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FNSarah Thomas — no licensed photograph is available, so the sector leader plate is shown instead.

Sector leader

Sarah Thomas

Chief Executive, The Fostering Network

The Fostering Network is based in Bermondsey and Old Southwark (London) — the organisation’s base, not a personal address.

Press citations

2

Topic

1

Adult social care & reform

Last quoted

Aug 2026

Sarah Thomas: key facts

Kind of voice
Sector leader
Role
Chief Executive
Organisation
The Fostering Network
Organisation based in
Bermondsey and Old Southwark
Quoted on
Adult social care & reform
Tracked press citations
2
Most recently quoted
27 Aug 2026

Who Sarah Thomas is

Sarah Thomas is Chief Executive of The Fostering Network, the UK's leading fostering charity and membership organisation, appointed to the role in May 2023. She is a qualified social worker who began her career as a supervising social worker in 2003, spending 14 years as a frontline social worker and manager at the City and County of Swansea, and subsequently serving as service manager at the Association for Fostering and Adoption Cymru. Before becoming CEO she served as the charity's director for Wales and commercial activity, during which time she programme-managed the work of the National Fostering Framework through to the launch of Foster Wales in 2021. She is publicly known for calling on governments across the UK to address the recruitment and retention crisis in foster care and has argued that fostering fees must be standardised and made competitive to attract more carers.

“Retaining foster carers is just as crucial as recruiting them, which is why the lack of equal emphasis on retention and financial support is so disappointing.”

References for this biography

  1. 1.'Standout choice' is charity's new chief executive – Third Sector — Confirms appointment as CEO in May 2023, prior role as director for Wales and commercial activity, and qualified social worker background in public sector south Wales and AFA Cymru.
  2. 2.Children's care charity promotes director to CEO – Charity Times — Confirms 14 years at City and County of Swansea, two years as service manager at Association for Fostering and Adoption Cymru, and promotion to CEO from director role.
  3. 3.CoramBAAF Conversations podcast — Confirms Thomas is a qualified social worker, her role programme-managing the National Fostering Framework and launch of Foster Wales 2021, and previous role as Service Manager for AFA Cymru.
  4. 4.Pledge to get 10,000 vulnerable children into foster homes – GOV.UK — Quotes Thomas as Chief Executive responding to the government's February 2026 fostering reform announcement; confirms her public advocacy on carer recruitment and the Mockingbird programme.
  5. 5.Can foster care overhaul stop 'exodus' of carers? – The Week — Records Thomas quoted in The Times calling for standardised and competitive fostering fees as CEO.
  6. 6.Crisis in foster care continues as new figures show major shortfall in carers – The Fostering Network — Quotes Thomas as Chief Executive on the UK-wide shortfall of foster carers and calling on governments to invest in the social care system.
  7. 7.The Fostering Network – Companies House — Confirms registered office address: 87 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8HA.
  8. 8.The Fostering Network on X – June 2024 — Confirms Thomas gave evidence to the Senedd Health Committee on the Health and Social Care (Wales) Bill in June 2024.
  9. 9.Sarah Thomas (@tfn_Sarah) on X — X profile self-identifies as 'Sarah Thomas, CEO of The Fostering Network'; corroborated by the organisation's own posts tagging the account.

Notable achievements

  • Programme-managed the National Fostering Framework in Wales through to the launch of Foster Wales in July 2021, a national collaborative foster carer recruitment brand. Source ↗
  • Appointed Chief Executive of The Fostering Network in May 2023, promoted internally from director role. Source ↗
  • Gave evidence to the Senedd Health Committee on the Health and Social Care (Wales) Bill in June 2024, covering sufficiency and the question of eliminating profit from children's social care. Source ↗
  • Publicly welcomed and responded to the UK Government's February 2026 pledge to create 10,000 new foster placements by 2029, backed by £88 million, and called for continued reform. Source ↗

What Sarah Thomas has said

Recent social activity

  • Excited for this!! https://t.co/j3ept7jDbz

    x.com ↗

  • Most wonderful end to my time in Liverpool at the Labour Party conference- lunch with Pat 😍 an amazing foster carer with @MaethuG Pat calls me ‘Sarah bach’, we cry and laugh together whenever we meet and I come away full of positivity and belief in the power of fostering. https://t.co/jMUInL4o6R

    x.com ↗

Where Sarah Thomas has been quoted

  1. Ministers to crack down on profiteering in care sector and make renewed fostering pushtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
  2. ‘It’s soul-destroying’: struggle to house vulnerable children can leave breaking law as only optiontheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Related media coverage

Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.

Contact & links

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.

Chief executives, directors and spokespeople of trade bodies, representative associations and charities speaking for the sector. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. This profile was last updated on 5 Oct 2026. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.