Foster Care Uncovered

This week, Sarah and Louise are joined by Rebekah Pierre, Deputy Director of Article 39, care-experienced author, social worker, and one of the most important voices shaping the national conversation on children’s social care, who brings both authority and professional and lived experience to the table.Her work spans frontline practice, policy influence, and powerful storytelling, most recently through her book Free Loaves on Fridays, a landmark anthology capturing the realities of the care system through the voices of those who actually live it.As always, we start with a news roundup, and Sarah doesn’t hold back on what’s been building frustration this week.From there, the conversation moves into three areas that aren’t getting the scrutiny they deserve. First, foster carer recruitment, not just what’s being said, but how it’s being marketed, and why something about it feels increasingly off. Then, a deeper look at who was left out of the care review, and what that exclusion means for reform in practice, not just on paper. And finally, a frank discussion about unregulated and unregistered children’s homes, and why their impact is becoming impossible to ignore.This is a conversation that goes beyond the usual narratives. It’s about credibility, whose voices shape the system, and what happens when lived experience is either centred or quietly sidelined.Free Loaves on Friday by Rebekah Pierre (Author)Free Loaves on Fridays is an anthology of stories, poems, reflections and letters by more than 100 care-experienced people, which aims to challenge worn-out stereotypes. This collection gives voice to diverse experiences, including foster care, adoption, kinship care and semi-independent living, among others.Get your copy here!If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you!All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

This week, Sarah and Louise continue the conversation on foster carers' mental health, and go even deeper into what’s really happening behind the scenes. In Part 2, they explore the systemic pressures driving stress, anxiety, and silence across the sector, from fear of allegations to the reality of job insecurity and constant scrutiny.With powerful, honest contributions from foster carers, this episode shines a light on the hidden toll of fostering and why the system itself can no longer be ignored.5 Top Tips for self-care and mental health, and they're not what you thinkNFCQ Foster Carers Mental Health and WellbeingFosterWiki: Foster Carer's Mental HealthIf you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you!All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

In this episode of Foster Care Uncovered, Sarah and Louise pull back the curtain on what foster carers really experience, and why the system’s promises of support often fall short. From the quietly creeping national foster carer register to the realities of supervision, breaks, mental health, and training, they reveal the gap between policy and practice. Sarah and Louise explore what real, effective support should look like, the dangers of performative measures, and how independent, peer-led organisations are filling the void. A must listen for anyone who cares about fostering, carers, and the children they serve.All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you!

This week, Sarah and Louise take an unflinching, slightly bemused, slightly furious wander through the week’s news before getting into the topic everyone tiptoes around in fostering: money.From Josh MacAlister’s so-called “clarification” that somehow made things worse, where asking for basic rights and protections is reframed as carers wanting to “clock on”, and he quietly positions himself as the only one putting children first, to Ofsted handing out “Outstanding” while carers are furious and standards for them and their children still so poor, this episode follows the money, the spin, and the damage left behind.We get into postcode lotteries, levelling down dressed up as reform, carers topping up from their own pockets, and the quiet financial engineering hollowing out fostering from the inside.Loving children and being paid properly aren’t opposites. But pretending money doesn’t matter is how care systems rot.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/qualifying-care-relief-foster-carers-adult-placement-carers-kinship-carers-and-staying-put-carers-hs236-self-assessment-helpsheet/hs236-qualifying-care-relief-foster-carers-adult-placement-carers-kinship-carers-and-staying-put-carers-2025https://www.gov.uk/employment-status/workerAll views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you!

This week, Sarah and Louise don’t soften a single edge.They dismantle the government’s latest fostering “reforms” piece by piece, not the press release version, but the reality behind it. The language. The choreography. The careful tone. And what it’s really doing.They unpack the surge of anger across the workforce, but more importantly, the shift from emotion to evidence. Foster carers aren’t just frustrated anymore. They’re informed, organised, and increasingly unwilling to be patronised. That changes the balance of power.They ask whether the consultation is genuine or a containment measure. Whether reassurance is masking consolidation. And why a ministerial narrative that reframes fostering away from work looks less like clarity and more like strategy.Above all, they centre the question that keeps getting edged out: what does any of this mean for the children, and for the people carrying the emotional and practical weight of their care every single day?Because if reform feels distant from the homes where care actually happens, it isn’t renewal.It’s control.Contact: info@fosterwiki.comPolitical Theatre, Permanent Damage | FosterWikiWhy I Turned Down the Minister | FosterWikiStatistic check: "The IFA sector accounts for 45% of mainstream households, and since 2021, the proportion of IFA mainstream households has steadily increased. For the first time since 2021, there has been a slight increase in the number of IFA households; however, it has not been enough to offset the decline in local authority households. Between 2021 and 2025, the number of approved or newly approved mainstream local authority households has fallen by 14%." [Accredited official statistics Main findings: fostering in England 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 Published 26 November 2025]All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

This week, Sarah and Louise pull no punches. They’re calling out the foster care sector’s obsession with shiny recruitment schemes while ignoring the real fulcrum of the system: retention. From exposing local authorities’ latest “retention” gimmicks to unpicking a decade-old policy disaster that still fails carers and children today, nothing is off-limits.Sarah takes us back to the 2014 Staying Put launch, where politicians were blindsided by the reality of policy, and shows how nothing has changed 12 years later. Louise dives into Somerset’s PR spin versus real-world losses, while Sarah critically analyses Nottingham’s LinkedIn updates, separating the polished messaging from the reality experienced by carers on the frontline.They also lift the lid on the so-called “Mockingbird” solution, a model that captures only 4% of the workforce but consumes millions in public money, leaving the rest of the carers invisible.No sugar coating, no polite headlines, just the frontline truth about what carers actually need, and why everything collapses when retention is ignored. If you care about real change in foster care, you can’t afford to miss this one.All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

Sarah and Louise take an unapologetically unfiltered look at foster care in 2025, the achievements, the bloopers, the ‘persons’ of the year, what needed to stop, what made them laugh, the moments that kept them going, and the low points that still defy explanation. They call out what mattered, dismantle what didn’t, and interrogate the absurdities. Looking to 2026, they ask the questions the sector keeps dodging: what must stop, who needs to step up, what should be gone, and whether this might finally be the year we stop performing care and start prioritising children.Sharp, reflective, and darkly funny. Foster care, without the gloss, the jargon, or the pretending.All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

In this episode, Sarah and Louise sit down with social worker Nana Abbey-Hagen, a practitioner who moves fluently between frontline reality, leadership conversations, and the community spaces where social work and lived experience intersect.Nana talks candidly about working conditions for social workers and whether those pressures ripple into foster care. We explore his work with the Chief Social Worker, Isabelle Trowler, and dig into the long-standing cultural gap between leadership and frontline practice, a gap foster carers know all too well.He talks about his Street Social Work Practice Model: why he created it, the blind spots it exposes, and how it reconnects practice with the real lives of children, families, and carers.We wrap with his vision for the future of social work and what that future means for foster carers on the ground.A grounded, honest conversation that pushes past the corporate narrative and into the truth of what’s really happening.All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

Indefensible unforgivable.Sarah & Louise take apart today’s Government fostering stats - exposing the spin behind the headlines and the failings despite millions of taxpayer investment.All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

Hosted by Louise Allen & Sarah AndersonThis podcast offers an unfiltered and straightforward exploration of the stories and headlines surrounding foster care.We aim to uncover the truths behind the system and advocate for progress in the foster care system.In this introductory episode, we will share information about our mission, the reasons for launching this podcast, and provide a preview of the topics we will cover in future episodes.All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.