Foster Care Faces New pressure As More Children Arrive With Complex Needs

By Lucy Caulkett-

The number of children entering foster care with complex needs has risen by more than a third in just one year, prompting fresh warnings that Britain’s fostering system is facing not simply a shortage of homes, but a growing shortage of carers with the specialist skills needed to support some of the most vulnerable children in society.

Freedom of Information data gathered by the National Fostering Group (NFG) indicates that more children are arriving in care with physical disabilities, trauma-related needs, neurodiverse conditions and significant emotional or behavioural difficulties.

The organisation argues that the changing profile of children entering care means recruitment can no longer be measured simply by the number of available bedrooms. Increasingly, the question is whether there are enough foster carers equipped to deal with the complex circumstances children may bring with them.

Tim Barclay, chief executive of the National Fostering Group, said the figures demonstrated that the issue was “not just a numbers problem” but a “skills challenge”. That distinction is important because the wider foster-care system is already under considerable pressure.

In England, 54,820 children were living with foster families on March 31, 2025, representing 67 per cent of the 81,770 children in care who were looked after away from home. Across the country, however, the number of foster carers has been falling. Ofsted figures show there were 33,435 fostering households in England at the end of March 2025, a 10 per cent decline from 2021.

The result is a potentially damaging mismatch: more children requiring sophisticated support at precisely the time when the pool of available carers is shrinking. The Fostering Network estimates that England needs around 5,000 additional fostering families, while its latest recruitment calculations suggest around 6,000 new families are required across the UK over the next year. The shortage is particularly serious for teenagers, sibling groups, disabled children and other children whose circumstances require carers with particular experience or training.

The reasons behind the apparent increase in complexity are unlikely to be explained by a single factor. One possibility is that children are increasingly entering care at older ages and after experiencing more prolonged periods of instability.

A major parliamentary inquiry into children’s social care identified several factors behind the long-term rise in the number of looked-after children, including increasing complexity of needs, children remaining in care for longer, population growth, rising family and neighbourhood pressures and an increase in unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

The inquiry also identified reductions in early-intervention services as a factor potentially contributing to more children eventually reaching the point where care becomes necessary.

There is also compelling evidence that children already in care are disproportionately affected by additional educational and developmental needs. Government statistics for 2024-25 show that 61.2 per cent of children who had been looked after continuously for at least 12 months had special educational needs, compared with 19.2 per cent of pupils across the overall school population. That does not mean that entering care causes those needs; rather, it underlines how heavily represented children with additional vulnerabilities are within the care population.

Trauma is another crucial part of the picture. Children do not ordinarily enter the care system because their lives have been straightforward. Many have experienced neglect, abuse, domestic instability, family breakdown or other adverse circumstances before being removed from their homes.

That can mean dealing with behaviour that is rooted not in simple disobedience but in fear, disrupted attachment, anxiety or previous trauma. Neurodiversity and physical disabilities can add another layer of complexity, requiring carers to understand medical, developmental or educational needs alongside the emotional challenges associated with being separated from birth families.

The system is therefore confronted with a difficult paradox. At the moment when children may need the most stability, experienced foster carers themselves are under pressure. The Fostering Network’s 2024 survey found that three in five foster carers had considered or were considering resigning, with lack of support, poor relationships with professionals and burnout among the principal reasons.

  The organisation has also warned that shortages can result in children being placed far from their communities, separated from siblings or moved into residential settings when a suitable foster placement cannot be found.There is an urgent call for more foster carers to assist.

The situation gives added weight to the call for people with professional experience in healthcare, teaching, social care and emergency services to consider fostering. According to NFG, 28 per cent of foster carers already come from healthcare or public-sector backgrounds, but the organisation believes the system needs more people with these transferable skills. Such experience can be valuable when caring for children who require structured routines, medical support, educational advocacy or specialist approaches to challenging behaviour.

Among those already doing the work is Dorset foster carer Isobel Dade, who has fostered for 15 years and cared for 13 children. Her experience as a teaching assistant, combined with previous work in NHS secure units supporting adults with learning disabilities, has given her a background particularly relevant to children requiring additional support. She has argued that there is a widespread misunderstanding about what “complex needs” actually means, pointing to the importance of training and professional support.

That support may prove decisive. NFG says it provides training, continuing professional development and round-the-clock specialist assistance, while foster carers can receive tax-free allowances of up to £24,500 a year, with higher rates for children with complex needs. But financial incentives alone are unlikely to solve the problem if carers feel overwhelmed or undervalued.

Britain’s fostering challenge is consequently becoming more complicated than simply finding more families willing to open their homes. The country needs carers who can remain committed when children are frightened, distressed, medically vulnerable or struggling to regulate their emotions. At the same time, those carers need a system capable of supporting them.

The increase in complex needs should therefore be viewed not as a reason to label vulnerable children as increasingly difficult, but as a warning about the level of investment and expertise required to give them stable childhoods. If the care system is becoming a safety net for children with increasingly complicated experiences, the net itself must become stronger. Otherwise, the danger is that the children who need the most stability will be the ones least able to find it.