Increasing number of LGBTQ+ households fostering in Wales

LGBTQ+ foster carers are making up a greater proportion of the total number of carers in Wales, according to new figures. 

There are 56 LGBTQ+ households in Wales, an increase of 30% compared with 2024. 

This LGBTQ+ Adoption and Fostering Week, starting March 2, Foster Wales Pembrokeshire is urging LGBTQ+ people to consider making enquiries to become foster carers and change lives in 2026.

Couples or single people can foster, and many LGBTQ+ people have unique personal life experience to bring to the care of children and young people. 
Pembrokeshire Fostering Team Manager Oliver Mathias said: “We know that children and young people thrive when they are cared for by adults who are open-minded, compassionate, and able to value who they are. At Foster Wales, we are proud to welcome carers from the LGBTQ+ community and from all cultures, faiths, family structures, and walks of life. 

“We are committed to respecting and celebrating diversity, and to ensuring that everyone who comes forward to foster is treated with dignity, fairness, and respect. What matters most to us is not who you are or who you love, but your ability to provide a safe, nurturing, and accepting home where children can feel valued and belong.”

Suzanne Griffiths, Director of the National Adoption Service for Wales and Foster Wales, said: “Foster carers make an extraordinary difference to children and young people every day by offering stability, understanding and a safe place to thrive. They draw on their own life experiences, compassion and resilience to meet the individual needs of each child. For some children, foster carers can help them move on to adoption, which will provide the lifelong security they need when returning to their birth family is not possible.

“With so many children currently in need of loving homes, we would strongly encourage anyone considering fostering or adoption to come forward and start a conversation with their local team today.”

You can follow LGBTQ+ Adoption & Fostering Week online and through Twitter (@lgbtadoptfoster) and Facebook (@newfamilysocial).
For more information on fostering visit: https://fosterwales.gov.wales / Find out more about adoption in Wales: adoptcymru.com