Source: Department for Education published on this website Thursday 14 May 2026 by Jill Powell
New fund aims to make fostering more accessible and support more people to become carers, as part of wider drive to create 10,000 new foster places.
Thousands more children and young people will benefit from stable, loving homes as the government launches a new £12.4 million Fostering Innovation Fund to make foster care more accessible and inclusive across England.
The Fund will help fostering around modern lifestyles and household structures, by updating models of foster care, which set out how care should be delivered.
For too long, foster care has been provided on the assumption that people need to be in traditional, married relationships with only one carer working full time to be successful. The Department for Education reforms aim to attract a younger and more diverse mixture of carers as well as improving the experience of fostering for existing carers.
The new fund will support the modernisation of the foster care system, enabling more flexibility in how care is provided, without compromising on safeguarding standards. Fostering helps to give vulnerable young people the best possible start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity.
The funding will be allocated to Regional Care Co-operatives and fostering hubs, which are operated by Local Authorities. They will be collaborating with a range of partners, potentially including children’s charities and commercial providers to develop and trial innovative new models of foster care
Children’s Minister Josh MacAlister said:
“Every child deserves the chance to grow up in a safe and loving home, and I’ve been truly inspired by the foster carers I have met who make that happen. This investment will help us bring fostering into the 21st century, moving on from outdated assumptions about who can foster and how care should be offered and opening it up to a wider range of people. This will help us recruit more carers, and change more children’s lives by giving them a stable home.”
Innovation in the fostering sector is already being driven forward in many parts of England. For example, a foster carer with four years’ experience in Manchester was previously limited to one placement due to space constraints in her home. With a £7,800 grant provided through the local Room Makers scheme run by Greater Manchester Combined Authority, she reconfigured her home and will soon welcome siblings.
Other new forms of care being trialled by some organisations include respite or weekend-only fostering, whereby children spend time with foster carers at weekends or for shorter periods during a week. This can support other forms of long-term care, such as a child in a residential care home or being looked after by extended family members.
These innovative approaches can improve outcomes for children and families and make fostering more appealing to a wider range of people.
Launched during Foster Care Fortnight, the Fund will help Fostering Hubs and Regional Care Cooperatives to expand successful fostering programmes and trial new ways of supporting foster families and children.
This includes opportunities to form partnerships between organisations so they can more effectively test and develop new approaches.
The investment forms part of the government’s wider plans to reform and expand foster care, creating 10,000 additional foster care places over the course of this Parliament.
The fund was first announced in February as part of the government’s Fostering Action Plan, which set out measures to make fostering more flexible, improve support for carers, and update local authority decision-making processes on who can become a foster carer.
The funding will support projects designed to improve outcomes for children and young people, including initiatives aimed at preventing children from entering residential care unnecessarily and helping them remain in family-based settings wherever possible.
The launch forms part of wider activity planned during Foster Care Fortnight, to raise awareness of fostering and encourage more people to consider becoming foster carers.
Successful applicants to the fund are expected to be announced later this summer following the close of the application process.
