About Sarah Anderson
Lead Fostering Consultant.
An experienced foster carer of 15yrs and a counselling psychotherapist in the NHS specialising in adolescents Sarah is also one of the founding campaigners for foster carers with a rich history of supporting and championing the foster carer workforce and the children they care for.
In 2021 she founded FosterWiki after being inspired by the challenges foster carers faced in accessing information, often sourcing real information was complex, took a long time and often no one knew where to look if it indeed existed in the first place.
History
After many years as a psychotherapist in NHS adolescent mental health Sarah wanted to dedicate more time to looked after children, she became a foster carer specialising in adolescents.
Sarah has been fostering for 15 years and now has what she calls her ‘wonderful extended family’, some of those now with families of their own. However as she moved into the fostering arena she became starkly aware of the challenges facing foster carers and the industry and has spent many years working with carers, providers and related organisations. Sarah has extensive experience and knowledge of foster care from a unique perspective which informs her work as an Independent Fostering Consultant.
“There is this big myth in caring that all you need is a spare room and a big heart, and that somehow to call a carer a skilled professional undermines that or suggests that you don’t care, but nurturing and caring for a child or young person and being a skilled, qualified professional are not mutually exclusive”
“We must never forget who is at the heart of all that we do – our children and young people – and I consider myself an integral part of raising the outcomes and standards for them in my work as an independent fostering consultant, facilitating good outcomes and having a positive impact on retention, recruitment and placement stability”
Work includes:
- Founder of FosterWiki
- Evidence giver on All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs),
- Worked with Children’s Minister in 2020,
- National Media appearances: BBC,
- National Media appearances on ITV,
- National Media appearances on Channels 4,
- National Media appearances on Channels 5,
- BBC Newsnight & Victoria Derbyshire,
- Radio 4 Today Programme
- Radio 2 Jeremy Vine Programme,
- Regional Media: BBC regional stations, local radio stations and media,
- Published: The Guardian, Community Care.
