Planning and supporting permanence in long-term foster care: An investigation of the implementation in England of the first regulations and guidance for long-term foster care as a permanence option

This webinar launched the Nuffield-funded report Planning and supporting long-term foster care: an investigation of the implementation in England of the first regulations and guidance for long-term foster care as a permanence option (2015).

Long-term foster care has had a significant history in child placement policy and practice. As such, it has been an important permanence option since the 1980s when permanence first emerged as a primary goal of the care system. However, it was not until 2015 that Government regulations and guidance provided a framework for long-term foster care in England, with the aim of promoting good practice, avoiding drift and supporting children’s security and well-being through to adulthood.

This research project has provided an essential opportunity to investigate the implementation of this new framework across England. At this webinar, chaired by Dr John Simmonds OBE, Head of Policy, Research and Development at CoramBAAF, findings of this research and implications for the future management of long-term foster care will be presented by Emeritus Professor Gillian Schofield OBE and Dr Birgit Larsson, both from the Centre for Research on Children and Families at the University of East Anglia.

Following the presentations, we heard from Jonny Hoyle, who had a positive personal experience of long-term foster care and is a Leaving Care Manager and Child Permanence and Family Reunification Development Lead in North Yorkshire. He is also a Trustee for CoramVoice. We also heard from Dr Lisa Holmes, from the Rees Centre at the University of Oxford, who is an international research expert on using data to understand and promote the well-being of children in care.

This event coincided with the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care which is taking an evidence-based approach to improving the lives of children and young people in care, including those growing up in long-term foster families.