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Social services departments can no longer afford to ignore children who are privately fostered because "they are the disasters of tomorrow", Baaf Adoption and Fostering chief executive Felicity Collier warned last week.

Collier told a session at the conference that councils would have "huge problems" if they had to accommodate the estimated 10,000 to 15,000 privately fostered children.

Baaf is working on a set of national minimum standards for councils to work to, which will be released for consultation by the Department for Education and Skills later this year.


The Commission for Social Care Inspection is expected to begin inspecting councils' performance regarding private fostering arrangements next July.

Baaf wants an approved registration scheme for private foster carers, but the government has so far resisted introducing one. However, a "sunset" clause in the Children Bill would allow for such a scheme to be established if the strengthened notification scheme set out in the bill was shown to be not working within four years.