Foster Care Uncovered – Details, episodes & analysis

Hosted by Louise Allen & Sarah Anderson

This podcast offers an unfiltered and straightforward exploration of the stories and headlines surrounding foster care.

We aim to uncover the truths behind the system and advocate for progress in the foster care system.

In this introductory episode, we will share information about our mission, the reasons for launching this podcast, and provide a preview of the topics we will cover in future episodes.

All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

Welcome to the second episode of Foster Care Uncovered.

Today, Louise Allen & Sarah Anderson are joined by Dr Joe Hanley, a social worker, lecturer, researcher and author, as we take an unflinching look at the stranglehold some people and organisations have on our sector.

It is quite the eye-opener, especially around the role of the new Children's Minister in these networks.

Join us as we ask....is it crippling the reform that the children and the fostering sector so desperately need?

You may ask what this has to do with us on the frontline, but trust me, it's everything, and the reason we don't get the reform we need.

PS: It's longer than we intended, but it's a huge subject!

Take a look at the interactive map as mentioned by Dr Joe Hanley.

Full Map: https://www.childrensservices.network/network.html

All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

Indefensible unforgivable.

Sarah & Louise take apart today’s Government fostering stats - exposing the spin behind the headlines and the failings despite millions of taxpayer investment.

All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

In this episode, Sarah and Louise roll right back to the start and take a deep dive into the Form F assessment, what it was meant to be, why it’s drifting so far from purpose, and how it’s shaping (and in too many cases misshaping) foster care, culture, and recruitment today.

There’s a lot of serious ground to cover…and, as always with Sarah and Louise, just enough humour to keep the edges from getting too sharp.

They tackle the theatre of panel, why it’s time for that curtain to finally fall, what the Form F bizarrely has in common with a Hoover, and, yes, the ongoing mystery of Sarah’s long-lost Year Nine boyfriend Gary, who remains missing in action despite their best investigative efforts.

Tune in for an honest, insightful, slightly mischievous exploration of one of fostering’s most entrenched processes, and why it desperately needs a rethink.

All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

In this episode, Sarah and Louise sit down with social worker Nana Abbey-Hagen, a practitioner who moves fluently between frontline reality, leadership conversations, and the community spaces where social work and lived experience intersect.

Nana talks candidly about working conditions for social workers and whether those pressures ripple into foster care. We explore his work with the Chief Social Worker, Isabelle Trowler, and dig into the long-standing cultural gap between leadership and frontline practice, a gap foster carers know all too well.

He talks about his Street Social Work Practice Model: why he created it, the blind spots it exposes, and how it reconnects practice with the real lives of children, families, and carers.

We wrap with his vision for the future of social work and what that future means for foster carers on the ground.

A grounded, honest conversation that pushes past the corporate narrative and into the truth of what’s really happening.

All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

A Foster Care Uncovered Christmas Special

Festive hats on, rose-tinted myths off.

In this Christmas special, we take a tongue-in-cheek but honest look at support during the festive period. Alongside plenty of foster carer humour, Louise reflects on Christmas at 16 after running away, and we explore trauma, contact, cost-of-living pressures, and the realities of Christmas for children in care.

Plus, a cheeky look at “top tips for Christmas” written by people who’ve never fostered.

Funny, thoughtful, and unapologetically real.

All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

Sarah and Louise take an unapologetically unfiltered look at foster care in 2025, the achievements, the bloopers, the ‘persons’ of the year, what needed to stop, what made them laugh, the moments that kept them going, and the low points that still defy explanation.

They call out what mattered, dismantle what didn’t, and interrogate the absurdities. Looking to 2026, they ask the questions the sector keeps dodging: what must stop, who needs to step up, what should be gone, and whether this might finally be the year we stop performing care and start prioritising children.

Sharp, reflective, and darkly funny. Foster care, without the gloss, the jargon, or the pretending.

All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

In this episode of Foster Care Uncovered, Sarah and Louise delve into the shocking new report from the Children’s Commissioner, which reveals the harsh reality many children in foster care face today. From illegal and unsafe placements to carers under extreme pressure, this report lays bare systemic failures that can no longer be ignored.

Sarah and Louise break down the report, share frontline insights, and discuss what can and must be done to protect vulnerable children. They also explain what FosterWiki is doing to support carers and improve outcomes, and give practical steps for listeners who want to make a real difference.

This isn’t just a conversation, it’s a call to action.

All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

FosterWiki.com

nfcq.co.uk

Children's Commissioner report here: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/children-living-in-illegal-childrens-homes/

https://www.sparksisterhood.org/

This week, Sarah and Louise pull no punches. They’re calling out the foster care sector’s obsession with shiny recruitment schemes while ignoring the real fulcrum of the system: retention. From exposing local authorities’ latest “retention” gimmicks to unpicking a decade-old policy disaster that still fails carers and children today, nothing is off-limits.

Sarah takes us back to the 2014 Staying Put launch, where politicians were blindsided by the reality of policy, and shows how nothing has changed 12 years later. Louise dives into Somerset’s PR spin versus real-world losses, while Sarah critically analyses Nottingham’s LinkedIn updates, separating the polished messaging from the reality experienced by carers on the frontline.

They also lift the lid on the so-called “Mockingbird” solution, a model that captures only 4% of the workforce but consumes millions in public money, leaving the rest of the carers invisible.

No sugar coating, no polite headlines, just the frontline truth about what carers actually need, and why everything collapses when retention is ignored. If you care about real change in foster care, you can’t afford to miss this one.

All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

This week, Sarah and Louise kick off a hard-hitting series on allegations against foster carers.

We unpack why these claims aren’t just a carer problem.

They’re a system-wide crisis affecting recruitment, retention, and children’s lives.

From the shocking numbers that rarely get shared to the step-by-step failures of the allegations process, we explore the real impact on safeguarding, on carers' mental health, families, and livelihoods. This is just the first episode, and we’ll continue to dig deeper, call out bad practice, and discuss what must change if fostering is to survive.

https://fosterwiki.com/fosterwiki-support/

https://fosterwiki.com/starling/

https://education.nfcq.co.uk/nfcq-courses/allegations-the-foster-carers-perspective/

All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.