About Us

Mission: Enable a new generation of qualified skilled foster carers, providing high standards of care in nurturing knowledgeable, trauma-informed homes.

About the National Foster Carer Qualification (NFCQ)

Currently there is no standardised qualification for foster carers in the UK and it is a lottery postcode as to the standard, quality, quantity and availability of education new and existing foster carers have access to.

NFCQs have been developed in response to this.

"Foster carers are expected to start caring for extremely vulnerable and traumatised children with very little meaningful education. This contributes to retention issues, placement instability and poor outcomes for children who end up bounced around the system. There is no standardised or consistent foster carer education across the UK and quality and quantity varies hugely between providers. I prefer to replace the word ‘training’ with ‘education’ to reflect the importance, complexity and depth of our work. A lack of a cohesive education framework belies the significance of this critical workforce and the fostering role and it undermines the needs of our children.”

Sarah Anderson, Founder FosterWiki

Each year more and more children come into care with fewer places to accommodate them, it is estimated we will need 26,000 more foster carers by 2025*.

The outcomes for children who have been in the care system remain dispiriting, according to government statistics only 7% of foster children pass GCSEs compared to 40% of their non-looked-after peers, care leavers comprise 25% of the homeless, 24% of the prison population and over 40% of care leavers are not in education, employment or training.

Retention of foster carers has also been highlighted in recent reports, 1 in 3 newly qualified foster carers are de-registered within 18 months.

Recruitment is struggling as people are no longer responding to the long-established misleading narrative of what it is to be a foster carer.

How can the NFCQ Help?

Educating foster carers and equipping them with high-quality qualifications and skills.
A comprehensive standardised education framework will impact the outcomes for children.
It will impact placement stability by empowering foster carers to fully understand their role and work in a trauma-informed way.
It will encourage a diverse demographic of the population to look at fostering in a new light.
NFCQs will produce outstanding foster carers who will become the gold standard, with enduring placement stability and exceptional outcomes for children.