Point 19/100 Are You Letting Prospective Carers Speak to Foster Carers Early Enough?
Are You Letting Prospective Carers Speak to Foster Carers Early Enough?
Point 19/100 — The 100-Point Foster Carer Recruitment Review
Imagine somebody has been considering fostering for three years.
They've read your website.
They've seen the adverts.
They've spoken to your recruiter.
They've asked about:
money,
work,
their children,
assessment,
support,
respite,
allegations.
The recruiter has handled the conversation extremely well.
Then the prospective Foster Carer asks:
"But what's it actually like?"
There comes a point when the recruiter probably isn't the best person to answer.
Nor is the marketing department.
Nor necessarily the social worker.
The most credible answer may come from somebody who already knows.
An existing Foster Carer.
And I think fostering providers need to ask whether that conversation is happening early enough.
THE EVIDENCE IS SURPRISINGLY STRONG
This is not simply my view as a recruiter.
The Department for Education's 2023 qualitative research into Foster Carer recruitment and conversion identified giving prospective applicants opportunities to hear from existing Foster Carers and people with lived experience as an enabler within the recruitment process.
The research then made an especially interesting observation about word-of-mouth recruitment.
Services involved in the study said word-of-mouth did not necessarily produce the highest volume of enquiries.
But they regarded those enquiries as some of the strongest.
Where prospective Foster Carers had already spoken to an existing Foster Carer, participants reported that those individuals tended to enter the process:
- better informed;
- with more realistic expectations;
- and with an existing support network.
Participants also believed such enquiries were more likely to lead to a successful application than those generated through other marketing routes.
We should be appropriately cautious: this was a small qualitative study involving ten fostering services, so it does not prove that speaking to a Foster Carer causes better conversion across the whole sector. The report itself sets out those limitations.
But as recruitment intelligence, it is extremely important.
PROSPECTIVE CARERS TRUST LIVED EXPERIENCE
The same research examined what happens when people considering fostering hear directly from those who have experienced it.
Participants said prospective Foster Carers found existing and former Foster Carers and others with lived experience:
more compelling, more trusted, and easier to ask questions.
Services used a variety of approaches:
direct introductions;
events;
training;
mentoring;
buddying;
and Foster Carer stories online.
There is an obvious reason why that might work.
The recruiter can say:
"Yes, fostering can affect your own children."
An existing Foster Carer can say:
"My daughter was 14 when we started. Here's what we found difficult and here's what helped."
Those are not equivalent answers.
THE RECRUITER HAS KNOWLEDGE. THE FOSTER CARER HAS EXPERIENCE.
Both matter.
And this Point should not be interpreted as suggesting that the recruiter becomes unnecessary.
Quite the opposite.
A highly skilled recruiter should understand:
which voice is most useful at which point in the conversation.
The recruiter knows:
the process;
eligibility;
provider offer;
next steps;
recruitment boundaries;
when something needs escalation.
The Foster Carer knows:
what the first night can feel like;
what fostering does to family routines;
what it feels like waiting for your first placement;
what training prepared them for;
what training couldn't prepare them for;
what a difficult day actually looks like;
how fostering interacts with employment;
how their own children reacted;
what support felt useful;
what frightened them before approval;
what they now wish they had known.
You need both.
THERE IS A PARTICULAR KIND OF QUESTION PEOPLE MAY PREFER TO ASK ANOTHER FOSTER CARER
Think back to Points 16 and 18.
Prospective carers worry about:
money;
allegations;
birth children;
attachment;
challenging behaviour;
support;
whether they will cope.
DfE research found people with lived experience could be easier for prospective carers to ask things they were uncomfortable asking professionals.
That's important.
Because some questions feel different when asked of the organisation.
Imagine:
"How good is your support really?"
Ask the recruitment manager and there is an obvious answer.
Ask a Foster Carer and the perceived credibility is completely different.
Or:
"If you're struggling at 10 o'clock at night, does anybody actually answer?"
That's not necessarily a policy question.
It's an experience question.
THE 2026 GOVERNMENT MODEL NOW EXPLICITLY SUPPORTS EARLY CONNECTION
This is where Point 19 becomes particularly timely.
The Department for Education's March 2026 end-to-end fostering hub specification says hubs should use relational recruitment practices and gives a Foster Carer buddy assigned from completion of enquiry as an example of recruitment best practice.
Elsewhere in the same specification, the Government says applicants should be linked with experienced carers early, alongside formal buddy schemes and opportunities for local observation or shadowing.
The model also envisages prospective Foster Carers receiving a named "journey guide", which could include a peer mentor, alongside regular check-ins and support through assessment and panel preparation.
That is a substantial shift.
The Foster Carer is no longer simply somebody prospective carers encounter eventually during training.
Potentially, they become part of:
recruitment from near the beginning.
SO HOW EARLY IS EARLY?
Here I want to distinguish Government policy from my own recommendation.
The current hub model gives examples of buddying from around completion of enquiry and linking applicants with experienced carers early.
My own recruitment preference would be:
As soon as there appears to be a credible prospective Foster Carer who would benefit from the conversation.
That may be after the first proper recruitment conversation and basic initial screening.
It does not have to wait until:
application;
Skills to Foster;
assessment;
or panel.
Imagine:
Monday:
Prospect enquires.
Tuesday:
Recruiter has an exploratory conversation.
Wednesday:
Prospect says:
"The thing I'm really unsure about is what fostering would mean for my teenage son."
Why wait two months?
If appropriate:
"Would you like to talk to one of our Foster Carers who started fostering when their own children were a similar age?"
That could be extraordinarily valuable.
MATCH THE FOSTER CARER TO THE QUESTION
This is where the model becomes much stronger than:
"Here's our Foster Carer ambassador."
Do not assume one Foster Carer can represent every experience.
Build a group.
Perhaps you have carers with experience of:
fostering while working;
being single;
LGBTQ+ fostering;
fostering with birth children;
fostering teenagers;
siblings;
disability;
long-term fostering;
short-term fostering;
therapeutic fostering;
retirement and fostering;
allegations;
cultural or faith considerations.
Then ask:
Who would be the most useful person for this prospective carer to speak to?
That's recruitment matching.
Before assessment matching even begins.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN FINDING SOMEONE WHO WILL SAY WHAT YOU WANT
Very important.
Don't think:
"This prospect is worried about working, so find a Foster Carer who'll tell them working isn't a problem."
No.
Find someone who can talk honestly about what they experienced.
Perhaps they will say:
"I tried working full time and fostering and it didn't work for us."
Useful.
Or:
"My employer gave me flexibility and we managed it this way."
Useful.
Or:
"I reduced my hours after our first placement."
Useful.
The purpose is:
reality.
Not persuasion.
YOUR FOSTER CARERS MUST BE ALLOWED TO TELL THE TRUTH
This may be uncomfortable for some organisations.
If you invite Foster Carers into recruitment, you have to accept they may say:
"There were times I didn't feel supported."
"Assessment was harder than I expected."
"Our first placement was extremely difficult."
"An allegation was one of the worst experiences our family has had."
"The money can be unpredictable."
If your response is:
"We can't have Foster Carers saying things like that to applicants,"
then you don't actually want peer recruitment.
You want testimonials.
Those are different things.
CREDIBILITY COMES FROM THE IMPERFECTIONS
A prospective Foster Carer does not need to hear:
"Fostering is amazing."
over and over again.
They probably already understand that fostering can be rewarding.
The questions preventing their decision are more likely to be around:
difficulty;
uncertainty;
family;
income;
support;
behaviour;
loss;
risk.
An existing Foster Carer who says:
"Yes, that was difficult for us — and this is how we dealt with it"
may be considerably more persuasive than someone pretending the difficulty does not exist.
Not because they have sold fostering.
Because they have made it believable.
THIS IS SOCIAL PROOF — BUT IT NEEDS TO REMAIN HUMAN
In marketing terms we might describe this as social proof.
People are influenced by observing people similar to themselves successfully doing something.
But I would be careful not to reduce Foster Carers to marketing devices.
These are experienced people contributing expertise.
DfE's recruitment research goes beyond simply using Foster Carer stories in advertising. Its overall recommendations explicitly say fostering services should make better use of existing Foster Carers in the recruitment process and consider providing them with development opportunities, including potential paid mentoring roles.
That is a much more professional model.
PAY THEM
I think this matters.
If an organisation wants Foster Carers to become:
ambassadors;
mentors;
buddies;
event speakers;
recruitment contributors;
then consider recognising that contribution properly.
Not every conversation needs a payment.
Some Foster Carers will happily help informally.
But if the organisation is creating a structured role with expectations, training, availability and responsibility, this is work of value.
The DfE-commissioned 2023 research specifically suggested that services might consider paid mentoring roles when making greater use of existing Foster Carers in recruitment.
That is worth serious consideration.
TRAIN THEM TOO
Being an excellent Foster Carer does not automatically make somebody an excellent recruitment ambassador.
This is almost the mirror image of the argument we've been making about recruiters.
Just as:
knowing fostering is not the same as knowing recruitment,
being a Foster Carer does not automatically mean somebody knows how to support a prospective applicant appropriately.
They need boundaries.
Training might include:
confidentiality;
what information can and cannot be shared;
not commenting on suitability;
not promising approval;
not offering social-work advice;
how to respond to safeguarding disclosures;
when to escalate;
how to talk about their own experience without presenting it as universal;
how to answer honestly without frightening someone unnecessarily;
how to refer questions back to the recruitment team.
Again:
professionalise the role.
THE FOSTER CARER SHOULD NOT BECOME AN ASSESSOR
This boundary is essential.
The peer conversation is not:
"Do I think this person would make a good Foster Carer?"
Unless there is a specifically designed formal role requiring feedback, the purpose should be support and information.
Prospective carers need somewhere they can say:
"This may sound silly, but..."
without thinking every word is being entered into their assessment.
That freedom may be part of why peer conversations are useful.
The DfE research specifically found lived-experience contributors could be easier to ask questions of than professionals.
Do not accidentally destroy that advantage by turning every buddy into another assessor.
BUT THERE MUST STILL BE A SAFEGUARDING ROUTE
Of course there is an important qualification.
If a prospective Foster Carer says something during a peer conversation that raises a safeguarding concern, the existing Foster Carer needs to know what to do.
That is why boundaries and training matter.
They should never be left wondering:
"Am I supposed to keep this confidential?"
Define the rules in advance.
CONFIDENTIALITY WORKS BOTH WAYS
Prospective Foster Carers should not receive confidential information about:
children;
birth families;
other carers;
individual social workers;
placements.
Real experience does not require identifiable case detail.
Likewise, Foster Carers should understand what happens to information shared with them by prospective applicants.
A buddying model needs governance, not simply enthusiasm.
LET THE PROSPECT CHOOSE WHETHER THEY WANT IT
Not everyone will want a Foster Carer buddy.
Fine.
Some people may prefer:
research;
professional conversations;
events;
group sessions.
The current Government model itself describes different possible forms of relational support rather than one rigid mechanism.
Offer the choice.
Don't manufacture another compulsory stage.
The recruitment process already has enough stages.
YOU COULD CREATE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF PEER CONTACT
I would consider several options.
LEVEL 1 — STORIES
Video and written Foster Carer experience.
Low commitment.
LEVEL 2 — GROUP Q&A
Several prospects with one or two existing Foster Carers.
Low pressure.
LEVEL 3 — ONE-TO-ONE CONVERSATION
Matched around the prospective carer's particular questions or circumstances.
LEVEL 4 — BUDDY
A named Foster Carer available through part of the recruitment and assessment journey.
LEVEL 5 — MENTOR
A more structured relationship with training, defined responsibilities and perhaps payment.
Not everybody needs Level 5.
But everyone should potentially have access to lived experience earlier than many currently do.
GROUP Q&A COULD BE PARTICULARLY POWERFUL
Imagine an online session every fortnight.
No PowerPoint.
No formal information presentation.
Just:
"Ask our Foster Carers anything."
Hosted carefully.
Recruiter present if necessary for technical questions.
Several existing Foster Carers.
Prospective Foster Carers can ask:
What surprised you?
How did your children react?
What did your family think?
How does money really work?
How much notice do you get before a placement?
What do you wish you'd known?
How difficult was assessment?
How much contact do you have with birth families?
What happens when a child leaves?
What happens when things go wrong?
That could do more for informed recruitment than another beautifully designed brochure.
THE ROLE OF THE RECRUITER CHANGES
This connects directly with Point 17.
A professional recruiter does not need to dominate every conversation.
The skill becomes:
identify the need;
identify the best person;
make the introduction;
maintain continuity;
then follow up.
Perhaps:
"You mentioned you were worried about how fostering might affect your son. How did the conversation with Sarah help?"
Now the recruiter has additional information.
Did the concern reduce?
Did another concern emerge?
Are they ready for the next step?
Recruitment continues.
THIS COULD ALSO HELP "NOT YET" PEOPLE
Imagine someone says:
"I really want to foster, but I'm not ready."
Instead of abandoning them to a twelve-month email nurture sequence, perhaps they occasionally:
attend a Foster Carer Q&A;
hear a local carer's story;
join an information session;
maintain an appropriate relationship with a buddy.
Not to pressure them.
To keep fostering understandable and accessible.
That can help turn:
Not Yet
into:
Ready
when their circumstances genuinely change.
FOSTER CARERS ALSO GIVE YOU MARKET INTELLIGENCE
There is another benefit.
Ask Foster Carers what prospective applicants ask them.
You may hear things that prospects never tell your recruitment team.
Perhaps:
"They're all worried about giving up work."
"People don't understand what happens between placements."
"They think assessment will investigate every argument they've ever had."
"They don't understand tax."
"They're frightened about allegations."
"Parents keep asking what fostering will do to their own children."
That's gold.
Now feed it back into:
website content;
FAQ pages;
training;
marketing;
recruitment scripts;
information sessions;
proposition development.
Peer recruitment should create a learning loop.
THERE IS A RETENTION CONNECTION TOO
This is another interesting consequence.
If you give experienced Foster Carers meaningful roles in recruitment, you are also recognising their expertise.
They're not merely:
placement capacity.
They're:
mentors;
ambassadors;
experts by experience;
contributors to organisational growth.
That can potentially strengthen their sense of value and involvement.
I would not claim that mentoring prospective Foster Carers will automatically improve retention; the evidence is not strong enough for that assertion.
But the 2023 DfE research specifically recommended making greater use of existing Foster Carers in recruitment and suggested this may offer development opportunities while potentially benefiting both recruitment and retention.
It's worth exploring.
YOU MAY ALREADY HAVE YOUR BEST RECRUITERS
This is perhaps the central Point.
A fostering provider might spend:
thousands on advertising;
thousands on agencies;
thousands on creative;
thousands on events.
Meanwhile, sitting in its Foster Carer community are people who:
understand fostering;
understand the provider;
understand the questions;
understand the fears;
speak from experience;
and may already be trusted by people in their community.
This doesn't mean replacing professional recruitment with Foster Carers.
It means:
integrating them into it.
THE DfE HAS EFFECTIVELY MOVED THE QUESTION FORWARD
A few years ago, the discussion might have been:
Should Foster Carers be involved in recruitment?
The evidence and current policy direction increasingly move us beyond that question.
The 2023 DfE-commissioned study recommended better use of existing Foster Carers in recruitment.
The 2026 end-to-end hub programme now gives practical examples including:
early links with experienced Foster Carers;
formal buddy schemes;
mentors;
and even a Foster Carer buddy from completion of enquiry.
So perhaps the better question now is:
Why wouldn't you?
And if you already do:
At what point?
HERE IS THE TEST
Take ten current Foster Carers.
Ask:
When did you first speak to another Foster Carer during your recruitment journey?
Before enquiry?
After enquiry?
At an information evening?
During Skills to Foster?
During assessment?
After approval?
Then ask:
When would it have been most useful?
Now ask your recruitment team:
At what stage do we deliberately introduce prospective Foster Carers to existing Foster Carers?
If the answer is:
"They meet them during training eventually,"
I think there may be a missed opportunity.
THE SECOND TEST
Ask the Foster Carers:
"What questions do prospective Foster Carers ask you that they don't seem to ask us?"
That answer could be even more revealing.
Because it may show exactly where professional authority is inhibiting honesty.
And those questions should then influence your entire recruitment system.
FROM RECRUITMENT TEAM TO RECRUITMENT COMMUNITY
This brings together several of the Points we've already covered.
Point 12 talked about Foster Carer clusters.
Point 14 turned them into recruitment territories.
Points 15–18 developed the professional recruiter.
Point 19 adds another element:
the Foster Carer community itself becomes part of recruitment.
Now recruitment is no longer:
Marketing → Recruiter → Applicant.
It becomes:
Marketing + Community + Recruiter + Existing Foster Carers + Lived Experience → Informed prospective carer.
That is a much richer recruitment system.
AND THERE IS ONE MORE GROUP WE NEED TO THINK ABOUT
Existing Foster Carers are powerful.
But prospective Foster Carers are not always making the decision alone.
Partners.
Birth children.
Parents.
Friends.
People around them.
Fostering enters an entire social network.
And sometimes the person enquiring is ready...
but someone important around them isn't.
That takes us into Point 20.
POINT 20 — ARE YOU RECRUITING THE INDIVIDUAL — OR THE WHOLE HOUSEHOLD?
Because the enquiry may come from one person.
The fostering decision rarely belongs to one person alone.
100 points.
10 stages.
One end-to-end examination of Foster Carer Recruitment.