Cardiff Council has unveiled a bold new strategy to tackle the urgent need for more foster carers in the city, offering financial support and home improvement grants for foster carers, kinship carers, and special guardians in order to help provide more safe, stable, and loving homes for children and young people.

The Council is encouraging residents to consider becoming mainstream foster carers, with a particular need for those who can support sibling groups and older children. Mainstream foster carers provide care for children and young people who are not related to them, unlike kinship or Connected Persons Foster Carers who are approved to care for a specific child, typically a family member or close friend.

The new Adaptations and Extensions Policy aligns with Cardiff's commitment to the Welsh Government's Eliminate Agenda, which seeks to remove private profit from the care of looked-after children and reinvest public funds into sustainable, community-based services.

If agreed by Cardiff Council's Cabinet, the initiative would provide capital grant funding to help carers expand their homes, enabling them to accommodate more children, particularly sibling groups and those with complex needs.

As part of the initiative, Cardiff Council is offering:

• £5,000 welcome payment for new mainstream foster carers whoprovide short- or long-term care for children aged three and above to support them at the beginning of their fostering journey.
• £1,000 annual retention bonus for existing mainstream foster carers who provide over 30 weeks of carewithin a 12-month period, to recognise their dedication and contribution
• Capital grants to adapt or extend homes, enabling carers to accommodate more children or meet specific care needs
• Dedicated project support, including legal, surveying, and planning assistance
• A focus on long-term stability, sibling placements, and community-based care

By investing in the physical infrastructure of carers' homes, the policy aims to increase placement stability, reduce reliance on external providers, and ensure children can remain in nurturing, community-based environments; it also supports kinship carers and special guardians by helping them expand their homes, enabling them to continue caring for children they already know and love.

This comprehensive support package is one of the most generous in Wales and is designed to boost recruitment, reduce reliance on for-profit placements, and ensure children can remain close to their schools, friends, and communities.

Cabinet Member for Children's Social Services, Cllr Ash Lister said: "This policy is about putting children first and by supporting our dedicated carers to adapt their homes, we're creating more opportunities for children to stay in familiar, loving environments with people they know and trust and in homes that meet their needs.

"Every child deserves a safe, stable, and loving home and this policy would help us deliver on that promise while ensuring public funds are used ethically and effectively, reducing our reliance on external placements."

The policy is part of a wider strategy to grow Cardiff's in-house fostering capacity and reduce the number of children placed in residential care, ensuring that every child receives the right support, at the right time, in the right place, enabling them to thrive within their communities.

The Council has already received positive feedback from carers, many of whom have expressed interest in expanding their capacity if given the right support.

The grant process would be overseen by a dedicated project manager and include legal safeguards, quality checks, and independent assessments to ensure transparency and value for money.

If you've ever thought about fostering, now is the time. You'll be supported every step of the way and you could change a child's life forever. For more information, please visitFostering in Cardiff | Foster Wales Cardiff

Prior to the Cabinet meeting, the report has been scrutinised by the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee when it met on Tuesday 1^stJuly 2025. A recording of that meeting is  available to view here:Agenda for Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, 1st July, 2025, 4.30 pm : Cardiff Council

The report will go to Cardiff Council's Cabinet  when it meets on Thursday 10^thJuly 2025. The webcast of the meeting will be available here.Agenda for Cabinet on Thursday, 10th July, 2025, 2.00 pm : Cardiff Council