A Welsh fostering organisation is the first in the UK to have trialled a new app that encourages more people to consider being a foster carer.
Foster Wales, the country’s national network of local authority fostering services, have been testing a new app, otherwise known as ‘Care Friends’, to motivate more people to become foster carers.
The app works by getting current foster carers to refer people they trust, and think would be up for taking on the role. Should a referral be successful, individuals are offered a small financial rewards.
To say the pilot, which lasted 18 months, has been successful would be an understatement. The latest figures show around 300 initial app users in Wales have generated over 100 enquires. What’s more, 18 new foster carers have been approved, including a couple called Phil and Carol. They were recommended by their friends called Kim and Rob, who are carers with Foster Wales Flintshire.
‘We’ve been on holiday with them, and they’ve always seen us with the children that we foster,’ Kim said. ‘When I saw the way Phil would play Lego with the children, I always thought they’d be a perfect fit for fostering.
Image: Phil and Carol
‘One day they were talking about how quiet their weekends were, just the two of them. They saw us going places with the children, and they said they wanted a life like that, so I said, “why don’t they do what we do”?’
‘Phil and Carol are now fostering, and I’m able to give them advice, because we’ve been doing it for years,’ Kim continued.
‘They ring me every week and I can support them. It feels good to find more foster carers for children and I get a little bonus for doing it. We’ve used it to buy euros for our next family holiday to Spain with the children.’
Though the pilot has been largely positive – with 12% of Foster Wales signed up to the app – the scheme hopes to increase this to 40% in the near future.
Neil Eastwood, founder and CEO of Care Friends, said: ‘I am delighted by the early success of Care Friends in helping to address the nationwide shortage of foster carers. My brother was in foster care and so this cause is personally close to my heart.’
‘This successful pilot is testament to foster carers’ desire to make an even bigger positive difference than they are already making by fostering children,’ he added. ‘The app is simply allowing the true potential of the most successful method of recruiting foster carers, word of mouth, to be maximised.’
Images: Foster Wales
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