Government invests £8.4m to expand family finding schemes for children in care

Children in care and care leavers will be supported to reconnect with relatives, former carers, teachers and other trusted adults under a government-backed expansion of family finding programmes across England.

The Department for Education has announced a further £8.4 million investment in family finding schemes, which help care-experienced children and young people identify and rebuild relationships with people who have played an important role in their lives. The funding forms part of the government's newly published Enduring Relationships programme, which aims to make lifelong connections a central priority of the care system.

Family finding programmes provide a service likened to the television programme Who Do You Think You Are, with specially trained coordinators helping children and young people locate and reconnect with family members and other trusted adults. The approach is designed to strengthen support networks, improve young people's sense of identity and belonging, and support positive outcomes in adulthood.

The reforms follow the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, which ministers have described as the most significant reform of children's social care in a generation.

According to the government, family finding programmes funded since 2023 have already demonstrated positive results. Twenty-five schemes have been supported nationally, with participating children and young people gaining an average of almost two additional meaningful relationships. More than a third reconnected with immediate family members, while others rebuilt relationships with former teachers, social workers and other trusted adults.

Research cited by the government suggests the programmes can also help reduce homelessness among care-experienced young people. A study by the Policy Institute at King's College London for the Centre for Homelessness Impact found one family finding approach reduced the risk of homelessness by 10%.

Children’s Minister Josh MacAlister said: "We are giving more children in care the chance to reconnect with people important to them and build the lifelong relationships that most of us rely on for love, support and stability throughout adulthood.

"For too long, the care system has been forced to focus on fighting fires, rather than helping children build the enduring relationships they need to achieve and thrive.

"This government is gripping the problem – we have passed the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act and now we are investing and reforming to give children’s social care the heart that children deserve."

The announcement forms part of a wider programme of reform aimed at shifting children's social care away from crisis intervention and towards prevention, stronger families and lasting relationships. Other measures include plans to create 10,000 new foster care places during this parliament, investment in the Families First Partnership programme and a financial allowance pilot for kinship carers.

More than 81,000 children were in care in England as of March 2025. Government figures show that one in ten children in care moved home three or more times during 2024, while more than one in five were living over 20 miles from their home community.

The Enduring Relationships programme argues that the current system can place too much emphasis on managing immediate risks at the expense of maintaining important family and community connections. Under the reforms, social workers and local authorities will be encouraged to place relationships at the centre of decision-making, including through strengthened family group decision-making processes, support for reunification where appropriate, and greater use of Family Network Support Packages.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act has also expanded Staying Close support to all care leavers in England, ensuring continued assistance with housing, health and employment up to the age of 25.

Alongside the publication of the programme, the Department for Education has launched an expert-led review of children's homes to examine how residential care can better support children with complex needs and help them build stable, lasting relationships. The department has also opened a six-week consultation on statutory guidance relating to the new Information Sharing Duty introduced by the Act, which comes into force on 30 September.

Responding to the announcement, Dr Jo Casebourne, Chief Executive of Foundations, welcomed the government's focus on relationships in children's social care.

She said: “Everyone deserves to grow up with safe, stable, and nurturing relationships. Whether a parent, a mentor, a neighbour, a teacher – they make up the tapestry of a support network that enriches a child’s life. But this is something many of us can so easily take for granted.

“For care-experienced children and young people, there can be fewer opportunities to form meaningful connections with trusted adults. We know the positive impact supportive, enduring relationships can have across so many areas of young people’s lives and yet not enough is known about how best to support care-experienced children to build and maintain these. Currently there are very few programmes or approaches developed to support relationships for care-experienced children that have been evaluated. It is crucial that we tackle this."

Casebourne said the publication provides a framework for embedding relationships throughout the care system and welcomed commitments to strengthen the evidence base.

She added: “We’re pleased to see the importance of enduring relationships placed front and centre as the ‘guiding principle’ of the government’s children’s social care reforms. Today’s paper provides a much-needed blueprint for how to make this a golden thread running throughout the system, with a welcome commitment to tackle the lack of evidence on what works to support these relationships for children in, leaving, or on the edge of care.

“Better and more reliable data on care-experienced children and young people is needed, so the announcement today of the plan to implement a measure of enduring relationships is an important step towards understanding how these young people are being supported.

“We look forward to working with the government, local leaders and sector partners to find out what works to support care-experienced children and young people to create and maintain the enduring relationships they need and deserve.”