Fostering news

Oldham Council has opened the new year with a campaign aimed at moving children out of residential homes and into local foster families. The Stepping Forward drive, launched on 5 January 2026, focuses on teenagers who have spent long stretches in council-run children's homes and now need a family setting.

Mayor Eddie Moores and his wife Kath, who began fostering at 25, are fronting the appeal. They say the memories made with the children they cared for still shape family life decades later, and they want other residents to experience the same.

The call comes as demand keeps rising. A cost-of-living spike first noted in May 2023 has pushed more families into crisis, and the number of children needing care has climbed steadily. Council figures show no sign of that pressure easing.

To steady new carers, Oldham adopted the national Mockingbird programme last March. It links every approved foster home to a 'hub' family, giving 24-hour back-up and planned respite without moving the child. The first hub launched at Cockfields Farm.

Long-serving carers underline why the council is trying to widen the pool. One single-parent household and her twin daughters have clocked up 51 years between them, looking after more than 300 children. Another couple, Sharon and Bev, recently marked 11 years, helping challenge the idea that LGBTQ+ households don't come forward.