Future of foster care: consultation

Part 3: Foster Care – The Journey So Far

There is a long history of foster carers in Scotland sharing their homes and providing care for children in their communities.

Following the Second World War came the creation of Children Act 1948 which laid a duty on local authorities to receive children into their care.

Between the 1960s and 1990s, foster care evolved in Scotland as the country moved away from institutional care towards community-based services, which resulted in a significant increase in the number of children being placed in foster care.

The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 confirmed the legal responsibility of local authorities, building on earlier acts of 1948 and 1968, to look after children and young people in their care, and as such they retain responsibility for child protection, foster and kinship care services. Foster care is underpinned by the ‘Getting It Right For Every Child’ (GIRFEC) approach, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (“UNCRC”), as now implemented by the United Nations Convention on the rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 .

In addition, all fostering services in Scotland are registered with, and subject to, inspections by the Care Inspectorate,^[3] and the Health and Social Care Standards^[4]. They describe what children, young people and their families should experience from a fostering service. Foster carers can be recruited and supported by local authorities or independent voluntary providers.

Today, over 3,000 foster families in our communities provide children and young people who are unable to live with their birth family with an alternative safe, nurturing and loving home. Foster carers are part of ‘the team around the child’ which forms the scaffolding that is responsible for the wellbeing and development of the child or young person. This scaffolding includes the foster carer and their supervising social worker, the child’s birth family and the child’s social worker, as well other people depending on the child’s specific needs, such as education and health professionals.

Although the number of children coming into care is decreasing, we do not have enough foster carers in Scotland, with a decrease of 619 foster care households between the 5-year period of 2019 to 2023^[5]. The shortage of foster carers has been a historic problem, and now The Fostering Network estimates that 400 more foster carers are needed in Scotland^[6]. We also know there has been an increase in unaccompanied asylum-seeking (UAS) children, and those who have more complex needs and trauma. This, coupled with challenges in the workforce which supports foster carers and children, have made the situation more difficult. Foster carers are doing their very best, but we recognise that more needs to be done to improve the existing fostering system, but also look to the future so that we deliver high quality outcomes for children, young people and families, including foster families, and deliver The Promise.