This week, Sarah and Louise take on one of foster care's biggest elephants in the room: "Them and Us".

For years, carers have spoken about a growing divide between those providing care and those controlling the system. Yet whenever the subject is raised, many insist the divide doesn't exist.

So who's right?

Drawing on frontline experience, sector news, survey data and some uncomfortable questions, Sarah and Louise explore how power, accountability, allegations, leadership culture and government policy have combined to create a system where many carers feel increasingly excluded from decisions that affect both them and the children they care for.

Because perhaps the real question isn't whether a "Them and Us" culture exists.

It's why so many people are still pretending it doesn't.

If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you!

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 on Foster Care Uncovered, Sarah and Louise tackle the growing culture crisis inside fostering.

From Josh MacAlister’s latest social media backlash and the controversy around foster carer pay messaging, to the Government’s new Practice Guide for supporting foster carers, they ask a bigger question: why does fostering increasingly feel like a system more focused on managing narratives than listening to frontline reality?

They explore the culture of fear many carers describe, and why so many feel unable to speak openly without judgment, repercussions or being shut down altogether.

The episode also takes a sharp look at performative empathy, power dynamics, workplace culture, peer support, Ofsted ratings, and the growing frustration amongst carers who feel excluded from reform conversations that directly affect their lives.

Plus: Foster Care Fortnight updates, listener messages, Wandsworth’s “Outstanding” rating, and plenty of the usual murky discussion along the way.

A raw, honest, and thought-provoking episode about the culture carers are actually working within, not the one presented in glossy campaigns.

If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you!

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, Louise and Sarah return with their now-notorious mix of news, commentary and uncomfortable honesty as they take on the sector’s latest headlines, contradictions and carefully polished narratives.

The episode opens with news from across the fostering landscape, including shifting government messaging, growing confusion around regional reforms, and the increasingly familiar gap between official communications and frontline understanding.

The now-infamous “naughty step” award was heavily contested this week, and Sarah and Louise were spoilt for choice, telling us how difficult the decision was with the ‘standard’ so high.

The main focus, however, is Foster Care Fortnight itself, what it claims to be, what it has become, and what it signals about the wider culture of recognition in the sector. Beneath the events, hashtags and campaigns, the conversation asks a more difficult question: whether visibility is translating into meaningful change for foster carers, or simply a more polished version of the same structural frustrations.

Expect sharp commentary, sector insight, and an unfiltered look at the language, messaging and power dynamics shaping modern fostering, and why so many carers are increasingly asking what, exactly, is being celebrated.

If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you!

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.