We Are Recruiting Foster Carers in and around Wiltshire
Wiltshire does not have a lot of children in care. Its rate is 46 per 10,000, well below the England figure of 67.
What it has is a distance problem. At 31 March 2024, 122 of its 476 children in care were placed outside the county and more than twenty miles from home. That is 25.6%, against an England figure of 17.4%.
A big rural county with relatively few children in care, sending a quarter of them a long way off. That gap is what local foster carers close.
Their summary: “The independent fostering agency provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good.”
We look after just over 20 fostering families and we intend to stay small. The reason we can work like this is that nobody here carries a caseload they can’t do justice to.
Caring for a child with additional needs pays £550 to £850 a week. Parent and child placements, where you support a young parent and their baby together, pay £987 a week. We also contribute between £330 and £1,500 a year towards your council tax, rising the longer you foster with us.
Most fostering income is tax free under HMRC’s qualifying care relief. Ask us and we’ll go through the numbers with you properly, including what your household would actually take home.
There’s telephone advice twenty four hours a day, every day of the year, including a dedicated out of hours team. Fostering doesn’t keep office hours. Placements break down at eleven at night, not at half past two on a Tuesday.
Training runs from before you’re approved and carries on afterwards, funded by us.
Swindon is a separate council and its position is sharper. In February 2026 it reported 346 children in care, 130 of them living more than twenty miles away, 37% placed outside the borough, and just 73 foster carers on its books.
Wiltshire is also a county where distance is unforgiving. Between Salisbury, Chippenham, Trowbridge and Devizes there is a lot of open country, and a placement forty miles away can mean a child changing school for reasons that have nothing to do with them.
Richard Norwood is our director and Melanie Yearwood is our responsible individual.
You will need a spare bedroom for most placements. Babies are the exception: a newborn can sleep in a crib in your room at the start.
In rural Wiltshire a car is not optional. Contact sessions and health appointments can mean several trips a week.
We’d rather you asked the awkward questions now than found out later.
What it has is a distance problem. At 31 March 2024, 122 of its 476 children in care were placed outside the county and more than twenty miles from home. That is 25.6%, against an England figure of 17.4%.
A big rural county with relatively few children in care, sending a quarter of them a long way off. That gap is what local foster carers close.
Ofsted rated us Outstanding
In January 2026 Ofsted inspected South Coast Fostering and rated us Outstanding in all three judgement areas: the experiences and progress of children, how well children are helped and protected, and the effectiveness of leaders and managers. The inspector raised no requirements and no recommendations.Their summary: “The independent fostering agency provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good.”
We look after just over 20 fostering families and we intend to stay small. The reason we can work like this is that nobody here carries a caseload they can’t do justice to.
What we pay Wiltshire foster carers
£479.50 a week for a child aged 0 to 10. £507.50 a week for a child aged 11 and over. Per child, every week, whether the placement lasts a fortnight or five years.Caring for a child with additional needs pays £550 to £850 a week. Parent and child placements, where you support a young parent and their baby together, pay £987 a week. We also contribute between £330 and £1,500 a year towards your council tax, rising the longer you foster with us.
Most fostering income is tax free under HMRC’s qualifying care relief. Ask us and we’ll go through the numbers with you properly, including what your household would actually take home.
The support behind it
Your supervising social worker visits at least every four weeks and sees the child at least every eight. That’s a floor, not a target, and in practice it’s usually more.There’s telephone advice twenty four hours a day, every day of the year, including a dedicated out of hours team. Fostering doesn’t keep office hours. Placements break down at eleven at night, not at half past two on a Tuesday.
Training runs from before you’re approved and carries on afterwards, funded by us.
Where Wiltshire’s shortage actually bites
Wiltshire Council was looking after around 500 children when it wrote about fostering in May 2026, and said it particularly needs carers for older children, for brothers and sisters who should stay together, and for children who have arrived in the UK on their own.Swindon is a separate council and its position is sharper. In February 2026 it reported 346 children in care, 130 of them living more than twenty miles away, 37% placed outside the borough, and just 73 foster carers on its books.
Wiltshire is also a county where distance is unforgiving. Between Salisbury, Chippenham, Trowbridge and Devizes there is a lot of open country, and a placement forty miles away can mean a child changing school for reasons that have nothing to do with them.
Who you’d be working with
Sally Barnett is our registered manager. She fostered before she managed, which changes the tenor of most conversations. Ofsted named her in the January 2026 report.Richard Norwood is our director and Melanie Yearwood is our responsible individual.
Do you qualify?
Most people who assume they can’t foster, can. You don’t have to own your home, be married, be under 55, or have children of your own. You can work, though you’ll need genuine flexibility during the day.You will need a spare bedroom for most placements. Babies are the exception: a newborn can sleep in a crib in your room at the start.
In rural Wiltshire a car is not optional. Contact sessions and health appointments can mean several trips a week.
Already fostering somewhere else?
Transferring is more straightforward than most carers expect, and because you’re already approved it moves faster than a first assessment. If you have a child in placement, a transfer protocol meeting protects their stability throughout. Read more about transferring to South Coast Fostering.Where we cover in Wiltshire
Salisbury, Swindon, Chippenham, Trowbridge, Devizes, Melksham, Warminster, Calne, Corsham and Marlborough.Talk to us
Call 023 8235 2020, or send a message on WhatsApp if that’s easier. The first conversation takes about fifteen minutes and commits you to nothing at all.We’d rather you asked the awkward questions now than found out later.
Values that lead us
01
Doing the right thing, not the easy thing
If something is the right thing to do, then we will always do it, even if it is difficult.
02
Treat Carers As Professionals
We are shocked when we hear how poorly some foster carers have been treated by their fostering service. At SCF we always treat carers as professionals.
03
Family
We see ourselves as one big family. This means we have a deep underlying respect for each other.
04
Always be learning
We see everyday, and every incident as a chance to learn and develop. We help carers and staff reflect on how their actions affect others.
book a call about fostering:
We’d be happy to give you a 15-20 minute call to tell you about fostering. Don’t worry, there’s no pressure from us – it’s honestly a chance for you to ask us any questions you have about fostering, and your suitability. Just complete this short form
Who we Work With
How can you help?
The following are a few ways in which you can help us, and children in your local community.
Talk to your friends about fostering
If you can’t foster yourself you could talk to your friends and family to see if they can. We will actually reward you for anyone that becomes an approved carer for us.
Give a helping hand to a care leaver
Care leavers might need a helping hand, we have some ideas about how to help
A Home Can Change Everything
Somewhere in Surrey today, a child is waiting — not for perfection, not for grand promises — but for steadiness. For a home where the lights stay on, where routines are predictable, and where an adult means what they say. Fostering begins with something simple yet powerful: the decision to be that steady presence.The impact of fostering is rarely loud or dramatic. More often, it is found in quiet moments. A child sleeping more peacefully. A first smile after weeks of uncertainty. The confidence to try something new at school. These are the changes that shape futures. They may feel small at the time, but they are lasting.
Foster carers cannot rewrite a child’s past, but they can influence what comes next. By offering patience, structure and reassurance, you help create a foundation from which a child can begin to grow again. Stability builds trust. Trust builds confidence. Confidence opens doors.
Fostering asks for commitment, resilience and heart. In return, it offers purpose. It offers the knowledge that your home has been a place of safety at a time when it mattered most. And for many carers, that sense of meaning becomes one of the most rewarding parts of their lives.
If you are ready to offer consistency, encouragement and care, you could be the person who changes the direction of a child’s story. Sometimes, the most powerful difference begins with the simplest step — saying yes to the possibility of fostering.