Andy Burnham’s spouse says she’s thought-about fostering as she praises marketing campaign to spice up carers

Marie-France van Heel, Andy Burnham’s wife, welcomed foster carers, young people and campaigners to Downing Street at her first public speaking event since her husband became PM

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Andy Burnham’s wife said she has considered fostering children as she praised a new campaign launched to recruit more carers and “dispel myths” about the vital service.

Marie-France van Heel on Tuesday welcomed foster carers, young people and campaigners to Downing Street at her first public speaking event since her husband became Prime Minister.

It marked the launch of a major campaign to create 10,000 new foster places by the end of this Parliament amid a shortage in carers.

Ms van Heel told attendees: “I’ve not actually spoken about this publicly before, but I did consider fostering a few years ago. I was put off the idea number one because my husband’s job is so chaotic and I thought that would be too complicated.

“But really, if I look deep into my soul, that could be more of an excuse, and I think it was more a sense of overwhelm when I did my initial research around how does one go about this and all the conflicting information that was coming my way.

“But I think even more difficult for me was the sense that I had to transform myself into this different type of person to become a foster carer. And it’s amazing that this campaign is really trying to dispel some of those myths and misconceptions.”

She went on: “This has been quite inspirational for me. So thank you to everyone who’s here, and thank you to all the other people involved in this amazing movement who are not here today.

“So (I’m) really thrilled to invite all of you here and to launch this campaign and hopefully see thousands more others follow in your footsteps.

“I just hope we can continue to drive this real movement around creating a sense of care and belonging and love and lasting relationships and making all these amazing young people able to fulfil their potential.”

Ms van Heel added that she was “delighted” that so many young people were in attendance. “This building really comes into its own when there’s young people with all different stories and experiences from all around the country,” she said. “When they come into this place, it really kind of has a fizzing energy.”

The number of foster carers fell by 12%, from 63,890 in 2021 to 56,345 in 2025, according to the Fostering Network, while the number of children needing care has increased. The Government’s new campaign will target adults in their 30s and 40s who have the values and capacity to foster but may never have seriously considered it.

Some £88million will go to reforming fostering, including £12.4m to trialling new models of foster care, such as short term ‘respite fostering’ – usually lasting one or two days to a week – or fostering at weekends.

Children’s Minister Josh MacAlister, who has long championed foster care, said the country needs to get behind fostering like it did with the homes for Ukraine scheme.

He told the Mirror: “So much of what is broken in children’s social care comes back to the fact that we’re short of foster families. We have children being moved really far around the country, not able to live with their brother or sister, living in residential care, which costs huge amounts of money and takes money away from help for families to start with.

“If we can marshal some of the spirit that we had with the homes for Ukraine programme, where we got 100,000 homes for Ukrainians within a year, if we could have just a fraction of that we would be able to go a long way to create genuine choice for children in care so they can live with people who are a great fit for them, who can love them and where they can stay connected with their community.”

He said the Government’s target of 10,000 extra foster carers would be a “game changer” as it would “reverse the decline in fostering” and give children genuine choice.

Education Secretary Lucy Powell thanked foster carers for their “incredible” work, telling the event: “Fostering is the most incredible calling and commitment that anybody can make because it’s life-changing for young people who, through no fault of their own, have ended up in needing to be in the care of others.

“To open up your house, your life, your love, your heart to young people in that situation is absolutely incredible and completely changes their lives forever.”

Traitors stars Judy Wilson and her adopted daughter Roxy, who are from Doncaster, spoke of their pride at coming “from Donny to Downing Street” to champion foster care.

Roxy – who was moved between foster carers from 18-months-old before her adoption age five – said: “Each foster carer played a different role. So I think one foster family taught us to walk. One would take us to school and be able to show us the ropes.

“So every touch point of foster care gave us some valuable life skills and showed us love when we needed it, showed us care when we needed it.”

Speaking about her Dyslexia diagnosis in her 40s, Judy – who works in children’s services – said: “I thought to myself, there’s no way I can foster or adopt a child because I’m struggling myself, but as I got older, I realised it’s not a big issue.

“It’s about being there for a child, turning up every single day, and just sharing your love. And you know what, I’m so proud of my daughter today that we’re actually here, Donny people, normal people. What I’ve achieved today, I’m quite proud of myself.”

Lianne Nelson, 39, from Stockport, who has fostered nine children over six years, said: “It has been an amazing challenge. You definitely have to have a lot of determination and resilience and you’ve got to be able to cope with the change. I hope it’s given them love – even if it’s just for a short period of time.”

She said she still sees some of the children she’s fostered in the community, who know her as “Auntie Li-Li”. She added: “It’s just gorgeous knowing our home is that safe space for people.”

Research by Coram today(WED) suggests at least 7% of people are likely, very likely, or definitely want to foster children, which could equate to millions of new adult carers across the country.

Dame Carol Homden, Coram’s chief executive, said she was “hugely encouraged” by the findings, adding: “The challenge now is how we build on this impetus… As part of this, as our findings show, we need to see a focus on targeting key areas and groups, availability of clear information, and practical support, to boost both recruitment and retention of foster carers.”