IFCO is uniquely positioned as an international organisation with the sole aim of supporting family-based foster and kinship care for out-of-home children and young people. We believe strongly in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child’s recognition that ‘the family is the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children’.

Children, where possible, should be brought up within their own families, but where this is not possible they should be provided with the closest alternative form of family care which we believe is fostering and kinship care. We are committed to improving the lives of children in foster and kinship care by supporting the children themselves, their carers, the professionals who work with them, and the policymakers who decide on the welfare of children.