Foster carers have to balance many competing responsibilities and onerous reporting, all while trying to build a good relationship with a child or teenager who may have had traumatic early life experiences.

This challenging role has become so much more complicated in the digital era. The need to keep a child safe online, to know what they are doing and who they talk to – along with an awareness of what could happen – might lead to an overwhelming desire to control the situation.

Smartphones and connected devices constantly expand the arena in which foster carers operate. New apps and technical developments change the landscape fast.

Now, Nominet have supported the development of training programmes in online safety, expressly for foster carers. To undertake this, the enable consortium has been formed and our first steps were to consult 70 foster carers and 40 young people in foster care. This report reflects what the foster carers told us about their previous training, their concerns, and their needs.