Reform fostering to revive struggling Welsh care system, top charities demand

Thursday, 1 October, 2009

Fostering requires radical reform if the struggling system in Wales is to cope with pressure from the numbers of children coming into care, seven children’s charities are warning this week, with the launch of a major new campaign.

While hundreds of children have a positive experience of fostering, the system is letting too many children down. With demands on foster carers’ skills, time and experience increasing, reform is vital.

In an open letter to Gwenda Thomas, deputy minister for health and social services, the charities said: "The care system is under pressure. Increasing numbers of children with complex and challenging needs require the stability and security that good foster care can provide.

"But the reality is that despite improvements the system is struggling to cope. Children in care still move too frequently, leave too early and too often fail to get the help they need to achieve their potential. This cannot be allowed to continue.

"It’s time to recognise and value the difference good foster care makes to children’s lives. To achieve this foster carers must be recognised as a crucial part of the child care team, and must be properly paid and supported."

The letter was signed by representatives of the Fostering Network, Action for Children, BAAF, Children in Wales, NSPCC, TACT and Voices from Care. The charities have come together to mark the launch of Together for Change, a new campaign from the Fostering Network.

Freda Lewis, director of the Fostering Network Wales, added: "When foster care works it works really well, providing children with stability, security and a positive experience of family life. But we know that for too many fostered children and too many foster families this is not the case – the system is letting them down.

"Recent high-profile stories have highlighted the pressure the care system is under and the need for reform. With three-quarters of children in care rightly living with foster families, improving outcomes for children in care means improving foster care, and that’s why we are launching this major new campaign.

"Through Together for Change we want to see foster care work for every fostered child and every foster family."

Notes to editors

  1. For more information contact media@fostering.net
  2. Together for Change is the Fostering Network’s new long-term campaign bringing together everyone with an interest in providing the best care and opportunities for fostered children. It has three themes, aiming to ensure that foster carers:
    • have the status and authority to provide children with a good experience of family life
    • have the skills and support they need to help children achieve their potential
    • are properly remunerated
    For more details see www.fostering.net
  3. Around 4,630 children are in the care system on any given day in Wales. Of these, 75 per cent (3,490) live with 1,900 foster families. The Fostering Network estimates there is a shortage of 750 foster families.
  4. The Fostering Network is the UK’s leading charity for all those involved in fostering, and aims to make life better for fostered children and the families that care for them.
Word document: 
application/msword icontfc_launch_wales_011009.doc