Foster Care Fortnight 2026 – This is Fostering

Across Carmarthenshire and Wales, hundreds of foster carers open their homes to provide love, stability, and care to children and young people who are unable to live with their birth families. However, more foster carers are urgently needed locally to ensure that every child can be matched with the right home to meet their individual needs.

From 11-24 May, Foster Wales Carmarthenshire will be supporting Foster Care Fortnight, led nationally by The Fostering Network. The annual campaign raises awareness of the life-changing impact of fostering, thanks foster carers for their dedication and encourages more people to consider fostering for their local authority.

This year’s theme, ‘This is Fostering’, shines a light on the everyday realities of fostering and the difference foster carers make in children’s lives. It celebrates the skills, commitment and compassion foster carers show, often in challenging circumstances.

Throughout Foster Care Fortnight, voices from across the fostering community will be shared. For foster carers, this often means recognising the small but meaningful moments – helping a child learn to trust again, supporting them through a new school placement, or adapting their care to meet each child’s individual needs.

The aim of the campaign is to show what fostering really involves. By sharing real experiences, Foster Wales Carmarthenshire hopes to raise awareness of why foster carers must be properly valued and supported to continue making a difference to children’s lives.

Carmarthenshire County Council’s Head of Children and Families Services, Gill Adams, said:

During Foster Care Fortnight, we want to recognise the incredible commitment of our foster carers and highlight the positive impact they have every day by offering stable, caring homes within their local communities. We are also encouraging more people to consider fostering with Foster Wales Carmarthenshire to enable our children and young people to have the best possible start in life.”

Sarah Thomas, Chief Executive of The Fostering Network, said:

The UK is in urgent need of more foster carers. Each year, we are losing more carers than we are gaining, and that simply isn’t sustainable. This Foster Care Fortnight, we will be encouraging people to consider fostering while saying a big thank you to our existing foster carers for everything they do. 

However, retaining existing foster carers is just as important as recruiting new ones. There is urgent need for change within the fostering system to ensure it’s sustainable for foster carers and the children they care for. We will be calling on the government to listen to foster carers across the UK and to help build a system in which they are truly valued and receive the support they need.

Thank you to everyone who is helping us raise awareness of fostering during Foster Care Fortnight.”

You don’t need to be a foster carer to support Foster Care Fortnight. By following Foster Wales Carmarthenshire on social media and sharing campaign content, you can help spread the word and raise awareness of the need for local foster carers.

To find out more about Foster Care Fortnight, visit: https://www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/get-involved/foster-care-fortnight

Anyone interested in finding out more about fostering in Carmarthenshire is encouraged to meet the Foster Wales Carmarthenshire team at one of their upcoming information events. Details of upcoming events across Carmarthenshire can be found at: https://www.carmarthenshire.gov.wales/council-services/children-family-services/fostering/events/