New research highlights positive impact of social workers in the fostering process

With over 7,000 young people in care across Wales, the need for more Foster Carers is increasingly pressing.

Currently there are 150 fostering households (including Kinship) in Bridgend County Borough; and more foster carers are needed to ensure that all our children have the care and support they deserve.

In January 2024, Foster Wales, the national network of 22 Welsh local authority fostering teams, launched a campaign to recruit an additional 800 foster families by 2026. Foster Wales Bridgend joined the campaign, called: ‘Bring Something to the Table,’ to share realistic experiences from the fostering community and to respond to common barriers to enquiries. Some of these include a lack of confidence, misconceptions around criteria, and a belief that that fostering doesn’t fit with certain lifestyles.

The latest phase of the campaign focuses on the role of foster care social workers and the ‘support bubble’ that exists around foster carers, to provide potential carers with:

• Information and understanding around the social workers’ role, and how the wider fostering community can support them.
• Confidence and assurance that social workers are caring, pro-active experts who work hard to support both young people and foster carers.
• Motivation to start the process to become a foster carer in your local authority.

In a recent public YouGov survey only 44 per cent respondents said social work was well-respected and nearly two fifths (39 per cent ) of adults polled felt social work practitioners “often got things wrong.” While only 11 per cent  of social workers currently believe social work is well-respected.

Kirsty, a Bridgend Supervising Social Worker told us: “It is so important for us to have a good relationship with foster families, so that they feel they can speak to us about anything they need to.

“In this role, you share the highs and lows of the fostering journey with your carers, which is a very rewarding (and at times, emotional) experience, and one I always feel fortunate to be part of.

“I also feel very lucky to work with such supportive, friendly, and dedicated colleagues in Bridgend who care very much about the foster families we work with.”

The latest ‘Bring something to the table’ campaign is guided by a newly commissioned survey to better understand preconceptions and motivations of social workers. There were 309 respondents and key findings include:

• 78 per cent of social workers surveyed said they entered the profession to support and help families
• 18 per cent of foster carers said negative perceptions of social workers were because of news coverage
• 29 per cent of foster carers said before meeting a social worker they thought they would be ‘people with heavy caseloads and lots of paperwork
• 27 per cent of social workers surveyed believe potential carers fear being judged by professionals

In the research, foster carers highlighted the importance of close and long-lasting working relationships to support young people to overcome challenges. They were also keen to dispel myths about social workers and the support you receive, and paid tribute to the dedication of their social workers: 

Bridgend Foster Carer, Sarah, shared a message for their Social Worker and said: “Our supervising social worker has been with me since the start of my fostering process.

“She helped and supported us a great deal when the first child we cared for went on to adoption. She made sure that we were supported and had enough time to deal with our emotions.

“Thank you so much for your support and for always being there to chase things up or to answer our concerns as quickly as possible.”

Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Social Services, Health and Wellbeing, Councillor Jane Gebbie said: “In Foster Wales Bridgend, we continue to be committed to working hard to ensure that all our foster carers feel supported and valued. Social work can be a challenging profession, however all our teams within Children and Family Services in Bridgend consistently go above and beyond, putting children and families at the centre of everything that they do.

“I’m full of admiration for just how compassionate, dedicated, and skilled not only our foster carers are, but the teams that work with and support them too. It is imperative that all children and young people we work with can thrive, and therefore our aim is to do everything in our power to make this happen.”

For more information about fostering, or to make an enquiry, visit: https://bridgend.fosterwales.gov.wales/