Portsmouth Continues its Journey as the UK’s First Fostering Friendly City

On Monday 11th May, Fair Ways partnered with Portsmouth City Council’s Foster Portsmouth to host The Portsmouth Fostering Friendly Business Summit at Portsmouth Guildhall, bringing together organisations from across the city to strengthen Portsmouth’s messaging as the UK’s first Fostering Friendly City.

The event welcomed approximately 90 attendees for an inspiring afternoon focused on raising awareness of fostering and exploring how employers can better support foster carers and care-experienced young people within the workplace and wider community.

The summit featured a powerful line-up of speakers and lived experience voices, including Sarah Daly, Director of Children’s Services at Portsmouth City Council; care-experienced young people; Chris Wild, Director of Social Impact at Foster Greatness; foster carers from both Fair Ways and Portsmouth City Council; Mark Owers, Chief Executive of the Nationwide Association of Fostering Providers; fostering-friendly employer success stories; and Mark Jowett, Head of Children We Care For at Portsmouth City Council.

Throughout the afternoon, attendees heard moving personal stories, gained a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities within fostering, and discussed the vital role businesses can play in creating supportive and fostering-friendly workplaces.

The event also highlighted the growing momentum behind the Fostering Friendly initiative across Portsmouth, with an incredible 140 organisations now signed up as Fostering Friendly employers. This continued commitment from businesses across the city demonstrates a shared determination to support foster carers, children, and young people both in and outside of the workplace.

A key highlight of the summit was the unveiling of a newly branded bus, created in partnership with Global and Stagecoach. The bus features branding for both the Fostering Friendly campaign and the Fair Ways Phoenix Journey, helping to raise awareness of fostering and support services throughout the local community.

The bus will now operate as part of the Route 23 service, travelling from The Hard Interchange in Portsmouth through Old Portsmouth, Southsea, Hilsea, Farlington and Havant, providing ongoing visibility and engagement across the city and surrounding areas.

The summit also provided valuable networking opportunities, encouraging collaboration between local organisations and strengthening a collective commitment to supporting foster families and care-experienced young people across Portsmouth.

Gareth Webb, Managing Director at Fair Ways, said:

“The Portsmouth Fostering Friendly Business Summit was a fantastic opportunity to bring together organisations from across the city to highlight the importance of fostering and the role employers can play in supporting foster carers and care-experienced young people. Seeing so many businesses engaged and committed to becoming fostering friendly demonstrates the strength of collaboration across Portsmouth and the shared ambition to make a real difference to local families and communities.”

Mark Jowett, Head of Children We Care For at Portsmouth City Council, said:

“This summit has shown the strength of Portsmouth when we come together around something that really matters for children. I want to thank Gareth and Fair Ways for the vision and drive behind this which has created real momentum across the city. For us, this is about removing barriers. When a workplace becomes fostering friendly, it turns ‘I’d love to foster one day’ into ‘I could actually do this’,  because people feel supported by those around them. We have children who need to stay close to their homes, their schools and their communities, and we need more local people to step forward. If you’ve ever thought about fostering, you can, and Portsmouth’s children need you.”

Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, with many leaving the event feeling inspired and motivated to continue raising awareness of fostering within their own organisations and networks.

As momentum continues to grow, Fair Ways and Portsmouth City Council are already looking ahead to next year’s Portsmouth Fostering Friendly Business Summit, with ambitions to make the event even bigger and continue building a truly fostering-friendly city for children, young people, and families.