On this week’s 4-Quarter Lives Avivah Wittenberg-Cox talks with Laurie Kilby and Katie Waldegrave, co-founders of Now Foster, a bold new initiative reimagining how we recruit and support foster carers. Laurie, a former social worker, and Katie, co-founder of Now Teach, have teamed up to tackle one of the most urgent and overlooked social issues of our time: the crisis in foster care. Building on the success of Now Teach, which helped hundreds transition into teaching in their 50s, Now Foster invites the same generation to consider a different kind of legacy: becoming part-time foster carers—Weekenders.
They explain how fostering can become a civic, shared responsibility, and why this phase of life—often rich in time, energy, and desire for meaning—is ideally suited for people to contribute. Katie and Laurie share the origin story of Nw Foster, the systemic challenges, and the everyday joys of becoming a consistent, caring presence in a child’s life.
It’s a stirring, smart reinvention of foster care—one weekend a month. One child. One adult or one couple. One small idea that could change lives.
Laurie Kirby is Co-Founder and Practice Lead for Now Foster. A former secondary school teacher and social worker, she is herself a Now Foster carer for a young boy and works with local authorities to match children already in foster care to weekend carers. Katie Waldegrave MBE is a serial founder and lead of non-profits including, most recently, Now Foster. Previously she was co-founder, with Lucy Kellaway, of Now Teach, set up in 2016 to encourage people in mid-career to shift to teaching, and before that was co-founder and first Chief Executive of First Story, which placed writers in residence into secondary schools to help young people to nurture their creativity. Earlier, from 2003-8 she was a teacher and one of the first cohort of First Teach, an initiative to encourage new graduates to enter teaching.
Useful Links:
Interested in becoming a Weekender? Want to explore how fostering fits into your Q3? Visit nowfoster.org to learn more or attend one of their info sessions. Everyone welcome—no couple, home ownership or previous experience required.
Weekenders: BBC Story of Sara and her young person
Now Teach – Midlife career changes into teaching
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