Plymouth foster home campaign launched

Nearly half of children in care live outside city

Churches across Plymouth have joined forces with the city council to boost the number of local foster carers.

The new 26 for 26 campaign is aimed at finding 26 new local authority foster carers this year as according to the latest figures 41 per cent of children in the care of Plymouth City Council – over 200 – are living outside the city.

A partnership between the council’s fostering service Foster for Plymouth and the Diocese of Plymouth, Transforming Plymouth Together, Churches Together in Plymouth, and Safe Families Home for Good has been launched during Foster Care Fortnight (May 11-14), the UK’s biggest annual fostering awareness campaign. 

The 26 for 26 campaign invites church communities across Plymouth to step forward – not only to inspire individuals and families to consider fostering but also to create practical, relational support around those who do. 

Foster carers will be supported through Plymouth City Council’s established package, including weekly allowances, council tax reductions, specialist training, therapeutic support, peer networks and respite options. 

Church networks will offer additional wraparound support such as practical help, emotional encouragement, meals, prayer, and community connection. 

Tracy Ashton and Lydia Oliver have been fostering for ten years or more. Both teachers, one decided to do it after one of her children left home for university and she had a bit of “empty nest” syndrome and the other provided short-term care whilst her own children were growing up.

Lydia said: “My husband grew up in a family where they fostered so he had experience of it. We said we would give it two years and here we are 14 years later.

“Our own children were 10, 8 and 6 at the time and we had spare room. We were already doing the school run so it made sense for us to do it then.”

She said her own children coped well with the addition of others and two now wanted to foster themselves.

Lydia has taken on a role as a lead in the Mockingbird initiative which places ten families in a group and organises support and social activities.

Tracy is an ambassador for fostering in Plymouth and said the support offered by the local authority made a massive difference in keeping foster carers and making placements stable.

“Having a network of support is critical ..some people may already have that through family and friends but for others the reality of fostering and the complex needs of children we look after can be too much for them and that wrap around support is so very important.”

Coffee mornings, activities, therapeutic sessions for children and an annual “game changer” summit at Dartmoor Zoo are all on offer to build a foster community.

“At the coffee mornings you just know that there will be people there who will listen to you and some have fostered for 20 years,” added Tracy, “Their experience is invaluable.”

Both women are keen to bust the myths around fostering… anyone who has  spare room can foster, you can be gay or straight, young or more mature, single or in a relationship, working or retired.

Tracy who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community said: “I think the barriers to fostering that people think may exist don’t really, I was working as a deputy head when I started fostering and I still managed to do it.”

She added that the rewards of fostering outweighed the challenges and one of those was seeing the children in her care grow in confidence and excel at things.

“Showing them there are things about them they can be proud of and like about themselves is what fostering is about. It is really easy for a child to blame themselves for ending up in care.”

Lydia added: “Fostering does grab you but it is a life changing decision, and not something we take lightly. Loving and caring for children who have often been through trauma is a hard thing to do but because support is there we are able to do it and do it well.”

Plymouth City cabinet member for children’s services Jemima Laing (Lab, Stoke) said foster care was a word of mouth business so if the local authority was not doing things right that word would soon get around.

“It works the same if we are doing things right and what people are seeing is we do listen and we do change things.”

There are more than 520 children and young people in the council’s care in Plymouth, yet there are only around 120 fostering households able to support them.

“We know that children do best when they can stay close to the places and people they know,” added Cllr Laing. ” But at the moment, far too many Plymouth children are being placed miles away from their home city because we simply don’t have enough foster carers locally. That has a huge impact on everything from school stability to mental health to family relationships. 

Independent fostering agencies also cost the council around £30,000 per child per year more than in-house foster carers and the cost of residential placements has grown dramatically, putting huge pressure on council finances.

“We are desperately seeking foster families for around 26 children who are living in residential care but could move into a family home if the right local carers were available,” said Cllr Laing.

James Grier, Bishop of Plymouth, said: “Over the years, I have worked with various young people and adults who for all sorts of different reasons have found themselves as part of the care system. Everyone of them, who has spent time with a foster family, has lit up when they have talked about that family and the difference they made in their lives.  

“Every child needs the experience and security of being part of a loving family. I think it is part of our mandate as church to make that a possibility for as many looked after children as possible. Here in Plymouth we would love to find 26 additional foster families for 2026. Hopefully this will just be the beginning of something so precious and transformational.” 

For more information about the campaign, go to: www.fosterforplymouth.co.uk or www.transformingplymouthtogether/26for26