This week, Sarah and Louise are joined by John Pearce OBE for a wide-ranging and deeply reflective conversation about the state of children’s social care and where it may be heading next.

John brings decades of experience at the forefront of children’s services leadership, including his time as Director of Children’s Services in Durham, and is widely known for his clear-sighted, often challenging analysis of system design, practice realities and reform.

Together, they explore a central tension running through children’s services today: a system built for a different era, now stretched by the realities of modern childhood. The conversation moves beyond surface-level reform to ask whether we are repeatedly redesigning the same structures rather than confronting the deeper questions about demand, sufficiency and purpose.

They discuss whether fostering, in its current form, has a natural ceiling; what recent reforms like Regional Care Co-operatives reveal about how policy translates into practice; and why systems so often behave differently in reality than they do on paper.

The episode also looks forward, exploring whether new models of family-based care may be needed to meet the needs of today’s children and young people, and what a more honest conversation about markets, providers and leadership might look like.

A thoughtful, challenging and at times uncomfortable conversation about what it will really take to build a system that works for children today.

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, Sarah and Louise open with a candid, slightly irreverent look at what’s been making waves in the sector, the stories behind the headlines, the language being used, and the questions few people are saying out loud.

At the heart of the conversation is a deeper exploration of how control shows up in subtle, often unspoken ways, and why some of the systems designed to support children and carers can end up creating the very tensions they are trying to avoid. They dig into the psychology sitting underneath it all, what drives it, what sustains it, and what happens when it starts to backfire.

After the break, the discussion tightens. This is where things get more pointed: real examples, real dynamics, and the uncomfortable patterns that many will recognise but few will name. Expect challenge, reflection, and a few moments that will stay with you long after the episode ends, including who and what sits at the centre of this week’s spotlight.

Links

Interview:

IWGB Foster Care Workers Branch Chair Sarah Anderson on Victoria Derbyshire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGZpLaTmOPo&list=PLWEgjIZKyJRoHb1uEe8IgW-GoRhEPgLzu&index=12

Government statements:

Gov UK Fostering for the future: improving the foster care system: https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/fostering-for-the-future-improving-the-foster-care-system

Gov UK Proposed changes to assessment and handling allegations of abuse: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/fostering-reform-proposed-changes-to-assessment-and-handling-allegations-of-abuse

Foster Carers Mental Health: https://fosterwiki.com/wiki/foster-carers-mental-health/

NFCQ Foster Carers Mental Health and Wellbeing: https://education.nfcq.co.uk/nfcq-courses/foster-carers-mental-health-and-wellbeing/

Recourses:

FosterWiki: https://fosterwiki.com/wiki/

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, 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.