The gap between the numbers of children needing foster care and the number of foster families available has widened – and Christians are being challenged to step up to the need.
Home for Good, a Christian charity that finds homes for children within churches in the UK, said the numbers of children entering the care system has increased 30% since austerity was introduced in 2010.
It said more than 100,000 children are currently in care across the UK, with more than 38,000 entering the care system for the first time every year. A quarter of them are 16 or older.
The charity’s CEO Tarn Bright said: ‘Home for Good places a clarion call out across the church to find individuals, couples and families to consider opening their hearts and homes to meet this growing need for carers.’
At the start of Fostering Fortnight (13–26 May), the Fostering Network also reported that there were 2,154 fewer foster families since 2021 – but a rise of 2,855 children in foster care. An additional 6,500 foster families are needed
Bright warned: ‘It’s a big undertaking being a foster carer, yet a deeply rewarding one and many can testify to how they’ve been positively impacted by caring for children living with the legacy of trauma.’
Krish Kandiah, who set up the charity with his wife Miriam (but has since stepped down to chair the government’s Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board), has fostered alongside three birth children for 17 years. He and Miriam have two long-term foster children and a third who they have adopted.
Kandiah said: ‘There’s an urgent pressing need for families to come through. It makes sense that the church should be at the front of the queue to provide the stability these children need. It is really clear in Scripture that God is a father to the fatherless. He prioritises the needs of vulnerable people, especially children.
‘If we claim to be Christians, walking in the footsteps of Jesus, we should step forward. God sees these children, He cares for them and He calls for us to do the same.’
He added that he has met many Christians up and down the country who have done this. ‘They have stepped forward and it’s been life transforming,’ he commented. ‘It will turn your life upside down but, however hard it is, it’s increasingly heartwarming.
