North West faces foster care crisis

A CALL has gone out across the North West for people interested in becoming foster carers.
The Fostering Network says there is need for a further 1,200 new families across the region this year.
The call comes with the launch of the charity’s annual Foster Care Fortnight and is supported by the results of a new survey showing that two in five (40%) fostered teenagers are already living with their third foster family since going into care.
The survey, covering over 1,600 fostered children and young people, also found that:
*One in four (25%) fostered teenagers are living with at least their fourth family in care
*One in six (17%) fostered teenagers are living with at least their fifth family in care
*One in 20 (5%) fostered teenagers are living with least their 10th family in care.
The findings highlight the need to find more people who are willing and able to foster teenagers. There is also a real need for more foster families to offer homes to siblings and disabled children.
In addition, almost one in three (29%) of children aged 5 to 10 are currently living with at least their third family in care, with one in five (18%) living with at least their fourth family in care.
There are currently 8,920 children and young people living with foster families across the North West. Being moved from home to home can have a hugely detrimental effect on children’s education, wellbeing and ability to make and maintain relationships.
Not being able to find the right foster carer also means that children too 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.
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.
“Fostering services across the North West are working hard to recruit and support foster carers with the right skills so that each child who needs it can have the home and family they need and deserve.”
Find out more about fostering, and supporting children in foster care and foster carers, by visiting fostering.net