How do you become a foster carer – and how much do you get paid?

More than 9,000 new foster carers are required across the UK to make up the shortfall. Illustration: Sarah Tanat-Jones/The Guardian

There is a hug at the end of the novel Matilda that never ends. It is the one Miss Honey gives Matilda when her parents abandon her. “Matilda leapt into Miss Honey’s arms and hugged her, and Miss Honey hugged her back,” Roald Dahl wrote in 1988.

Today, foster carers like Miss Honey are in short supply. Since 2014, the number of children coming into care has risen by 11%. Yet it is estimated that 12% of foster carers left the sector last year, triggering what has been described as a recruitment and retention crisis.