Our Story

Foster Care Matters is a not-for-profit fostering agency, part of the Adoption Matters family, a children’s charity and well-established voluntary adoption agency with over 76 years of experience in the children’s sector and the ONLY adoption agency in the UK rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted five times in a row

Our experienced team has witnessed a crisis in foster care not seen in the UK for many years, which coupled with the current cost of living crisis, is only looking to deepen.

The latest Department for Education data shows:

Almost a third of all children in care (31%) were moved two or more times in 2021/22.
1 in 10 children in care have three or more placements during the year.
69% of children had one placement in the same period.
In 2021-22, there were 54,620 placement changes in England, an average of 150 per day, showing the instability and insecurity vulnerable children and young people face.
As of March 2020, in England 17% of children in fostering placements were over 20 miles away from where the child would call home.

At the height of the crisis, deepened during the Covid-19 pandemic, reports showed that large commercial fostering agencies owned by private and venture capital companies, made hundreds of millions of pounds in profits for their shareholders as local authorities struggled to meet the demand in placement needs.

As a children’s charity with children’s needs at their heart, we wanted to be an organisation that steps in to help the foster care crisis. Foster Care Matters was launched in early 2024, a not-for-profit fostering charity. We are committed to re-invest back into our service to offer quality support and ongoing training to our foster families, to enable them to help children really matter.

We offer a therapeutic approach and dedicated support to our foster parents across the North West. Our experienced team will guide you through your fostering journey, and be by your side every step of the way.

As well as offering generous weekly allowances and regular support from your own dedicated supervising social worker, as a Foster Care Matters foster parent you will also have access to The Centre for Fostering and Adoption Support, an established and recognised centre in the North West, offering innovative, bespoke, ongoing support from a multi-disciplined team including occupational therapists and trained therapeutic social workers.

Our Values & Mission

Honest and fair

We undertake to treat every case fairly on its individual merits. Foster Care Matters aims to be honest and realistic in all our communications.

Inclusive

We strive to ensure equality of opportunity, both for our adoptive families and amongst our Staff and Trustees, regardless of gender, race, religion, culture, heritage, age, disability or sexuality.

Flexible

We aim to continually develop and improve our services and increase engagement with our service users, using their feedback and suggestions to inform future developments.

Ethical

We work to high ethical standards including good communication, acceptance, transparency, honesty, accountability, professionalism, trust and mutual respect.

Celebrating difference

We strive to continually grow our understanding and awareness about different cultures, backgrounds and beliefs within our society and beyond. We seek to create a safe environment for individuals to express themselves openly, learn and develop within a culture of respect and acceptance.

Meet our Service Manager

Hello everyone, my name is Karen Palfreyman, since our Registration with Ofsted in May 2024, I have been the Registered Manager at Foster Care Matters. I joined Foster Care Matters…

Foster Parent or Foster Carer?

So, is it foster carer or foster parent? There is no difference. Some prefer to be known as a ‘foster carer’, while others prefer to use ‘foster parent’. In practice,…