The Norfolk Foster Care Association said a recent case in Greater Manchester – in which a foster carer reported to police their suspicions that a child previously in their care was now being abused by their adoptive parents – highlights their vulnerability.
Raymond Bewry, chair of the association, told CYP Now that the foster carer who made the allegations was subsequently de-registered by the local authority in question for “breach of confidentiality” over the case.
Under existing legislation – the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA) – whistleblowers receive certain protections.
But because local authority foster carers are classified as "self-employed" they are not protected by the act.
In a letter to Education Secretary Michael Gove, Bewry called on the government to amend legislation to provide protection to foster carers.
“Fears of reprisals against them and their families (usually for breaching confidentiality) makes foster carers in too many cases afraid to blow the whistle, allowing people, situations, policies or actions they are concerned about to continue unimpeded,” the letter said.
He added that another case of concern involved a fostering provider contravening a court order that clearly stated that a certain looked-after young person should be allowed only supervised contact with a family member, despite protests raised by the foster carer.
“As a direct result of the fostering provider’s decision to ignore both the court order and the foster carer, contact was allowed which the court had sought to prevent and the young person was subjected to a serious sexual assault,” the letter said.
“Such incidents are too often unreported, allowing those responsible for permitting the genesis of such a disturbing scenario to go unpunished and for the bad practice to continue.”
Last year, a commission to review the effectiveness of whistleblowing practices in UK workplaces by charity Public Concern at Work called for the definition of “worker” under PIDA to be extended to include foster carers.
