Children’s campaigners say ‘national crisis’ adds to trauma for vulnerable young people, amid huge fall in numbers fostering

The number of foster carers in England has sunk to a 10-year low, prompting urgent calls for the recruitment of thousands more families, improved retention and moves to tackle a “national crisis” that is exacerbating trauma for the most vulnerable children in society.

The latest figures produced by Ofsted show the number of foster carers fell from 43,405 to 42,615 in the year to March 2024. For the past three years, more carers have been quitting than signing up, meaning the sector has suffered a 2,920 net loss in carers during this period.