Over 500 foster children in the South West are placed at least 20 miles from home, government figures reveal. These foster children have to travel for hours to visit friends and family. Many also face having their education disrupted as they are forced to move to a school closer to their foster family.
In the South West there is a shortage of 600 foster carers and across the UK the figure increases to 10,000. To address the situation 14–27 May 2007 is Foster Care Fortnight, a national campaign organised by the Fostering Network that aims to recruit more foster carers. This year the campaign is calling on people in the South West and the rest of the UK to think about helping a local child by fostering.
The shortage of foster carers in the South West is narrowing the options for fostering services when it comes to placing children with families that live close to home and provide the right care. Statistics show that children placed with foster carers not best suited to meet their needs often fail, causing further damaging disruption as children are moved to another foster home.
Robert Tapsfield, chief executive of the Fostering Network, said:
"Society needs more people to step forward to take on this extraordinary challenge. With 50,000 children in foster care in the UK, the likelihood is that your community includes vulnerable children in need of a stable home close to family, friends and school. Foster Care Fortnight is the ideal time to get in contact with your fostering service to find out more about becoming a foster carer.
"It is unacceptable that such a high proportion of children find themselves moved so far when they come into foster care. It is a difficult enough experience for some of the region’s most vulnerable children without the added stress of a school move, or finding friends and family suddenly hours away.
"Is is a sad fact that children in the care system do not achieve as highly as their peers in the classroom. Only 11 percent gained five GCSE grades A* to C, compared to 56 per cent of all children in the UK. Frequent school moves put children in care at a real educational disadvantage, and that is all too clear when you look at the figures."