West Cumbrian MP leads national reforms to help children in care and care leavers rebuild lifelong relationships.

Whitehaven and Workington MP, Josh MacAlister MP has today set out a major new government strategy to make sure children in care and care leavers are supported to build the lifelong relationships most people rely on for love, stability and support.

The Whitehaven and Workington MP, who now serves as Children’s Minister, gave an oral statement in Parliament announcing the government’s new Enduring Relationships programme.

The reforms include an £8.4 million national expansion of Family Finding services, which help children in care and care leavers reconnect safely with relatives, former foster carers, teachers, trusted adults, siblings, friends and other important people they may have lost touch with.

The approach has been described as a “Who Do You Think You Are?” style service for young people leaving care, with trained co-ordinators helping young people identify the people who matter to them, trace those relationships using records and family history, and rebuild contact where it is safe and wanted.

The announcement is part of the government’s wider reform of children’s social care following the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, which received Royal Assent in April.

The government says the Act enables the biggest overhaul of children’s social care in a generation.

Josh’s work on this issue began before he entered Parliament, when he led the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.

That review was shaped by listening to thousands of people with experience of care, many of whom described feeling isolated, lonely or cut off from family, friends and community as they grew up or left care.

The new strategy aims to change that by making lifelong, loving relationships a central priority of the care system.

The government has said Family Finding programmes funded since 2023 have shown promising results, with participating children and young people gaining an average of nearly two additional meaningful relationships.

More than a third reconnected with immediate family members, while others rebuilt connections with former teachers, social workers and trusted adults.

The wider package also includes action to recruit more foster carers, support kinship carers, expand Staying Close support for care leavers, strengthen family networks earlier, and develop new ways of measuring whether the care system is helping young people build stronger relationships.

Josh MacAlister MP said: “Every child growing up in Cumbria and across the country deserves to have people in their life who love them, stick with them and stand by them.

“For too long, the care system has too often broken relationships rather than built them.

“Young people have been moved far away from home, separated from brothers and sisters, cut off from trusted adults, and then expected to become independent at 18 without the family network most of us take for granted.

“That has to change.

“Today’s announcement is about putting love, belonging and lifelong relationships at the heart of children’s social care.

“Through the Enduring Relationships programme, we will help children in care and care leavers reconnect with the people who matter to them and build the support networks they need to thrive.

“This is deeply personal work for me. Before becoming the MP for Whitehaven and Workington, I led the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and heard directly from thousands of people who had grown up in care.

“Their message was clear: the system must do much more than manage risk or provide services. It must help children build a loving tribe around them.

“As both a local MP and Children’s Minister, I am proud to be helping deliver that change.”

Carlisle MP Julie Minns also spoke during the session saying “it is refreshing that we are here today celebrating some fantastic news for young people in care.”

The pair then went on to commend the work of the Family Rights Group and Cumberland Councillor Emma Williamson.

Julie said: “The Minister will know, because we share the same local authority, that Cumberland has made great strides in recent years in achieving exactly what we want to achieve, by ensuring that young people have those stable relationships.

“I commend the work of the Family Rights Group in this area, I should declare that I did some work with it prior to entering this place.

“Can the Minister share with the House his ambition for how other councils, such as Cumberland under the leadership of Councillor Emma Williamson, can do what Cumberland has done in a few years during this Parliament?”

Josh replied: “My hon. Friend and neighbour is right to highlight the leadership of Councillor Emma Williamson, who is herself care-experienced.

“She has brought that experience to political office in a way that is making real change happen across Cumberland.

“One of the things I was proudest to attend as a Member of Parliament, and as the Minister for Children and Families, was the launch of the enrichment event in my constituency last year.

“It is what Emma refers to as the bank of mam and dad. It is a fund that Emma and the team at Cumberland have set up to create an account with money that can go to young people who have something happening in their life.

“It could be to buy them a vehicle or to put down a deposit on a house.

“It is about having that flexibility through family finances that many of us benefit from but take for granted. Those who are care leavers often do not have it.”