CWDC urges fostering services to access training funds

Fostering services are being urged to make use of funding for training foster carers from the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC).

The funding is available to foster care providers – including local authorities, private providers and independent agencies – to support carers undertaking the CWDC’s training, support and development (TSD) standards for foster carers.

The standards should be completed by mainstream foster carers by April 2011, and by short-break carers by June 2011.

There are seven TSD Standards for Foster Carers, including understanding health and safety, and safeguarding children and young people.

National Minimum Standards

The CWDC said completion of the TSD Standards could be included as part of the revised national minimum standards for foster care.

These were promised in 2007’s Care Matters white paper and could be published for consultation by the Department for Children, Schools and Families next month.

To claim funding from the CWDC, foster care providers must indicate how many registered foster carers they have and how many have started the TSD process, along with timeframes for completion.

Payment to fostering providers

The CWDC has so far distributed funding to about 50% of local areas in England. Providers receive an initial £50 per registered foster carer, and another £20 on completion of the TSD Standards.

To access funding, foster care services have to provide their Ofsted registration details for verification.

A CWDC spokeswoman said it thought “most provider agencies” had started the TSD process but it was “difficult to gauge” how quickly local authorities, in particular, would complete it.

Providers can access the CWDC’s secure payment system here

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