Greater Manchester Combined Authority has been awarded £4.7 million from the Department for Education to develop four innovative projects designed to increase fostering capacity and help more children and young people live in safe, stable family homes.
The investment will help create more family-based placements, support children to remain closer to their communities and provide more tailored help for foster carers. It will also support young people with complex needs to move safely from residential care or remand accommodation into suitable foster families.
HIVE expansion: Local support hubs led by foster carers for foster carers will be expanded across Greater Manchester. By providing day-to-day peer support, guidance and social activities, the HIVES will help foster carers feel better supported, improve retention and give children and young people greater stability.
Remand fostering: This project will create safe, family-based placements for young people aged 10 to 17 with complex needs who might otherwise enter remand accommodation. It aims to improve outcomes for young people while reducing reliance on costly remand provision.
Transition pathway: A dedicated team within Foster for Greater Manchester will support children and young people moving from residential care into fostering. The pathway will offer gradual, supported moves, therapeutic input, practical support for foster carers and targeted recruitment of specialist carers.
HOME: Working with HOME Fostering to expand a housing-enabled fostering model that removes practical housing barriers. Short-break support will also help increase capacity and retain more foster carers.
The award forms part of the Government’s £12.4 million Fostering Innovation Fund, which is designed to expand promising new and existing models of care. In February 2026, Josh MacAlister MP, Minister for Children and Families, set out a three-year plan to increase the number of local authority and third-sector foster placements in England by 10,000, helping more children live closer to home with families that can meet their needs.
The national plan aims to renew and strengthen fostering through coordinated action, greater regional collaboration, improved support for foster families and simpler processes that put relationships first.
Greater Manchester has already helped shape collaborative approaches to fostering. In October 2023, the lead councillors for children’s services across the ten local authorities signed a Fostering Promise, committing to a culture of trust, respect and responsive support for foster carers. The region’s Room Makers scheme, which helps foster carers adapt or expand their homes, also won the Children in Care Award at the 2023 Children and Young People Now Awards.
Foster for Greater Manchester, launched in June 2024, is a collaborative partnership with all ten local authorities to recruit foster carers, pool expertise and develop specialist care. This regional approach is integrated by the Greater Manchester Regional Care Co-operative established to enhance regional commissioning and improve the delivery of care services for children and young people.
If you have room in your heart and your home, and curious to learn more about becoming a Foster Carer, please take the time to read the information on our website.
Once you are ready to take the first step on your journey to becoming a foster carer, please get in touch with us via
A committed and friendly member of our team will contact you within one working day of your enquiry and are here to answer any further questions you may have about fostering. They will also explain and guide you through our step-by-step approach in your journey to becoming a foster carer.