Foster carer recruitment marketing guidance

This guidance intends to provide independent fostering agencies (IFA) with a set of general principles and standards for content that aims to recruit foster carers via marketing and advertising of the fostering service. The aim of publishing this guidance is to increase a mutual understanding of appropriate and truthful marketing that is not published at the detriment to another fostering service or to the sector. Marketing content should provide prospective foster carers with a genuine insight into the role of a foster carer and the fostering services available to them and should ensure that it is:

Legal - promotional activity must follow applicable laws

Authentic - truthful and honest about the service and how it operatesPositive - in relation to children in care, fostering and fostering services, inspiring and actionable

Transparent - about what prospective foster carers should expect and about the role requirements and expectations of a foster carer

Clear and understandable - equitable and accessible to all

Current - reference to inspection reports should be from the most recent report for that service/branch and these should be made available to prospective foster carers

Accurate, balanced and fair - in relation to information, claims and comparisons about services and be independently verifiable

Reflective of genuine experience - testimonials and endorsements must be based on genuine experience, given freely without financial or other inducement

Not undermining - advertising should not be undertaken that undermines the reputation of any other fostering service or the wider fostering sector

And finally, not contain anything that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence