Social workers have dismissed Josh MacAlister’s objective of having sufficient foster carers to allow children a choice of placement as ‘unrealistic’, a poll has found.
This follows the children’s minister’s recent declaration that children in care should have a choice of where and with whom they live, during a speech at the Labour Party Conference.
Achieving that, he said, would require “lots of excess foster carers” - including some who might never look after a child, and others who might foster only one child and then potentially support the family upon reunification.
Declining number of foster carers
MacAlister acknowledged that the current system was far from achieving this ambition, with a 10% fall in the number of approved mainstream foster households in England from 2021-24, to 33,745.
To boot recruitment, the government is spending £15m this year to complete the rollout of regional fostering recruitment hubs, designed to promote and facilitate the process of becoming a foster carer.
A further £25m has been committed between 2026 and 2028 to recruit an additional 400 fostering households and enhance peer support for existing carers.
However, social workers are unconvinced. Of 1,157 respondents to a Community Care poll, 84% said MacAlister’s vision of having enough foster carers to provide children with placement choice was “unrealistic” on the grounds that the government lacked an effective strategy to reverse the ongoing decline in the number of carers.
Just 14% thought the goal potentially achievable, but only with improved financial support and recognition for foster carers, and a simpler approval process.
Only 2% believed the government’s current investment in recruitment and retention would be enough to deliver on MacAlister’s promise.
'Disrespectful’ to expect approved carers not to foster
Practitioners in the comments section also criticised MacAlister’s goal.
“It is great to have aspirations for an excess of carers but it is hard enough to recruit just for the need there is now,” said Tracey Wringley.
“Also, who will pay carers to sit around waiting for a child to choose them if there is an excess?”
Another practitioner said it was “disrespectful” to expect people to undergo “extensive, highly intrusive” assessments and training, only to end up not fostering at all.
‘We cannot offer all young people a choice’
Hayley Woods called MacAlister’s vision of having an excess foster carers “out of touch” with the realities of the fostering sector.
“With all the will in the world, we cannot offer all our young people a choice as to where they are placed,” she said.
“No one wants to stick around any longer [...] so you can recruit as many as you like but more are leaving.”
Diane C added that MacAlister had failed to acknowledge the lack of support for carers dealing with the trauma and complex needs of the children they cared for.
“This is why the numbers of children in residential homes are growing.”
Call to prioritise retention
Other practitioners said the government’s focus should be on retaining existing carers rather than simply easing recruitment.
“We don’t need easier foster carers assessments, we need [to] work [on] retention,” said one.
“[We need] robust support both for carers in training and therapeutic work for traumatised kids, so that placements can work. We need to pay for and value the support foster carers give, and give THEM support.”
Another respondent, Woody, said foster carers were leaving due to a lack of support from social services and the strain of dealing with hostility from birth families.
“The entire social care system is overwhelmed, and the pressure means that neither children nor carers get the proper support they deserve.”
Restrictive rules 'exclude children and limit carer’s ability to parent'
He also pointed to restrictive placement rules, such as a child not being able to step into a carer’s bedroom, as a problem, saying that it "sends the wrong message and hurts the child emotionally".
“Carers can’t even make full use of their own home space for foster children, even though their own children can. These unnecessary rules make foster children feel excluded and “different,” he added.
“We need a system built on respect, trust, and common sense — one that values carers and supports children.”
Christine, a former foster carer, revealed she had recently quit due to such regulations.
“We can’t even treat these kids like normal kids - we aren’t even allowed to parent them,” she said.
“The local authority rules [we follow] aren’t always realistic or align with family values. We put ourselves at risk every day working with traumatised vulnerable children who often make false allegations and our lives are torn apart over this along with our futures of working with [other] children.”
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