Thank you.

It is a real privilege to be here.

I think this matters enormously.

As Portsmouth becomes the country’s first truly fostering-friendly business city, that is something to celebrate.

Not because it makes a nice headline.

But because fostering is not somebody else’s issue.

It belongs to all of us.

And if businesses better understand what fostering really involves and actively support the people who step forward when children need family, that will help change children’s lives.

As Chief Executive of the Nationwide Association of Fostering Providers, I spend a lot of time thinking about the national picture.

And the national picture matters.

Across England, we urgently need more foster carers.

The system is changing.

Regional Care Cooperatives are emerging.

Fostering recruitment hubs are developing.

National standards are being refreshed.

There is real opportunity here.

An opportunity to improve how fostering works.

Better support.

Better consistency.

Better commissioning.

Better understanding of children’s needs and the support carers need to succeed.

We should absolutely make the most of those opportunities.

But here is what I have learned.

We cannot allow ourselves to become distracted by structural reform.

Because whilst systems matter, recruitment and retention happen in real life.

The best reforms in the world will fail if everyday life makes fostering impossible.

And that brings me to something I think we often get wrong.

We often describe foster carers as superheroes.

And I understand why.

Because many of them show extraordinary patience, commitment and resilience.

They welcome children who may have experienced trauma, loss, instability, neglect, separation, rejection, and profound uncertainty.

They do this in their homes.

With their own families.

Day and night.

Every day of the year.

But I think the superhero narrative is unhelpful.

Because it suggests foster carers are somehow different from the rest of us.

That they are built differently.

That they can cope with anything.

That somehow the normal pressures of life do not apply.

But that is not true.

Foster carers are real people.

People with school runs.

Work pressures.

Laundry piles.

Mortgage payments.

Busy family lives.

People trying to do their best.

The difference is that they choose to make space in their family for a child who needs safety, belonging and care.

And like all real people, they need understanding.

They need flexibility.

They need encouragement.

And sometimes they simply need life to be made a bit easier.

Let me make that real.

Imagine Connor.

Connor is 13.

He came into foster care late at night with a bin bag of clothes after things broke down badly at home.

He has barely slept.

He does not know the people whose home he is now in.

He is frightened, angry, overwhelmed and trying very hard not to show it.

The next morning, he refuses school.

He shouts.

He swears.

He says he wants to leave.

He threatens to run.

Now imagine being the foster carer.

You had work planned.

Meetings in the diary.

Your own children to get out the door.

But Connor needs you.

Not next week.

Not when it is convenient.

Right then.

This is the reality.

And it is not unusual.

Because fostering is not just opening your home.

It is responding to uncertainty, emotion, trauma and complexity in real time.

And all of this happens within a highly regulated system.

Training.

Reviews.

Meetings.

Paperwork.

Safeguarding expectations.

Professional conversations.

Short-notice changes.

Much of this exists for good reason.

But the reality is that fostering can place enormous pressure on ordinary family life.

That is why today matters.

Because businesses are made up of people.

Yes, organisations need to perform.

Yes, there are commercial realities.

Because let’s be honest.

Supporting foster carers is not always straightforward.

What happens when a child has a crisis and your employee suddenly needs to be somewhere else?

That creates real pressure.

Someone has to cover.

Rotas may need reshuffling.

Deadlines may move.

Customers still need looking after.

The work still has to get done.

I understand that.

This is not about pretending those pressures do not exist.

It is about recognising that how organisations respond in those moments matters.

Because being fostering-friendly does not necessarily mean saying yes to everything.

It means thinking intentionally about what support can reasonably look like in your organisation.

That might be flexibility around hours.

The ability to swap shifts.

Time for training or important meetings.

Remote working where that is possible.

A named HR contact who understands fostering.

Manager awareness so foster carers do not have to repeatedly explain themselves.

Clear policies that create consistency rather than relying on goodwill alone.

And perhaps most importantly, a culture where someone feels safe enough to have the conversation in the first place.

Because businesses are all different.

A small independent business will think differently from a national employer.

A frontline service will have different constraints from an office-based organisation.

But every organisation can ask:

What could we realistically do that would make this easier?

Richard Branson famously said:

Take care of your employees and they will take care of your business.

And there is real truth in that.

But I would add this.

If we take care of the people who take care of vulnerable children, everybody benefits.

Children do better.

Families are stronger.

Communities are stronger.

Employers retain loyal and committed people.

Being fostering-friendly is not about grand gestures.

It is often the small things.

Understanding when something unexpected happens.

Offering flexibility when a child is in crisis.

Recognising that parenting children who have experienced trauma can look different.

Creating a culture where foster carers do not feel they are letting work down by doing the right thing for a child.

And this is not charity.

It is leadership.

It is humanity.

It is smart business.

Because people remember how employers made them feel in the moments that mattered.

And because if fostering becomes easier to sustain, more people may feel able to consider it.

At a time when we urgently need more foster carers, that matters enormously.

So yes, let us make the most of the national reforms.

Let us improve systems.

Let us improve support.

Let us improve consistency.

Let us make fostering work better.

But while we do that, let us not lose sight of where fostering actually succeeds or fails.

In homes.

In schools.

In relationships.

In workplaces.

In the everyday moments where ordinary people decide whether they can keep doing this.

Because recruitment is not just about campaigns.

Retention is not just about policy.

It is about whether fostering is genuinely sustainable in real life.

So thank you.

Thank you for taking this seriously.

And thank you for recognising that supporting foster carers is good for children.

Mark Owers

Chief Executive Officer

Nationwide Association of Fostering Providers