All ten Greater Manchester local councils provide support and training locally, so foster carers don’t have to travel far to access support. The foster carer also becomes part of a large local network of foster carers, which offers formal and informal carer support groups to share experiences and help each other. 

The local council’s children's services team has dedicated specialist social workers who know their foster carers, and the children in their care, their families, schools, teachers and health professionals.

Thanks to their direct relationship and regular communication with the foster carers, together with their knowledge of the child's story and personal circumstances, social workers can make the best matches between children in their care and available foster carers.  When the child and foster carer are a strong match for each other, the outcomes become much better for looked after children. 

Local councils will always try and match a child with a local council foster carer first. This is because they have recruited, assessed and trained them, therefore know how they will meet the needs of the child that needs to be fostered. 

As local councils don’t have shareholders and don’t exist to make a profit, the interests of the children in their care always comes first. This is a big reason why most people choose to foster with their local council.