Our story and leadership
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Flourish began with a belief that fostering could be better
Flourish Fostering was founded in 2019 by people with extensive experience of fostering, social work and psychotherapy.
Through that experience, our founders had seen the extraordinary difference a foster family can make to a child’s life. They had also seen how difficult fostering could become when families didn’t have the right support around them, when communication wasn’t good enough or when the deeper emotional needs behind a child’s behaviour weren’t properly understood.
They believed more could be done for children and for the foster parents caring for them, and Flourish grew from that belief.
The aim was never simply to create another fostering service. It was to create one where excellent professional practice and strong human relationships could sit comfortably alongside each other; where foster parents were valued as professionals, children were understood as individuals and people across the service genuinely worked together.
From a small team to a growing fostering community
Flourish started small, and there are things about those early days that we never want to lose.
As we’ve welcomed more foster families and expanded into new regions, we’ve also grown our teams and the range of expertise available to families. Today, Flourish brings together social workers, Registered Managers, psychotherapists, Aspire colleagues and people working across placements, recruitment, finance, administration and wider support.
Growing gives us the opportunity to support more children and young people, which is something we’re proud of. But we don’t believe growth should mean becoming anonymous or difficult to reach.
We still want foster parents to know the people in their regional team. We want our staff to know the families they’re supporting. We want concerns to be listened to and responded to, and we want people at every level of Flourish to remain connected to the realities of fostering.
Keeping that balance matters to us.
Leadership with experience of the realities of fostering
Fostering is both deeply personal and professionally complex, and our leadership team brings experience from across fostering, social work, psychotherapy, child development and service management.
That breadth of experience shapes the decisions we make, but qualifications and job titles are only part of good leadership. We believe leaders also need to remain visible, approachable and accountable for the experience we promise to families.
Our senior leaders work closely with Registered Managers and teams across each region, helping to make sure our values are reflected in everyday practice rather than existing only as words on a page.
Meet our leadership team
Siobhan Irving
CEO
A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary
Siobhan Irving
CEO
A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary
Siobhan Irving
CEO
A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary
Siobhan Irving
CEO
A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary
Siobhan Irving
CEO
A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary
Siobhan Irving
CEO
A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary
Owned by the people who lead it
Flourish is owned by its management team.
For us, that creates an important connection between the people making decisions about the future of Flourish and the people responsible for maintaining its standards, values and culture.
It means the future of the organisation is in the hands of people who are directly involved in Flourish and invested in what it becomes.
As we grow, that responsibility becomes even more important.
Protecting what matters as we grow
Our ambition is to support more children and young people, strengthen what we offer foster families and continue developing Flourish without losing the personal qualities on which it was built.
We want to retain the warmth and familiarity of a smaller service while giving families access to the knowledge, systems and specialist expertise of a growing organisation.
That means continuing to listen, remaining easy to reach and making sure foster parents are treated as valued partners in the work we do.
It also means never losing sight of why Flourish exists in the first place: to create the strongest possible support around children, young people and the families caring for them.