Our recommended documentaries for Foster Carers or people wanting to know more about fostering.

While being a foster carer is incredibly rewarding, it also comes with its own unique challenges. Caring for children and young people that have experienced childhood trauma throughout their lives needs foster carers with commitment, patience and a passion for wanting to make a positive difference.

One of the best ways to learn more about fostering is to integrate yourself into the fostering community and read, watch, and listen to other people’s experiences.

Resources like books, podcasts, and documentaries are excellent for guiding and informing you about your experience as a foster carer. Nexus Fostering has compiled a list of our top documentaries on fostering and children’s wellbeing to help you develop your fostering knowledge.

These documentaries will help increase your understanding of fostering and the challenges children and young people face.

*Joe Swash: Teens in Care, BCC One
This documentary follows Joe as he explores the stories of teens in care over 16, the largest-growing cohort in child protection and care. His motivation to make this documentary is deeply personal. Joe wants to spend time with teens across the UK who live in foster care, in residential children's homes, and some who left at 18 and are trying to make it alone, to show what growing up as a teenager in care is really like. 

Watch here - BBC One - Joe Swash: Teens in Care

*Split Up in Care: Life Without Siblings, BBC Three
Care leaver Ashley John-Baptiste spent most of his life believing he was an only child, until he received a message from a man on social media, who claimed to be his brother. This inspiring fostering documentary explores what happens to siblings in foster care when they cannot be kept together and highlights the ongoing shortage of foster across the UK.

Watch here - BBC Three - Split Up in Care: Life without Siblings

*The Real Mo Farah, BBC One
Sir Mo Farah recently revealed that he came to the UK from Somalia and lived with another family for most of his childhood. He is a victim of child trafficking and modern slavery. The documentary looks at his upbringing and the journey he had from Somalia, through to the first family he lived with who trafficked him, to the aunt he lived with after social services were involved, to the subsequent years that led to him winning two gold medals at the London 2012 Olympics.

Watch here - BBC One - The Real Mo Farah

*Protecting Our Foster Kids, BBC Two
This foster care documentary in the UK explores the intimate, day-to-day lives of various foster carers and other professionals within the sector. This series about foster care examines the intricate workings of the lives of children and families living in foster care.

Watch here - BBC Two - Protecting Our Foster Kids

*Ian Wright: Home Truths, BBC One
Footballer Ian Wright shares his story about his turbulent childhood, investigating and highlighting the impact that growing up in an abusive and violent home has on child welfare in the UK.

Watch here - BBC One - Ian Wright: Home Truths

*Finding a Forever Family, BBC News
In this foster care documentary, journalist Jeremy Cooke investigates the world of adoption, shining a light on three families who have adopted children who might have been harder to match with a family and exploring why many children remain in the care system.

Watch here - BBC News - Finding a Forever Family

*Kids On The Edge, Channel 4
This three-part series from Peter Beard examines children's mental health across the UK and explores the various services available within the NHS. The episodes focus on social, emotional and behavioural problems as well as self-harm; this documentary provides an insight into young people's minds and challenges.

Watch here - Watch Kids on the Edge | Stream free on Channel 4

We hope you enjoyed reading about our recommended foster care documentaries. Check out our next insight on our recommended films about fostering.

We would love to hear from you if you could provide a safe and nurturing home for children and young people. Contact Us | Nexus Fostering