Children first - not profit
GCC is the corporate parent of every child in care in our county. But we have to use private agencies if we don't have enough foster carers.
This means we are charged by agencies for using their foster carers. It also means that sometimes, children in care have to live outside of Gloucestershire if that is where the foster carer lives.
When we raise the topic of monetising childhood trauma for profit, we speak of system-level concerns, not individual intentions.
We absolutely value every foster carer, wherever they are registered and, without undermining individual carers or children placed via Independent Fostering Agencies (IFAs), we want to highlight the following issues:
1. Value for Public Money
As a local authority, our priority is ensuring that every pound of public money directed towards children’s services benefits the children in our care. When we place children with our own council-approved foster carers, more of that funding goes directly into support services, training, and local resources—not into private profit.
2. Cost Difference
On average, fostering arrangements made through independent fostering agencies cost local councils significantly more – sometimes thousands every week – than those made with in-house council carers. While some IFAs provide good care, these higher costs are often driven by the need to generate profit for private owners or shareholders—money that could otherwise be reinvested in children’s services.
3. Ethical Considerations
We believe that vulnerable children should not be seen as a source of profit. Our aim is to keep fostering within the public or not-for-profit sector wherever possible, so that the focus stays squarely on the child's needs and the community’s capacity to care for them.
4. Local Investment
By investing in our own fostering service, we create jobs, build long-term relationships with local families, and ensure support remains within Gloucestershire. It strengthens our community, rather than funding external organisations, many of which are owned by national or international companies.
5. Transparency and Accountability
As a public body, we are fully accountable to residents. Our fostering service is transparent, ethical, and entirely focused on outcomes for children. That level of oversight is not always present in the private sector.
