The Future of Fostering: Kinship Strategy, Staying Put and Stability Measures

Fostering in England is at a turning point. Demand for loving, local homes keeps rising while the number of approved foster carers has slipped, and the whole system is under pressure to deliver more stability at lower cost. Recent figures show a fall in approved mainstream foster carers in 2023–24, underlining an urgent supply gap that affects matching, placement distance and outcomes. At the same time, the cost of alternative placements—especially residential care—has escalated sharply, focusing minds on reforms that favour family-based care, earlier help and better retention.

The government’s reform agenda—anchored in Stable Homes, Built on Love—puts kinship care at the heart of change, alongside stronger support for care-experienced young people staying with carers after 18 and a set of stability measures that aim to keep relationships central. For families, carers and practitioners, understanding where policy is heading helps you plan the next two to three years.

Where policy is heading: family-first, local and stable

The National Kinship Care Strategy is the clearest signal of direction. It commits funding and practical steps to make it easier for children who cannot live with their parents to remain with relatives or people they already know, and it sets out milestones for implementation from 2024–25 onward. The strategy’s framing matters: the goal is a system that tilts away from crisis and distant placements towards family networks, love and stability.

What’s in the kinship strategy right now

The strategy announced £20 million in 2024–25 for kinship reforms, plus a plan to pilot a financial allowance for kinship carers (pathfinder) and publish employer guidance so carers can remain in work more easily. It also sets a government definition of kinship care, strengthens visibility of kinship families in local practice, and links the reforms to the wider social care reset promised in Stable Homes, Built on Love.

Why this matters for stability

Children in kinship families typically experience better continuity and feel more connected to their communities, which reduces the disruption that can harm education, health and relationships. For local authorities, supporting kinship can also reduce reliance on high-cost placements when the right safeguards, assessments and allowances are in place. Taken together with recruitment and retention efforts in fostering, the kinship shift is designed to improve outcomes and sufficiency at the same time.

Kinship strategy in detail: from principle to practice

The strategy does four practical things that will shape day-to-day work.

1) Testing allowances for kinship carers

A pathfinder to trial kinship allowances equivalent to local fostering allowances, where appropriate, is intended to remove a major barrier for families who step up. If the evaluation is positive, expect clearer national expectations for financial support and less postcode variability over time. In the meantime, councils should prepare to map current spend, numbers and outcomes for connected persons to benchmark the impact of any new offers.

2) Investing in training and support

The strategy promises improved training routes for kinship carers and better access to therapeutic help for children—often a gap compared to mainstream fostering. Virtual School responsibilities are being extended to better champion education for children in kinship arrangements, which should tighten inclusion at school and strengthen PEP-style planning where relevant.

3) Making kinship visible in local systems

A published definition and practice prompts for identification and support are meant to stop kinship families “falling between the cracks.” Local authorities are encouraged to align assessments, data capture and sign-posting so kinship carers get consistent information on legal routes (e.g., SGO, child arrangements orders) and support entitlements. Independent scrutiny—from Ofsted and local corporate parenting boards—will likely look for clearer evidence of this.

4) Linking kinship to earlier help

The strategy connects to Family Help pathfinders and family group conferences so more crises are diverted earlier, with kinship options explored before care. For practitioners, this means earlier mapping of family networks, faster access to legal advice, and practical tools (e.g., small grants, travel or contact support) to make arrangements viable.

Staying Put: reducing cliff-edges at 18

Staying Put allows young people to remain with their foster carers after 18, typically to 21, with local authorities expected to plan, support and fund the arrangement. It’s been a core stability lever for a decade, and while guidance dates back to 2013, many councils have updated local procedures as learning has grown. Given the focus on relationship-based care and the cost of breakdowns, expect increasing emphasis on making Staying Put the default when it’s right for the young person.

What good looks like

The most successful Staying Put offers include early planning from age 16+, a clear financial framework for the carer, alignment with education, training and employment goals, and agreements about independence skills, boundaries and continuing support (e.g., personal adviser access, mental health). Where carers feel financially secure and practically backed, arrangements are more likely to last, and young people avoid precarious housing transitions. (For care leavers from residential homes, Staying Close provides a parallel model of relational support and move-on accommodation.)

What may change next

National policy signals point towards stronger stability expectations, better data on outcomes, and reducing local variation in payments and wrap-around support. As with kinship, any refresh would aim to reduce cliff-edges at 18 and keep relationships central, because that’s what tends to keep college, apprenticeships and first jobs on track.

Stability measures that work (and are scaling)

Stability is not just about allowances and regulations; it’s about relationships, support, and the availability of the right home at the right time. Three measures are worth watching.

Mockingbird

The Mockingbird model creates a “constellation” of six to ten fostering households supported by a hub carer—replicating the resilience of an extended family. Evaluation shows qualitative evidence of improved placement stability, carer retention and smoother transitions for children. With workforce pressures and the emotional load of caring, the peer-to-peer structure is one of the most promising ways to keep placements stable.

Recruitment Support Hubs (“Foster with Us”)

Since 2023, groups of councils have built regional recruitment hubs to provide a single, consistent front door for enquiries, better marketing and fewer hand-offs for applicants. In practice this should mean faster responses, clearer information and a smoother journey to approval—plus shared data on what messaging and support works. Expect hubs to mature in 2025–26 with firmer targets on conversion and diversity, and tighter handovers into assessment.

Data, sufficiency and market reform

The latest Ofsted fostering statistics confirm a small year-on-year fall in approved carers, keeping sufficiency under pressure. That shortage pushes up use of distant or expensive placements and, ultimately, costs. Policymakers are signalling moves to curb excessive profits and expand family-based provision, reflecting concerns about high residential costs and market concentration. For local areas, the actionable piece is robust sufficiency planning, better forecasting and active support for carers to prevent exits.

What this means for carers, agencies and local areas

For prospective and current carers

If you’re considering fostering—or thinking of transferring—watch for peer-support offers (like Mockingbird), training routes for therapeutic care, and clear statements on fees vs. allowances. For kinship carers, note the strategy’s commitments around training, employer guidance and the allowances pilot; ask your council how these will be implemented locally and how you’ll be kept informed.

For local authorities and IFAs

Priorities for the next 18–24 months include: embedding recruitment hubs with a focus on conversion and diversity; increasing respite and wellbeing offers to retain carers; aligning kinship practice from identification to support; and making Staying Put plans the norm from 16+. Data needs to be joined-up: track approvals, exits and stability by cohort; analyse reasons for carer attrition; and publish a transparent sufficiency strategy that families can actually see and understand.

For policymakers and partners

The direction of travel is right—family-first and relationship-centred—but delivery will hinge on funding certainty, evaluation and workforce capacity. Kinship allowances need rigorous testing and a plan for national scale; Staying Put would benefit from clearer minimum expectations on payments and wrap-around support; and recruitment hubs should lock in what works, not just rebrand marketing. Meanwhile, pressure on residential costs will continue to force the case for local foster and kinship capacity.

2025–2027 outlook: practical predictions (and how to prepare)

Expect more consistency in kinship support, driven by the pilot’s findings and growing political focus on family networks. Staying Put should become even more normalised, with stronger planning and fewer administrative barriers. Mockingbird and other peer models will likely expand as evidence accumulates and hubs share learning on retention. Finally, recruitment messaging will pivot towards flexible fostering routes, practical financial clarity and better support for carers who work—especially in high-cost regions where extra top-ups matter to keeping placements local. None of this removes the need for more carers, but it does point to a system that makes it easier to say yes and easier to stay.