We are pleased to share an important step for our future. Flourish Fostering is being acquired by the current leadership team, lead by CEO Siobhan Irving.
Flourish Fostering was born out of a shared vision from our founders. As foster parents, social workers, and psychotherapists, they knew firsthand that children who have experienced trauma need safety, consistency, and belonging to begin their journey of growth and healing. At a time when therapeutic services across the sector are increasingly being stretched, diluted, or compromised, our founders believed that true support cannot be rationed. They understood the commitment, love, and resilience required to be a foster parent, and they built a model of therapeutic support entirely around that.
Since our founding in 2020, we have been clear that therapeutic care is not an optional extra, it is the foundation of our service. Being therapeutic is not just about access to our in-house therapy team or training sessions. It shapes how we think, how we support you, and how we care for children every day. It is the golden thread that runs through everything we do.
Through this transition, we remain independent, we secure our ability to innovate, invest deeply in our therapeutic practice, and stay true to the values that brought Flourish into being. Our vision is to maintain the highest standards of care for our families while continuing to advocate for true therapeutic fostering as the gold standard across the entire sector. We will continue providing our foster parents with exceptional training, treating them as professionals, and supporting them in every way we can. We know that for our foster parents to make a difference in a child’s life, we must continue to make a difference in theirs.
Day to day, our foster families and staff will not notice a change. They will continue to be supported by the same dedicated teams, with the same therapeutic approach at the heart of everything we do.
What does change is our ability to look ahead with confidence. This step secures our future, strengthens our independence, and allows us to continue growing a service that truly puts children and families first.
“This transition marks a natural and exciting next step in the Flourish journey,”
said Siobhan Irving.
“We are incredibly proud of what has been built and deeply committed to protecting and growing the therapeutic model that sits at the heart of everything we do. I am delighted to be leading Flourish into this next chapter alongside a team that shares such strong values and purpose.”
Robert Greene, Chief Finance Officer, said the move provides a strong foundation for the organisation’s future:
“This gives us the clarity and stability to focus on what matters most — quality and outcomes. It also ensures we can continue to invest in the model that sets Flourish apart.”
We are also pleased to confirm that our founder team members, Karen Heard and Dr Mica Douglas, will continue in their roles and remain central to Flourish’s future.
Dr Mica Douglas, Clinical Director, shared:
“This is exactly how I would have hoped the next stage of the Flourish journey would unfold. From the beginning, we knew that our founding investors would not be here forever, but what mattered most was ensuring that Flourish remained true to its purpose. I am excited for this next chapter and confident that the organisation will continue to grow in the right way.”
Recognising Our Founders and Investors
We would like to take this opportunity to recognise and thank our founding investors—Alfred Foglio, Riz Khan, Nicola Tunbridge, Mica Douglas and Karen Heard—for the risks they took and the belief they showed in building Flourish, as well as our 30 founder families and staff members.
Their contribution over the past six years has been exceptional: a powerful combination of entrepreneurial spirit, unwavering belief in the therapeutic model, and sustained backing and investment. Their vision created something the sector truly needed, and we are deeply grateful for their role in making Flourish what it is today.
Flourish will continue to benefit from their expertise and insight, with founder investors remaining involved at board level to support a smooth and thoughtful transition of ownership.
Nicola Tunbridge, founding investor said:
“It has been incredibly rewarding to be part of Flourish’s journey from the very beginning. The organisation was built on a clear and important principle — that therapeutic support should never be compromised. I am proud of what has been created and reassured to see it moving forward with leaders who are so committed to preserving and strengthening that vision.”
We would also like to acknowledge the support of Shawbrook Bank, a specialist health and social care lender, whose backing was instrumental in enabling the transaction, alongside Hazlewoods, which provided financial and transaction advice throughout the process.
Thank you for being part of Flourish. We are excited about what comes next and proud to continue this journey together.
