Six north London councils launch a shared fostering hub led by Camden

Six councils in north London have officially launched a joint fostering hub, Camden Council announced on 5 November 2026. The North London Fostering Hub brings together Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey and Islington, with Camden acting as the lead authority. The partnership will recruit, support and retain foster carers across the area so that more children in care can live with families close to their schools, friends and communities.

The hub is part of the government’s national fostering reform programme in England. Camden’s fostering service had earlier said that the government confirmed 14 fostering hubs would be operating across England from this autumn, and that the north London hub would build on the North London Fostering and Permanency Consortium, through which the same six councils have worked together since 2012. Camden describes the new hub as building on more than a decade of that collaboration.

According to the council, the hub is designed to make three stages easier: finding out about fostering in the first place, getting support while an application goes through, and receiving training and guidance once someone has been approved as a foster carer. Camden’s fostering pages also say that Room Makers, a scheme that funds changes to foster carers’ homes to create extra space, is being expanded to all fostering hubs.

The launch coincided with the first national gathering of regional fostering hubs, which Camden hosted this week. Representatives from hubs across England attended, along with the Minister for Children and Families, Josh MacAlister, to share learning and discuss how regional partnerships can strengthen fostering services. The minister said fostering changes lives and described the national recruitment campaign as opening fostering up to ordinary people across England. Councillor Marcus Boyland, Camden’s Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families, said that joining forces across six boroughs would help the councils reach more people considering fostering and better support existing carers.

For anyone in north London thinking about fostering, the practical change is a single front door covering six boroughs rather than six separate routes. Camden says people from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply, and that fostering can fit alongside different careers and lifestyles; its fostering pages note that people who are single, married, in a relationship, working or retired may be able to foster. Enquiries go through the hub’s website, fosternorthlondon.gov.uk.

Regional hubs are one of the ways the government hopes to increase the number of fostering households in England. Prospective carers elsewhere can check whether their own council belongs to a hub, and can compare council and agency fostering services in their area on Fostering Today.