Number of new private-fostering reports increases

The number of new reports of children being cared for in private fostering arrangements has risen by nine per cent in the past year, the latest figures reveal.

Statistics published by the Department for Education show that in the year ending 31 March 2010, there were 2,370 new notifications to councils, up from 2,180 the previous year.

The British Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF), which runs the Somebody Else’s Child campaign to encourage private foster carers to come forward, said it welcomed the trend but warned the recorded figures still only represent a fraction of the numbers of children privately fostered in England.

David Holmes, BAAF chief executive, said: “It is going in the right direction but we know there are many more children who are privately fostered. While it is encouraging to see the increase we need to see further progress and see the speed of increase going faster.”

Holmes said his charity has received funding to run the awareness campaign again next February.

He added that he had witnessed some “excellent practice” from local-authority private fostering teams but that services were still patchy across the country.

“There is a range of practice, from the absolutely excellent to areas that still need to do a lot of work to develop their private fostering services, but there is some truly excellent practice out there that we can learn from,” he said.

Private fostering refers to when a child is cared for by someone other than a parent or close relative for more than 28 days consecutively.
The Children (Private Arrangements for Fostering) Regulations 2005 placed a duty on local authorities to raise public awareness that they must be notified of private fostering arrangements.