Foster Carer Training Survey 2025

Questions around how much the training supports your fostering, the split between online and in-person training, what we could do more of, how useful you find the training resources, and how you find the support groups. These were a mixture of scaling, multiple choice and free text questions.

64 East Sussex foster carers completed the survey and these results are based on all of their answers and a summary of what was learned.

Foster carers rated the training an average of 8/10 for how much it supports their fostering with 60.9% answering 8 or more out of 10.

45% of foster carers expressed a preference for online training, with 12.5% wanting in-person and 42% wanting both. This tips the balance from the last few years which has repeatedly come out at around 50/50 for in-person vs online training.

36% of foster carers rated the anytime learning resources including the anytime resource bank as between 8 and 10 out of 10. However, nearly 33% of those who answered the survey had not used any of these resources which are available for all foster carers.

In terms of the qualitative data, foster carers were mostly positive about the training venues we use. However, there was a common theme that parking can be an issue.

When foster carers were asked what we could be doing more of, those that answered were mostly positive. There were a few suggestions, including:-

• More evening and weekend options
• More bitesize training
• Training around caring for children with disabilities
• More research and evidence
• Differentiating between new and more experienced carers

Some of the other suggestions made, we already have in our training offer so communication remains important.

Regarding support groups, carers who answered the question were mainly positive but there was a theme around it being difficult to find the time to attend because of other commitments. There were also several n/a responses but the support groups are there for everyone, whether or not you are in need of support at that time. They are about carers coming together.

Further final comments were around more bitesize courses and more courses available in the evenings or at weekends. There was another theme around the difficulty finding time to attend training alongside other fostering and work commitments, especially for those fostering under 5s. Some carers commented on liking the e-learning. There were some that struggled with the number of portals. There were several very positive comments about improvements to the training offer which were much appreciated.  

• We have more online training planned for this coming year. We have increased evening training where possible and have more weekend options for first aid.
• We will include the anytime resource bank in more training and ensure we are speaking regularly to SSWs so that they can remind carers about the resource.
• Following the positive feedback from the responsive webinars, we will be increasing these to run monthly this year. They are 1hr lunchtime webinars that don’t need to be booked onto and they are on a specific topic each time, chosen by carers.
• We have this year laid out different expectations for those carers who are more experienced with a model of continual development, similar to that of Social Workers. This means carers are not expected to repeat training, other than first aid, except when they want/need to. The new ‘keep in the loop’ training will ensure experienced carers can remain up to date with developments in local Children’s Services and more nationally.
• Given that some carers have felt the support groups may not be applicable to them, we will use an alternative term of ‘meet-up’ instead.
• We will continue to send monthly training newsletters to highlight upcoming training, draw attention to helpful resources and to reduce the number of emails being sent out.