Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to develop a black foster care network to improve the experiences of Black children in care.

The government would like to see people from all backgrounds feel able to come forward to foster, whatever their ethnicity, sexuality, gender or relationship status. Children should be cared for in a way that recognises and respects their identity. Carers should be given the training and support they need to meet the child’s needs.

The department will engage with foster carer representative bodies to see how the department can further support black foster carers, including considering developing a black foster care network.

The department is investing over £36 million this parliament to deliver a fostering recruitment and retention programme, so that foster care is available for more children who need it. This will boost approvals of foster carers, as well as taking steps to retain the foster carers we have. Greater financial support for foster carers will help improve the experiences of all children in care. For the second year running, the department is uplifting the national minimum allowance (NMA) above the rate of inflation. For 2024/2025, the NMA will increase by 6.88%. This is on top of a 12.43% NMA increase in 2023/24.

In addition, the department estimates that changes to tax and benefit allowances will give the average foster carer an additional £450 per year, as well as simplifying the process for self-assessment returns for most foster carers.

The department will also build on its investment since 2014 of over £8 million to help embed the Mockingbird programme, which is an innovative model of peer support for foster parents and the children in their care where children benefit from an extended family environment.