Many council areas are struggling with a shortage of skilled and qualified foster carers, and demand for these vital services is continuing to grow. So what’s the situation?
The national fostering shortage
A fostering agency in the West Midlands has raised awareness about the shortage of foster parents and is keen to encourage more people to consider this route. The issue is mirrored across the UK with foster care Wrexham and other areas often struggling to find enough foster carers to meet demand. Families Fostering is just one private agency, working in Staffordshire and Shropshire, and it is using its 5-year anniversary to encourage more take-up. They hope that more people will consider whether they could be a foster carer.
What are the barriers to fostering?
Agency workers delivering foster care in Wrexham often comment that foster children are seen as ‘damaged’, but they want to challenge this misconception. Many young people gain huge benefits by being fostered, and foster carers also feel that they are doing something worthwhile. Other potential foster carers worry that they will not be able to cope, and some feel that foster caring rates are not financially realistic for a full-time job, something that agencies are trying to challenge with the government.
What opportunities exist in fostering?
There are all kinds of different fostering arrangements, from emergency fostering to therapeutic fostering for children who have lived through early trauma. Fostering is also paid, with foster carers receiving a range of allowances that help them to foster as a full-time job.
Why consider being a foster carer?
With so many different types of fostering and all different kinds of foster carers, from a variety of backgrounds, being welcomed, it offers a great chance to have a thriving, challenging, but hugely rewarding new purpose in life at any stage. Foster carers must be aged 21 plus, be eligible to work in the UK and have a spare room. Full training and support is given at every stage, and many foster carers say that they could never imagine doing anything else.
