Recruitment & Retention Services for Fostering Agencies
"Stop the Recruitment Leak.
End the Resignation Cycle. Protect Your Service."
Fostering agencies across the UK face two persistent challenges:
1
Generating enquiries that never become approved carers.
2
Losing experienced carers without fully understanding why.
Both recruitment and retention require significant time, expertise, and resources. When either part of the system is not functioning effectively, agencies can find themselves working harder each year simply to maintain their existing carer base.
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My work focuses on helping fostering agencies strengthen both recruitment and retention by identifying where carers are being lost - and why.
Sector Experience
My name is Viv Doolan. I have 15 years of fostering sector experience as a Supervising Social Worker and Independent Reviewing Officer.
Alongside my social work experience, I have developed extensive expertise in sales, marketing, and recruitment systems, generating over 35,000 fostering enquiries for fostering agencies of all sizes across the UK.
This combination of practice experience and recruitment expertise provides a unique perspective on both sides of the fostering recruitment and retention challenge.
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By offering my services on a fractional basis, agencies can access senior-level expertise across multiple disciplines without the need for heavy salary expenditure
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This Lean Growth model allows fostering services to scale recruitment and retention support in a cost-effective way, ensuring resources remain focused on supporting foster carers and children.
Recruitment Support Services
Recruitment remains one of the most resource-intensive functions within fostering services. Generating enquiries is only one part of the challenge - converting those enquiries into approved carers requires a well-structured and responsive recruitment journey.
Recruitment services I offer:
Marketing, Advertising & Digital Media Content Creation
Fostering Enquiry Generation
High Converting Nurture Sequences to increase conversion to application
High-Converting media, landing pages, and nurture videos
Initial enquiry screenings and booking of home visits
Home Visits (Location Dependent)
Recruitment Pipeline Oversight to identify bottlenecks and streamline processes
Retention Services
Retention is equally critical. Many agencies invest heavily in recruitment, yet lose experienced carers without fully understanding why.
Independent retention insight provides a powerful Unique Selling Point (USP) for fostering agencies. It demonstrates to prospective applicants, current carers, and Ofsted that the agency values the foster carer voice enough to invest in independent feedback.
How Independent Retention Insight Works
Anonymous Feedback Channels
Carers are able to share open and honest feedback through an independent service, providing psychological safety and removing concerns about internal judgement or impact on professional relationships.
This helps agencies understand the real experiences of their carers and identify potential issues before they escalate.
Ongoing Carer Support Access
Carers can book independent conversations at any time to share their experiences, providing agencies with continuous insight into the wellbeing and experiences of their fostering community.
High-Integrity Independent Exit Interviews
Independent exit interviews often reveal the real reasons behind a carer’s decision to leave, allowing leadership teams to identify patterns and improve future retention.
Ongoing Monitoring & Insight Reporting
Feedback themes are tracked and reported using a clear traffic-light system, enabling agencies to monitor the overall “pulse” of their foster carer community and respond proactively to emerging concerns. This shifts agencies from a reactive stance to a proactive, preemptive model of carer support.
Mediation & Relationship Support
As a trained mediator, I can support agencies and carers where relationships become strained, helping to restore communication and resolve issues before they result in resignations.
Why This Approach Works
Having worked internally within the fostering sector, I understand both the operational pressures faced by agencies and the lived experience of foster carers.
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While agencies already have statutory feedback channels - such as supervision and reviews - these do not always provide the psychological safety carers need to speak openly.
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Independent insight helps bridge that gap, allowing agencies to access the “soft intelligence” that may otherwise remain hidden.
Ofsted Impact
Demonstrating that foster carers have access to independent feedback and consultation mechanisms can provide valuable outstanding practice indicators for Ofsted inspections.
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This service supports Leadership & Management judgements by showing that the agency is proactively seeking honest feedback from carers in order to improve practice and strengthen retention.
A Flexible Fractional Model
By working with agencies on a fractional consultancy basis, services can access senior level expertise across recruitment, marketing, and retention without the cost and complexity of expanding internal teams.
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This model provides flexibility while ensuring that fostering services continue to focus their internal resources on supporting foster carers and children.​
Discuss Your Recruitment & Retention Needs
If you would like to explore how independent recruitment and retention insight could support your fostering service, you are welcome to arrange an initial conversation.
​This provides an opportunity to review your current approach and discuss whether targeted consultancy support could strengthen your recruitment outcomes and carer retention.