Ensuring a realistic view of fostering in any campaign was raised by several respondents at Q11; this was reiterated at Q12 by several who called for accurate information to be presented at an early stage of a foster carer’s journey. The challenges of being a foster carer were felt important to reflect in any campaign, along with addressing the stigma that children in care can experience.

Some suggested types of information they would like to see provided to prospective carers, such as emphasising core requirements and areas where flexibility could occur, for instance, whether carers can also undertake paid employment. Other suggestions included emphasising the desire to keep children in their communities, explaining why foster carers are needed, the positive impact of fostering and the need for foster carers to be trauma-informed. Attendees at an engagement event also suggested foster carers needed to receive trauma-informed training.

Several respondents, some of whom drew upon their personal experience, suggested using existing carers to encourage people into foster care. Ways to do this included paying foster carers to run stalls at events or during informal days, encouraging interested people to contact their local services, and using personal stories in any campaign. However, this suggestion was qualified, with the current perceived lack of support and recognition of foster carers meaning this approach may not be effective.

“Only half (50%) of foster carers we surveyed in Scotland said they would recommend fostering to others who may be considering it. Alongside the national recruitment campaign, the Scottish Government should therefore prioritise increasing role satisfaction among the current foster care population to retain more carers and increase word of mouth recruitment.” - The Fostering Network

A few cautioned against oversimplifying the caring role, for instance, moving away from past slogans that suggested all that was needed was a spare bedroom. One felt prospective carers would want to know about fees and payments to determine if fostering was financially viable for them. However, comments were made by children and young people with care experience who contributed to the Who Cares? Scotland report suggested that advertisements should not include remuneration rates as “it shouldn’t be about money”.

“Fostering is not a “one size fits all” or even “one size fits most” but is a delicate and sensitive process that should put the needs of the child at its core.” - Staf

Support for foster carers

An increased focus on ensuring support for carers was highlighted as important by several respondents. This was felt to be a good way to retain foster carers and encourage word-of-mouth recommendations. Supports for foster carers suggested by respondents included training on strategies to support children and respond to challenging behaviour, more support when allegations are made, providing therapeutic services ‘as standard’ and more support from social workers. Those with care experience consulted by Staf in preparing its response also suggested there could be benefits in training foster carers alongside other people working with children with care experience, such as residential care workers.

“Foster Carers are not entitled to any time off/breaks regardless of how challenging their role is! There are no other volunteer workers on a fixed fee who are treated this way, to my knowledge. Foster Carers who are treated fairly are the best people to recruit as we thoroughly enjoy the role.” - Individual

Other themes

Other themes mentioned by some included the need to consider and address foster carer retention, to identify and adapt best practice from elsewhere and to target recruitment to attract carers for specialist foster care roles, such as young people or those with disabilities. A few suggested providing a wider range of pathways into foster care, such as beginning by providing short breaks, or to offer incentives to people such as payments in kind e.g. council tax reductions, free public transport or use of leisure services.