Hundreds of children and young people need fostering in London. We offer foster local training, 24/7 support, peer support, and the opportunity to be the best you can be in your role.
If you’re considering becoming a foster carer, choose to work with a fostering agency that has friendly local teams who will support you all the way.
National Fostering Group is the largest independent fostering agency in the UK with superb agency coverage across all regions – meaning you have the support of a team close to you.
We are the leading fostering agency in the Greater London area and work in partnership with local authorities to place children and young people in homes where they can thrive.
As a foster carer for the National Fostering Group, you’ll have unparalleled access to professional support and excellent free training on your doorstep. We want you to thrive too, being the best you can be in your role as foster carer.
In addition, you’ll have access to a large and active peer network that includes several local support groups.
The support I receive from my Supervising Social Worker has been like a big hug to me, helpful and encouraging and extremely supportive. It gives you the resilience in what can sometimes be a challenging job to face another day.
Fostering is a very rewarding role and no two days are the same. The look of joy on your young person's face when they have a new life experience and you turn their life around is priceless!
Our foster carers in London are supported by a large team of fostering professionals at National Fostering Agency London South, which covers Croydon, Southwark, Lambeth, Bexley and Lewisham. This well-established agency covers a diverse area and looks after over 190 children. They pride themselves on having a small family agency ethos, encouraging their foster children to share their thoughts and feelings and influence the direction of the agency.
Our average foster carer pay is around £24,500 a year (£2,040 on average per month), which is far higher than the government’s recommended weekly allowance. For most foster carers in London, this will be tax free! Some types of fostering placement pay more than £35,000 a year. Foster carer pay doesn’t affect state benefits you’re currently receiving.
Our foster carers come from all walks of life. With training, support and a generous fostering allowance, they provide homes where children can thrive and experience the childhood they deserve.
More than 8,000 new foster carers are needed UK-wide to provide homes for children in need of a foster family. If you’re thinking of becoming a foster carer, now’s the time.
Source: The Fostering Network
If you think you’d like to become a foster carer in London, your next step is to have a chat. You can book a call by using our enquiry form. After this, if you decide to go ahead with an application, this usually takes around 16 weeks and we’ll help you every step of the way. We’ll help you decide what types of fostering you want to do and we’ll even get you started with foster carer training.
We are looking for foster carers in London. We welcome people from ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds, physical abilities and the LGBT+ community. You can be single, married, a homeowner or a tenant. Your ability to care for and nurture a child is what really matters. If you’ve worked in sectors like education, the emergency services, care or healthcare, you’ll be especially suited to this role.
The best part of my role is seeing the foster carers who, to begin with, may lack confidence or feel they are not doing things quite right, blossom into fostering experts. Seeing the bonds develop between the children and foster families makes everything we do worth it.
Around 7,180 children live with foster families in the Greater London area – 3,090 in Inner London and 4,090 in Outer London.
There are approximately 45,370 fostering households and 76,640 foster carers in England.
Sources: Department for Education, Ofsted
Hundreds of children are currently fostered or waiting to find foster parents in the Greater London area.
National Fostering Group has local offices across the area and covers South, East and North London, around the M25 and Croydon, Essex, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and parts of Kent.