Social prescribing and training
We equip the professionals around every child in a foster home to refer them into community support rooted in their heritage, delivered through carers, family and global majority mentors.
Why it matters
In the NHS, a GP can “prescribe” community support (a club, a group, a mentor) alongside medicine. We bring the same idea to fostering. The professionals around a child can prescribe support that helps them feel proud of who they are, and that helps their carers keep going.
4,690
fostering households left in 2024–25, against 4,430 that joined.
Ofsted, Fostering in England 2024–25
3,290
of 5,370 completed fostering applications were withdrawn.
Ofsted, Fostering in England 2024–25
4% vs 30%
of well-supported carers would give up fostering, compared with poorly supported carers.
Ott et al., CEI / The Fostering Network, 2023
40%
of care leavers aged 19–21 are not in education, employment or training, against 15% of all young people that age.
DfE, Children looked after in England, 2025
How it works
The people who know the child best notice what they need. A trained prescriber, in your service or at BFCA, connects them to support rooted in their heritage, and it is reviewed as part of the child’s care plan.
01
The team around the child (foster carers, social workers, teachers, health and youth workers) notice an unmet identity, culture or belonging need.
02
They refer to their service’s in-house social prescriber, or to BFCA if they do not have one.
03
We use the WHOLE™ Framework to understand the child’s identity needs.
04
The prescriber, or BFCA, connects the child and family to the right community support, mentor or programme.
05
Progress is reviewed at the child’s looked-after child (LAC) review, with the child, carers and prescriber.
Carers supported to honour a child’s faith, heritage and story every day.
Designated teachers and virtual schools prescribe through education plans.
Community groups, faith settings and mentors that share the child’s culture.
The three pillars
Each pillar brings together BFCA services that are running today, so councils and agencies get one joined-up offer instead of separate projects.
Pillar 01
Every child in a foster home deserves to know who they are and where they come from. We prescribe identity, culture and belonging.
Pillar 02
The people who already know the child become prescribers. We train them, give them the tools to assess need, and assure the service around them.
Pillar 03
Carers, family and mentors are the support. We surround the household with people who share and understand the child’s culture.
For professionals
Any service can grow its own social prescribers. Every BFCA prescriber course is CPD-accredited, interactive and facilitator-guided: you explore a concept, share your view, then check it against best practice.
Complete the BFCA Prescriber course
Build your practice with our CPD courses
Keep your skills fresh with e-learning top-ups
Prescribe, and review progress at LAC reviews
Our prescriber courses are CPD-accredited and cover cultural competency, identity, life story work and leading culturally competent reviews. We tailor the mix to each role in the team around the child.
The Social Prescriber bundle on BFCA Academy lets prescribers refresh their learning at their own pace, between face-to-face sessions.
All BFCA training
Alongside the prescriber pathway, we train carers, staff and leaders across fostering services. We have trained more than 550 professionals across 35 fostering services.
All our prescriber and practice courses are certified by the CPD Certification Service.
Whole-service training to seek, record and track every child’s identity, culture and belonging needs.
The UK’s only sector-specific cultural competence accreditation for fostering services, with a dedicated Award Consultant.
Build in-house capacity so your own team can deliver BFCA training.
Self-paced courses for carers and professionals at bfcaacademy.co.uk.
Training and practice support designed around your service’s needs.
For councils and agencies
Visible, trusted community support gives global majority families the confidence to come forward and stay with the process.
Mentors, peer groups and the Lifeline mean carers are never on their own: the support that research links to carers staying.
Children and care leavers grow up with a strong sense of who they are, recorded, tracked and reviewed through WHOLE™.
Our evidence
Our model draws on research into social prescribing for young people, mentoring for care-experienced children, life story work and what keeps foster carers fostering.
Get in touch
Whether you are a social worker, IRO, teacher, health professional or a fostering service lead, register your interest and we will be in touch to book your team onto the BFCA Prescriber course or any of our training.
It takes two minutes. We only use your details to contact you about prescribing and training.
We will text you back to arrange a call.
Monday to Friday, 11am to 2pm and 6pm to 9pm. Phone or online chat.