Foster parent shortage adding to care crisis

Retirement among foster carers is adding to the crisis in the social care system, a charity has warned. Figures released by the Fostering Network found 65% of foster carers were aged 50 or over and only 6% of the country’s 72,000 foster carers are in their 30s.
  The charity warned that most foster families give up at retirement age and this will add to the shortage of 10,000 foster carers in Britain.
 
With a rise in care applications to courts, following the case of Baby Peter, the group also warned children would be placed with any available family rather than one that meets their needs.
 
As a result children can lose touvh with other members of their family and be forced to move schools, adding further disruption to their lives.
 
More than 70% of the 60,000 children in care live with foster families rather than in residential care.
 
Robert Tapsfield, chief executive of the Fostering Network, called on councils to take action: ‘It’s extremely worrying that such a very high proportion of the foster care workforce is potentially so close to retiring.
 
He called for councils to pay foster carers for their work to make it a career: ‘In order to avert the impending crisis, it’s essential that we attract people of all ages. Older people can bring experience and skills from previous jobs, while it’s essential we also appeal to the untapped pool of those in their twenties, thirties and forties, who are particularly well placed to offer long-term care to younger children.’