Barnardo’s opens its archives to reveal the history of fostering in the UK amidst national crisis

More than a hundred years of families opening up their homes and hearts to children across the UK are being celebrated this week, as Barnardo’s opens its archives to reveal the history of fostering in the UK amidst national crisis.
The charity, which has run fostering services since the Victorian era, hopes sharing these historic images will show the incredible impact that fostering can have – and encourage more people to consider fostering at a time when the system is in crisis.

Brenda Farrell, UK Director of Fostering and Adoption for Barnardo’s, said: “Barnardo’s archives hold the history of fostering in the UK. We’re sharing these powerful images to demonstrate how people have been bringing children into their families for over 150 years.
“While it’s wonderful to see these snapshots of history, we’re sharing them against the backdrop of a very real crisis in our society today. Having supported children for almost 150 years, we urgently need more people to come forward and consider becoming foster carers to play their part in continuing this legacy.
“Right now, the UK is facing a foster care crisis at an unprecedented rate, with a record number of children entering the care system and an insufficient number of loving homes to accommodate them.”

She added: “The impact of the crisis is felt most by children in the care system. Without enough potential foster placements, children are already at risk of being placed in unsuitable situations as a last resort.
“We know fostering is a big decision, but with more children entering the care system each year, there’s no time to wait. Your skills and care can change a child’s life.
“The perfect time to foster a child doesn’t exist. But the right time is now. Please get in touch with us for a no strings attached conversation, and let’s talk fostering today”.
Amy and Luke, from the Midlands, have been foster carers with Barnardo’s for the past year. They are part of the BRICS and STEPS programme, which is a specialist fostering program that provides a safe and caring placement for children who need an emergency foster home or have been criminally exploited. Children may also be placed in the program if they are on bail or remand and in need of a placement.
Amy said, “For me, the best thing about fostering is the relationships and building a strong bond with the children.” Luke adds, “My favourite thing about fostering with Barnardo’s is having a positive impact on kid’s lives in such a short space of time.”
Amy said, “We don't have our own kids, so for us personally, fostering feels like parenting in a way. It took us a while to find the dynamics between us and which roles we were going to play – it was a learning curve but I think we have it down now... it takes a bit of time for a child to warm up to you when they first come to stay. Quite often they come with an attitude because they don’t want to stay. But as they start to trust you more, it feels really rewarding.”
Luke adds, “That's the biggest reward we can be given really. It can be easy sometimes to focus on the negatives because the positive changes aren't usually big things. But over time, those small changes add up and the biggest rewards are things like the child being comfortable sitting downstairs, having a chat with you, opening up, eating dinner together, things like that.”
Barnardo's archive, one of the largest collections of records relating to children in the UK and one of the oldest photographic archives in the world, contains over half a million images, handwritten entries, and films dating back to 1874. These records document the experiences of children in Barnardo’s care, or adopted through them, since the 1870s.

Dr. Thomas Barnardo, the charity’s founder, played a key role in developing the concept of fostering, originally known as ‘boarding out.’ He strongly advocated for the benefits of this approach as early as 1889, saying: “I must declare most emphatically that even the Village Home, with all its advantages, is not so good as boarding-out; and my only regret is that from the nature of the case, the system of boarding-out is not applicable to every girl. If it were, I would empty the Girls’ Village Home tomorrow, and scatter the inmates throughout the length and breadth of the land, boarding them out in ordinary homes, amid natural surroundings, among respectable working class people in rural districts.”(1)
This crisis in foster care is impacting the sector nationwide. There has been a downward trend in the number of applications and newly approved households for mainstream fostering sector-wide since 2019. Ofsted reported that the number of applications received from prospective fostering households in 2022 to 2023 was around 8,000. This is the lowest number in several years and is 18% lower than in 2018 to 2019.(2)
To find out more about Barnardo's fostering and to arrange a no-strings attached call, visit barnardos.org/foster