Foster care needs more emphasis

Tony Blair’s high-profile support for adoption
is overshadowing the need to recruit new foster carers, it has been
claimed.

A
survey published this week by the Fostering Network found there was
a shortage of some 8,000 foster carers across the UK. This follows
a report by BAAF Adoption and Fostering calling for more emphasis
on long-term fostering.

The
researchers found that while no local authorities had written
policies prioritising adoption, there was an impression that
long-term foster care was of a lower status and spoken about
negatively.

The
research looked at the care plans for 113 children across six local
authorities, covering London, metropolitan and shire areas with a
range of high and low use of adoption.

In
London, nearly half of all children aged between ones and 12 and in
continuous care for nearly 12 months had an adoption plan set,
compared with 30 per cent in other metropolitan areas and 20 per
cent in shires.

“People think that children in
foster care are the unlucky one whereas fostering is suitable for
many more children,” said Jackie Sanders of the Fostering
Network.

–
The Plan for the Child, Adoption and Long-Term Fostering
is available priced £9.95 from www.baaf.org.uk   Also see www.fostering.net