More Carers Needed
In response to a widely recognised and growing need for more prospective foster carers to come forward the clamour for a new national foster carer recruitment campaign grows.
The history of the most recent of these campaigns is one of considerable disappointment but the pressure appears relentless. Government would be well advised to consider resisting this pressure. All too often the failures of the foster care service are blamed almost exclusively on the recruitment "problem".
The Government needs to take a more measured approach to the issues involved. They need to address the recruitment problem as just one of many issues, there are structural changes that need to be considered, issues of foster carer induction, support, training and payment. There are issues concerning the appropriate use of foster care, the "overloading" of existing foster carers and of foster carers leaving the service all together.
The Adoption and Fostering Information Line hopes that pilot projects will be set up that utilise the strengths of the local and national agencies and organisations. From these might come a more fruitful strategy that could be employed nationally.
