This week, Sarah and Louise tackle one of the most hidden crises in fostering, allegations against foster carers.

For decades, foster carers have quietly shared stories of false or retaliatory allegations, stories that were often dismissed as overemotional or anecdotal. In this episode, they unpack the scale of the problem, over 30,000 carers have been caught in a system that can devastate careers, families, and children’s stability.

Joining us is Dr Christian Harkensee, a paediatrician and Child Protection Lead, who shares his personal experience navigating a false allegation and the emotional toll it took on him and his family. Together, we explore how the system currently operates, why fear of allegations affects nearly every carer, and what could actually be done to protect carers and children alike.

This episode isn’t just about the headline; it’s about understanding the systemic harm that’s quietly reshaping foster care and what must change if we want a future for fostering at all.

All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you!

This week, Sarah and Louise take an unflinching, slightly bemused, slightly furious wander through the week’s news before getting into the topic everyone tiptoes around in fostering: money.

From Josh MacAlister’s so-called “clarification” that somehow made things worse, where asking for basic rights and protections is reframed as carers wanting to “clock on”, and he quietly positions himself as the only one putting children first, to Ofsted handing out “Outstanding” while carers are furious and standards for them and their children still so poor, this episode follows the money, the spin, and the damage left behind.

We get into postcode lotteries, levelling down dressed up as reform, carers topping up from their own pockets, and the quiet financial engineering hollowing out fostering from the inside.

Loving children and being paid properly aren’t opposites. But pretending money doesn’t matter is how care systems rot.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/qualifying-care-relief-foster-carers-adult-placement-carers-kinship-carers-and-staying-put-carers-hs236-self-assessment-helpsheet/hs236-qualifying-care-relief-foster-carers-adult-placement-carers-kinship-carers-and-staying-put-carers-2025

https://www.gov.uk/employment-status/worker

All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you!

This week, Sarah and Louise go full investigative mode on a brutal few days for foster carers, and the uncomfortable truths that slipped out of power.

After the now viral “you don’t work / it’s not a job” moment exposed what the government really thinks of carers, they unpack why this isn’t just offensive, it’s catastrophic for retention, recruitment, and trust in the system. From a hastily arranged DfE/TFN webinar that felt more like stage-managed theatre than genuine consultation, to inflated attendance figures, familiar talking points, and the same old “nothing new” reform scripts… the gaslighting is getting harder to ignore.

They also dig into the quietly terrifying suggestion to remove Supervising Social Workers and replace them with children’s social workers, presented as an “innovation” that carers will apparently love. Spoiler: carers consistently say the SSW is their strongest professional relationship. So who exactly is advising this, and why does it feel like policy creep in real time?

Then it’s onto recruitment marketing, the cupcakes and sprinkles fantasy of fostering ads, the infantilisation of carers, the “all you need is love and a spare room” nonsense, and how this kind of messaging lowers standards, misleads the public, and damages children.

Angry. Informed. Uncomfortable listening. This one’s a journalistic analysis of how the system performs care while quietly dismantling the workforce that holds it together.

Contact: info@fosterwiki.com

Centre for Homelessness Impact:

[Sanders, Michael, Vanessa Hirneis, Kira Ewanich and Vanessa Picker. The Impacts of the Mockingbird Family Model for Young People Leaving Care An Evaluation Using Matching and Difference-in-Differences. London, United Kingdom: Centre for Homelessness Impact. 2025. www.homelessnessimpact.o/rg/publication/mockingbird-the-family-model-for-young-people-leaving-care. last accessed 18/02/2026]

All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.