Foster Care Fortnight: open letter to foster carers

To: all foster families in Scotland.
From: Natalie Don, Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise.

Hello to all of Scotland’s foster carers and Scotland’s foster families,

I am Natalie Don and I am the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise. I am delighted to be connecting with you all during Foster Care Fortnight, and I was pleased to share my ‘Fostering Moment’ on social media earlier which you can view here. It is so lovely to have a dedicated fortnight to celebrate foster care, and I would like to put on the record once again a huge thanks from me and the Scottish Government for everything you do. I want you to know that we truly value and recognise the care you provide for children, young people and families across Scotland – you really do transform lives.

I have been reflecting over the last year, and while I know there has been challenges, I wanted to share with you some of my highlights and favourite memories of my first year in Government.

During Foster Care Fortnight last May, I went with my family to Blair Drummond Safari Park which gave me the opportunity to meet lots of foster families and I loved connecting with you all. I also met The Fostering Network’s Young People’s Advisory Board last Autumn. They are a fantastic bunch of young people who were so open and brave - sharing their experiences both from the perspective of having been in foster care, and having birth families who foster. And earlier this year, I held a Parliamentary reception for some incredible foster carers, young people with care experience, sons and daughters, social workers and others in the fostering community who had won a Fostering Excellence Award. I came away from that event with a warm heart and completely inspired. The best part of my job is getting to meet all of you.

Looking ahead, I am really excited for what is to come in the fostering space. This Thursday I am closing a debate in Parliament about foster care which you can tune into on Parliament TV from 12:45pm. And this Sunday I am getting to meet some of you at The Fostering Network’s foster walk at Mugdock Country Park – my family will also be joining me and we can’t wait. 

I know from both my role in Government and as MSP for Renfrewshire North and West there are challenges within fostering.  I was really pleased last August to introduce the Scottish Recommended Allowance for Foster and Kinship Carers. I know this took longer than expected, but I am pleased it is a positive step in our commitment to support you and Keep The Promise by 2030.

The Scottish Government has also been working with a small group of partners, including The Fostering Network, The Promise Scotland, local authorities and others to look at how we attract and retain foster carers. And, as part of this, we are thinking about what more we can offer foster carers so you feel better valued and supported.   

These ideas, and some of the practice issues that we have heard from you, and local partners, that impact on foster carers day to day, will form part of a public consultation on the future of fostering. We want to ensure that we are in the best position to collectively deliver on the Promise by 2030.  The consultation will launch in the Autumn, and we plan on doing, engagement events where we will be coming to you directly to get your thoughts and views. I really want to make sure that your voice is at the heart of, and central to, our work on what foster care should look like in the future.

I also want to highlight a couple of other initiatives I am progressing. Within the Scottish Government we have been looking for opportunities to become a more supportive and flexible employer to employees who are also foster carers. I am delighted to say that we are working towards having the Scottish Government’s Human Resources (HR) leave policy updated by Autumn this year, so that all employees who are foster and kinship carers will have access to dedicated foster and kinship leave to support their roles as carers. My hope is that by leading from the front, the Scottish Government can work with, and persuade, other employers across Scotland to do the same and support their foster and kinship carers. We have also started work to scope out how we can best support foster carers, through training, to deal with the impact of trauma on the children and young people you care for.

This is a small part of a wider package of work and actions we are taking across the Government to Keep The Promise. This work will be set out in an update to our Promise Implementation Plan (first published in March 2022) in the coming weeks.

Finally, I want to reiterate the Scottish Government’s commitment to you as foster carers in Scotland – we see you, we hear you and we value you. Thank you again for working with us to make Scotland the best place to grow up, where all children feel loved, safe and respected.  I look forward to meeting many of you soon, and many more of you on our journey to 2030 to Keep The Promise and beyond.

Love, Natalie