Fostering in Durham

County Durham is one of the largest unitary authorities in the North East and has a significant number of looked-after children. Across the wider North East there are over 5,000 children in care. Nationally, around 67% of looked-after children live with foster carers, with roughly 54,800 in foster placements on 31 March 2025.

Durham continues to recruit carers because maintaining local placements helps children stay connected to their communities, schools and support networks. The council works actively with independent fostering agencies to meet demand across the county.

Choosing to foster with Durham County Council or with an independent fostering agency depends on the kind of support, structure and matching approach you prefer. Fostering directly with the council means you work within the local children’s services team and may be prioritised for local placements, with direct access to community resources, educational and health professionals.

IFAs are regulated by Ofsted just like local authorities, and many offer strong support systems with their own training, social work teams and out-of-hours services. The most practical way to decide is to speak to a few different providers and ask about support, training, supervision, respite arrangements and how placements are matched to carers’ strengths.

Foster carer payments in Durham vary depending on the provider, the child’s age and individual needs, and whether you are approved through the local authority or an IFA. All foster carers receive weekly allowances to cover the cost of caring for a child, including food, clothing, pocket money and other day-to-day costs.

IFAs across County Durham often publish allowances ranging from roughly £450 to £860 per week per child, with higher payments for older children or specialist placements, and sometimes extra payments for birthdays, festivals and holidays. The UK government publishes minimum weekly fostering allowance bands; for 2025–26 a child aged 5–10 has a minimum of about £194 and older teens £258–£267.

Durham needs foster carers across a range of fostering types because children come into care for many different reasons and at various ages. Local recruitment highlights the need for carers who can support infants, younger children and older children and teenagers, along with placements for siblings to stay together where possible.

Placements for children with additional emotional or behavioural needs, respite care and short-notice emergency care are also commonly needed across County Durham. Carers who are flexible on age and placement type are often in higher demand.

No, you do not need to own your home to foster in Durham. What matters is that you have a secure and stable home environment with a spare bedroom suitable for a child or young person, including space for their personal bed and belongings.

Renting is usually acceptable provided the tenancy is secure and you can demonstrate that the foster child will have their own space and safety. Stability and suitability of the home are central to fostering approval, not ownership status itself.

Start by using Ofsted’s provider search, which lists registered fostering services and their inspection reports so you can compare quality and ratings. You can search by location and the category “Fostering” to see all agencies that work in or near Durham.

You can also contact Durham County Council’s fostering team directly for local authority options. Fostering comparison sites like Think Fostering allow you to filter by area and build a shortlist. Speak with agencies about support, training, supervision and placement approaches to judge which is the right fit.

There is no fixed published number of foster care agencies solely within County Durham, because fostering providers registered with Ofsted may operate across the wider North East while still serving Durham families. The most accurate way to determine how many agencies serve the area is to use Ofsted’s provider search filtered by location.

Durham includes the county council’s own fostering service plus multiple independent agencies with regional coverage. A practical approach is to compare all relevant providers whose coverage includes Durham based on their support offers, ratings and local presence.