One tenth of foster children face more than three moves a year

More than one in 10 foster children in England faced the upheaval of being moved more than three times last year, according to a report published today.

The Commission for Social Care Inspection study finds that fostering services have improved overall since 2002 but more than a quarter of agencies do not have enough staff or carers.

And many agencies, from both the local authority and independent sectors, have no strategy in place to address the problem, the report reveals.

It recommends agencies ensure that foster carers receive the correct guidance and training, and that their pool of carers is large enough to take into account children’s ethnicity, religion, language needs, disabilities or other special needs.

CSCI chair Denise Platt said: “Children’s emotions and thoughts need to be considered more, and they need to be part of the planning of their care, so that their individual needs can be met.”

The right people for me – Helping Children Do Well in Long-Term Foster Care from www.csci.org.uk