Don't ignore services that work to keep families together

Society must not ignore the value of family support services that aim to keep families in crisis together, the Fostering Network will warn at a national conference in Bristol on Tuesday 9 February.

While investment in good quality foster care is vital for those children who need it, early intervention schemes and family support services can help families overcome problems and stay together, preventing children from being taken into care.

At the Support Care Conference in Bristol, the Fostering Network will call on all local authorities and independent fostering providers to make early intervention and family support services a priority and to set up a support care scheme in their area.

Rather than being placed with a foster family or in a residential unit, support care schemes enable children to remain at home and spend regular short breaks with a specialist support foster carer.

Freda Lewis, director of the Fostering Network Wales, said: “There has been much debate about when children should be brought into care and we believe every effort should be made to help children stay with their birth families, when it’s in the child’s best interests.

“Schemes like support care can make a huge difference for many families who have reached crisis point. While budgets are tight, we simply cannot afford to ignore the difference that effective family support services can make. In fact, by investing in our children and their families now, we believe local authorities will save money in the future.”