‘Register private foster care’

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.

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