Fostering in Yorkshire

Yorkshire and the Humber has over 6,500 children looked after across its 15 local authorities, which includes children in foster care, kinship care, residential care and other placements. This makes it one of the regions with the greatest need for stable, nurturing foster homes in England.

Nationally, around 67% of looked-after children live with foster carers, with roughly 54,800 children in foster placements across England on 31 March 2025. Yorkshire continues to recruit carers because maintaining local placements helps children stay connected to their communities, schools and support networks. Local authorities across the region work actively with independent fostering agencies to meet demand and ensure children can be placed in suitable family environments rather than residential settings.

Choosing to foster with a local authority or with an independent fostering agency depends on the kind of support, structure and matching approach you prefer. Yorkshire has 15 local authorities, each running their own fostering service. Fostering directly with your local council means you work within the local children’s services team and may be prioritised for local placements, with direct access to community resources, educational and health professionals.

IFAs are regulated by Ofsted just like local authorities, and many offer strong support systems with their own training, social work teams and out-of-hours services. Some IFAs also have large networks useful if you are open to placements across neighbouring areas. The most practical way to decide is to speak to a few different providers and ask about support, training, supervision, respite arrangements and how placements are matched to carers’ strengths.

Foster carer payments in Yorkshire vary depending on the provider, the child’s age and individual needs, and whether you are approved through a local authority or an IFA. All foster carers receive weekly allowances to cover the cost of caring for a child, including food, clothing, pocket money and other day-to-day costs. Carers can also receive a professional fee as recognition of the work they do.

IFAs across Yorkshire often publish allowances ranging from roughly £450 to £860 per week per child, with higher payments for older children or specialist placements, and sometimes extra payments for birthdays, festivals and holidays. The UK government publishes minimum weekly fostering allowance bands across England; for example, for 2025–26 a child aged 5–10 has a minimum weekly allowance of about £194 and older teens £258–£267, with regional and provider variations.

Yorkshire needs foster carers across a range of fostering types because children come into care for many different reasons and at various ages. Local fostering recruitment across the region highlights the need for carers who can support infants, younger children and older children and teenagers, along with placements for siblings to stay together where possible.

IFAs operating across Yorkshire also recruit for a broad mix of placements, including short-term, long-term and specialist fostering. Placements for children with additional emotional or behavioural needs, respite care and short-notice emergency care are also commonly needed. Carers who are flexible on age and placement type are often in higher demand.

No, you do not need to own your home to foster in Yorkshire. What matters is that you have a secure and stable home environment with a spare bedroom suitable for a child or young person. Fostering services across Yorkshire ask prospective carers to have adequate accommodation, including space for a foster child’s personal bed and belongings.

Renting is usually acceptable provided the tenancy is secure and you can demonstrate that the foster child will have their own space and safety. Stability and suitability of the home are central to fostering approval, not ownership status itself. During your assessment, the fostering social worker will discuss your living arrangements in detail to ensure they meet the needs of the child.

To find a foster care agency in Yorkshire, start by using Ofsted’s provider search, which lists registered fostering services and their inspection reports so you can compare quality and ratings. You can search by location and the category “Fostering” to see all agencies that work in your area of Yorkshire.

You can also contact your local council’s fostering team directly for information about fostering through the local authority. Fostering comparison sites like Think Fostering allow you to filter by area and build a shortlist. Once you have that shortlist, speak with agencies about support, training, supervision and placement approaches to judge which is the right fit for your household.

There is no fixed published number of foster care agencies solely within Yorkshire, because fostering providers registered with Ofsted may operate across multiple local authority areas while still serving families in your part of the region. The most accurate way to determine how many agencies serve your area is to use Ofsted’s provider search filtered by location and fostering.

Because many agencies cover multiple local authorities, Yorkshire has a large number of independent fostering providers alongside 15 local authority services. A practical approach is to look at all relevant providers whose Ofsted report area covers your location and then compare their support offers, ratings and local presence.