Equality & Diversity in Foster Care
Practical Equality and Diversity training for foster carers exploring identity, culture, belonging, discrimination, advocacy and inclusive support for children and young people.
Practical Equality and Diversity training for foster carers exploring identity, culture, belonging, discrimination, advocacy and inclusive support for children and young people.
This practical course helps foster carers and professionals understand how equality, identity, culture and children's individual experiences can influence life in foster care. Delegates explore how to support children's identities, recognise and challenge discrimination, advocate for children and young people, and create environments in which they can develop confidence, belonging and positive self-worth.
In‑house courses are private sessions delivered exclusively for a group of people from your organisation, on a date that suits you, with the option to tailor the content to your staff and setting.
Open courses are public Equality and Diversity UK training dates that anyone can book onto, ideal when you only need training for one or two people.
Every child brings their own history, relationships, experiences and identity into foster care. Placement changes can involve much more than moving from one home to another: children may also experience changes in relationships, routines, communities, schools and connections with people and places that are important to them.
This course helps carers consider how those experiences may affect a child's sense of identity and belonging, and how everyday care can help children maintain important connections with their background and personal story.
Delegates explore the importance of listening to children and young people rather than making assumptions about what matters to them because of their background, identity or circumstances.
A child's identity is personal and individual. Good equality practice means recognising the whole child, understanding what is important to them and helping them maintain positive connections with their history, relationships, culture and community wherever appropriate.
Support children to understand and value who they are, including the people, experiences, relationships and communities that form part of their personal story.
Create an environment where children and young people feel welcomed, valued and able to express important aspects of themselves.
Recognise when a child may need an adult to listen, speak up, challenge unfair treatment or help ensure their views and needs are considered.
Consider how everyday routines, relationships and decisions can help children participate fully without feeling that important parts of who they are must be hidden or changed.
Equality and diversity in foster care involves recognising that children and young people have multiple aspects to their identity. Their experiences cannot be understood through one characteristic alone.
Depending on the individual child, important aspects of identity and experience may include race and ethnicity, culture, religion or belief, disability or neurodivergence, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, family relationships, language, socioeconomic circumstances and where they have grown up.
These aspects of a child's life may intersect in different ways. Two children who appear to share a similar background can still have very different experiences, preferences and needs.
Inclusive care does not mean deciding what a child needs because they belong to a particular community. It means being curious, listening carefully, understanding the individual child and ensuring their identity and experiences are taken seriously.
The existing course uses activities such as “What's in a name?” to explore how names, family stories and personal histories can form important parts of identity.
Delegates consider the significance that names, photographs, memories, traditions, relationships, places and family narratives may have for children and young people.
Where appropriate within a child's care arrangements, supporting these connections can help a child build a coherent and positive understanding of their own story rather than feeling that parts of their identity have disappeared when their placement changes.
Culture and faith may influence many ordinary aspects of a child's life, including food, clothing, hair and skin care, celebrations, worship, language, family relationships and connections with community.
Carers do not need to know everything about every culture or religion. The course instead encourages an approach based on curiosity, respect and willingness to learn from the child, their family where appropriate, relevant professionals and reliable sources of information.
Delegates consider how seemingly small everyday decisions can communicate whether a child's identity is recognised and valued within their placement.
Children and young people may encounter prejudice, stereotyping, bullying or discrimination at school, in their community, online or in other areas of their lives.
The course helps carers consider how to respond when a child describes an experience of unfair or discriminatory treatment. This includes listening without immediately dismissing or minimising the child's experience, helping them identify appropriate sources of support and considering when concerns should be raised with the fostering service, school or another relevant organisation.
Delegates also explore the difference between inappropriate or prejudicial behaviour and conduct that may engage formal safeguarding, equality or organisational procedures.
Practical scenarios enable delegates to consider how equality and identity issues may arise in ordinary fostering situations.
A child tells their foster carer that other young people regularly make comments about an aspect of their identity but says they are told it is only banter.
Consider: How can the carer listen, validate the child's concerns and help them decide what support is needed?
A child has experienced several placement changes and has very few photographs, possessions or records connecting them with earlier periods of their life.
Consider: Why might preserving appropriate memories and personal history matter to their developing sense of identity?
A child's interests, beliefs or developing identity do not match assumptions adults have made about them based on their family or cultural background.
Consider: How can carers support the individual child without stereotyping either the child or their community?
Foster carers can play an important role in helping ensure that children's experiences, wishes and concerns are heard.
This may involve supporting a child to express what they want, raising concerns about discriminatory treatment, asking questions about decisions affecting them or helping them access appropriate professional support.
The course encourages carers to advocate with children wherever possible rather than automatically speaking for them. Children and young people should be supported to participate in decisions affecting their lives in ways appropriate to their age, circumstances and individual needs.
Delegates are introduced to the protected characteristics within the Equality Act 2010 and consider how equality principles relate to children, carers, fostering services and the wider environments in which children live and learn.
The legal framework provides important context, but the course goes beyond simply learning a list of characteristics. Delegates consider what respectful, inclusive and anti-discriminatory practice looks like in everyday care.
Children's confidence can be influenced by the messages they receive about who they are and whether important parts of their identity are valued by the adults and environments around them.
Foster carers can help by taking children's experiences seriously, providing positive and varied representation, supporting appropriate connections, challenging prejudice and recognising children's individual strengths.
The aim is not to make children resilient to discrimination so that adults no longer need to address it. Children need supportive adults who are prepared both to strengthen their confidence and to challenge unfair treatment and unnecessary barriers.
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
The course can be tailored for people involved in supporting children and young people in foster care and related settings, including:
Choose this course when you need broad equality and diversity training for foster carers and fostering professionals.
Choose our specialist course when you want to explore the experiences and support needs of Black children and young people in foster care in greater depth.
The course provides a more focused exploration of racial identity, racism, culturally responsive care and supporting Black children within foster care.
The course is interactive and combines trainer input with discussion, exercises, case studies and opportunities for delegates to reflect on situations that may arise within fostering practice.
Content can be tailored to your fostering service, the experience of participants and the particular equality and inclusion issues you would like the training to explore.
The course can be delivered face-to-face or online via Zoom or Teams.
All our courses are tailored to ensure the training reflects your organisation's goals, care practices and priorities.
The course can be delivered face-to-face or online via Zoom or Teams.
To support participation, discussion and interaction, we recommend the following group sizes per session:
Need to train a larger workforce? No problem. We regularly work with organisations that need to train larger numbers of employees. Where appropriate, training can be delivered across multiple sessions to ensure everyone receives the same high-quality, interactive learning experience. We can develop a delivery programme to suit your workforce size, locations and timescales.
Please note: the half-day rate is not always available for face-to-face sessions.
Over 25 years' experience delivering equality, diversity and inclusion training, consultancy and professional development.
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