Over 8,000 foster carers are required says the Fostering Network
A shortage of foster carers is seeing some children and young people moved around to more than 10 families by the time they are a teenager.
The Fostering Network estimates that there is an urgent need for fostering services to recruit 8,370 new foster carers across the UK in 2015, to meet the needs of the rising number of children coming into care.
In Scotland more than 5,500 children live in around 4,400 foster homes, with the charity estimating at least 750 new foster carers are needed to support the rising number of children going into care.
A survey commissioned by the Fostering Network found a quarter of all teenagers in foster care are living with at least their fourth family and one in 20 have had 10 or more.
Younger children are also being shunted about the system with 1 in 3 children aged 5 to 10 currently living with at least their third family in care.
We need people who can open their heart, and their homes, to vulnerable children and young people and use their skills to help support them to reach their full potential
Jackie Sanders, director of The Fostering Network, said: “As each year passes, we see more and more children coming into care. We need people who can open their heart, and their homes, to vulnerable children and young people and use their skills to help support them to reach their full potential.
“In particular we need people who have the skills, patience and passion to look after teenagers who may have had a really tough time and be facing some real challenges, and to offer them love, stability and security.”
As well as finding people willing and able to be foster carers there is also a real need for more foster families to offer homes to siblings and disabled children.
Children often have to live a long way from family, friends and school and are split up from their brothers and sisters.
Finding the right foster carer, at the outset of a child’s journey in care, can lead to stability, improved relationships and a positive experience of childhood, the charity adds.
Cindy, a foster carer who has fostered teenagers for three years, said: “When we were asked what our preference would be when we started fostering, I replied, a young person who needs a family.
“We found ourselves gravitating towards teenagers because all young people face challenges, but I find the teenagers more independent thinking and engaging, and navigating through the teenage years is bumpy but great fun. I have enjoyed shopping, listening to music, and going to theme parks. Fostering teenagers means we never get to grow old. Life is so much more fun having them in our life, and we learn as much from them as they learn from us.”
The 1-14 June is Foster Care Fortnight, to find out more about foster, and supporting children in foster care and foster carers, by visiting fostering.net.
