12th May 2025
Today marks the start of Foster Care Fortnight™, The Fostering Network’s UK-wide annual campaign that shines a spotlight on fostering and shows how foster care transforms lives.
HSC NI Foster Care was proud to co-launch Foster Care Fortnight today at the Island Civic Centre in Lisburn, in partnership with The Fostering Network. Attended by foster carers, care experienced young people, social work staff and supporters from across Northern Ireland, this event was an opportunity to celebrate our foster carers and reaffirm our commitment to do the best for our children and young people.
We were privileged to hear from young people in foster care who shared their experiences to help us improve our Service, as well as hearing from a panel of existing foster carers.
This year’s theme is The Power of Relationships. Whether it’s the bond between a foster carer and a child, the support of social workers, the friendships built within fostering communities, or the connections with birth families, these relationships shape lives, create stability, and open up new possibilities for the future.
New figures from The Fostering Network show there remains a significant shortage of foster carers in Northern Ireland, with at least 400 new fostering households required across the province to meet current demand.
This shortage underscores the retention and recruitment challenges in foster care, against a backdrop of increasing numbers of children coming into the care system in Northern Ireland.
Nikki Gregg, Assistant Director, Northern Ireland, at The Fostering Network said: “Foster Care Fortnight is an opportunity to acknowledge the contribution made by everyone in the fostering community and to highlight what needs to change. We have more than 3,500 dedicated foster carers in Northern Ireland, who work tirelessly every day to provide stable, loving homes for children and young people and we are deeply grateful for their commitment. We need to recruit more foster carers and ensure we retain the dedicated foster carers we already have.”
Kerrylee Weatherall, Director of Children’s Services in Belfast Trust and representing HSC NI Foster Care said: “We value each and every one of our foster carers and kinship foster carers who continue to go above and beyond to provide safety, stability and care that our children and young people deserve.
“This Foster Care Fortnight, we celebrate our dedicated fostering community and focus on the many positives of foster care; namely how foster care can support and help a family to achieve positive change, and how foster carers are instrumental in supporting children through a difficult time in their lives by caring for, guiding and encouraging them in all their endeavours.
“Building and maintaining strong relationships is at the core of creating safety and stability for children and young people in foster care, many of whom who have experienced significant trauma and loss in their lives. The impact our foster care community has on enabling children to develop, thrive and meet their full potential is immeasurable.
“As the number of children and young people coming into care continues to rise year on year, we ask our people across Northern Ireland to consider opening their homes and making a lasting difference to a child or young person’s life by becoming a HSC NI foster carer.”
If you would like to find out how you could become part of HSC NI Foster Care’s fostering community please call us on 0800 0720 137 or fill out an online enquiry form.
