Home for Good is a national organisation founded in 2013 by a group of Christian leaders who were also foster carers and adoptive parents. Home for Good’s primary mission is to encourage local Church communities to champion fostering and adoption in their area, and to bring recognition and support to the people who are already doing so.  In 2015 Home for Good campaigned for the fostering and adoption of unaccompanied asylum seeking children, largely from Syria. Today, many local movements have sprung up across the UK, including Home for Good Bath Area, which is one of our ten projects tackling poverty and disadvantage in Bath and North East Somerset.

Dave Kingswood, newly appointed Project Worker, talks to us about what Home for Good Bath Area are doing in the community and the importance of his role.

“Home for Good Bath Area was set up in 2015 in partnership with the B&NES Family Placement Team. At the moment there is a shortage of foster carers in Bath and the surrounding area; we need roughly 30. The Church in B&NES is in a prime position to meet that need. My role is to communicate with Churches on the issues of children living without a stable home and to champion them to invest in it more seriously; to become responsible for meeting the need in their communities and congregations. It is about raising people’s literacy and understanding, whilst also encouraging Church communities to be more aware and supportive of families and individuals who are already fostering and adopting.”

Dave is himself a foster carer and has been welcoming children into his home for the past 8 years. He knows first-hand how important it is to have support from the Church and wider community. “The reason placements break down is usually due to lack of a network of love and support for the family or carer. Having this support from your neighbours and the Church really matters.”

Every 22 minutes a child in the UK is taken into care. 33% of sex workers, 24% of the adult prison population and 11% of young homeless people are care leavers. “The outcomes for children in loving environments are far superior than children who never find loving homes. Good carers and adoptive parents give them a much better chance at life. A lot of the work we do is pre-emptive; by helping young people we decrease the chances that they will need other Genesis projects in the future.”

In recent months, Home for Good Bath Area have successfully introduced half of all the prospective foster and adoptive parents linked in to the B&NES council. They have also been active in celebrating fostering and adoptive mothers and fathers through various national days such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Adoptive Sunday. One of the most important aspects of Dave’s role is to make the often invisible issues surrounding fostering and adoption, visible. To make them a talking point, and to ensure that foster carers and parents have both the support they need and the recognition for the amazing work they’re doing in their community.

For more information on Home for Good visit their website. To contact Dave if you would like him to talk to your Church group or to get further information about getting involved please email him here.