Foster Care To Get Funding Boost

Foster parents are to be given more money to provide extras for the young people living with them. In a scheme unique to Northern Ireland, they will be able to buy in music tuition, driving lessons and computers. Research shows that young people in care do not do as well in education. More than half leave school with no qualifications at all.

The government is now giving £1m to pay for the extras which families would often provide for their birth children. The hope is that the personal development of foster children and their exam achievement will improve.

Foster carers will also be offered lessons in how to help with children’s homework. The scheme will not apply to children in care homes, only to those with foster families. The money for the “fostering achievement” scheme will come from the government’s Children and Young People fund.

It is understood carers will also be able to buy larger cars and add extensions to their homes.