Campaign for more foster carers launched in region

Nationally, there is an acute shortage of foster carers and Calderdale Council is tackling the problem there by launching a campaign to recruit more.

It has streamlined the way in which it recruits carers, reducing the expected average time it takes for someone from making an initial enquiry to actually becoming a foster carer to six months – the previous average was 12 months.

Today the council will launch a recruitment campaign involving council leader Janet Battye and many leading councillors.

She said: “We want people who are able to make a difference to young people’s lives to seriously think about fostering.

“In Calderdale we have 300 children in need of fostering and at the moment we have 90 foster carers – we really need to double the number of our own foster carers for there to be a good choice for those children who can’t live with their own families. So we’re launching the campaign to attract more people who are thinking about committing to becoming foster carers. But we are also working hard to make sure that when people do make an enquiry, the path to becoming foster carers is easier and quicker than in the past. We value every person who is either providing foster care or who is thinking about becoming a foster carer. We need to provide the best support we can to those already fostering and make the process quicker and easier for those who want to become foster carers.”

The new campaign includes: new advertising material placed on billboards and buses, clearer information on the council’s website and new information packs.

Calderdale’s Cabinet member for children’s social care, Coun Megan Swift, said: “Not having enough foster carers often means that children cannot be placed with the right foster carers, in their own area, or brothers and sisters may have to be placed in separate foster families. If the right foster family is not available straight away this can sometimes mean that children have to be placed with fostering agencies outside of the borough.”

Foster carers currently receive payments that range between £10,280 and £28,836 per year based on individual circumstances and the needs of the child for whom they care.