Recruiting foster carers is challenging. It’s a decision that takes people years to come to, so it’s really hard to know what helps them get there. Was it that ad they saw on the bus? Did that event at their workplace help them decide? Or was it just that their partner finally persuaded them?

This makes it difficult to know where to focus your efforts. What should you be doing to help turn potential foster carers into actual foster carers?

We’ve been working with Bristol City Council to understand just that, and we’re really excited that we can share what we’ve found.

We’ve run a comprehensive discovery project with current foster carers, ex-foster carers, people who are thinking about it and think they probably will, people who are thinking about it and think they probably won’t, and people who’ve only just started the process.

We’ve mapped their journeys, understood their motivations and barriers, and distilled that into recommendations for engaging people more effectively.

Because of the information contained in the report, we can’t publish it online, but Bristol City Council are happy for us to talk other people working in public sector through the insight. The findings range from questions, concerns and information needs, insight around final nudge across the line, to the experience of signing up to become foster carers.

This insight will be a valuable resource for anybody who has to make decisions about encouraging and inspiring new foster carers.