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In response the launch of the independent Care Review in Scotland yesterday, chief executive of The Fostering Network, Kevin Williams, said:
'We welcome the launch of the Care Review and look forward to continuing to support Fiona Duncan as chair and working with the group to share the views of our members in Scotland.
The artistic work of over 100 fostered children and young people will be displayed at Lisburn Library throughout May, as part of The Fostering Network’s Foster Care Fortnight celebrations.
Leading fostering charity The Fostering Network is calling for more under 35s to consider becoming foster carers.
The call comes during the second week of Foster Care Fortnight, as part of the charity’s campaign to help recruit 7,000 new foster families across the UK in the coming year.
Less than five per cent of foster carers are under 35, despite this age group making up about 20 per cent of the UK’s population.
William and Valerie Newell, were nominated by their two foster children, who say any child would be lucky to live with them.
They were given the accolade from The Fostering Network at Northern Ireland’s 2017 Foster Carer of the Year Awards, on Saturday 13 May at the Hilton Hotel, Belfast.
The award selection panel were ‘blown away’ by the stories the Newells shared with them. The couple have been fostering with the Southern Trust for 13 years, looking after many babies, sibling groups and children with complex needs as well as bringing up three children of their own.
As English councils warn that social care services for vulnerable children are approaching breaking point in the face of funding shortfalls, Kevin Williams, chief executive of The Fostering Network, said: ‘For some years now we have been highlighting the impact of austerity on foster care and other services for children in care or on the edge of care.
Foster Care Fortnight 2017, Northern Ireland’s largest celebration of fostering, was launched yesterday (Monday 8 May) at an event in the MAC, Belfast by The Fostering Network in partnership with the Regional Adoption and Fostering Service and hosted by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.
More than 7,000 new foster families are needed in the coming year to ensure that all children can be found the right foster home first time, according to leading fostering charity The Fostering Network at the start of this year’s Foster Care Fortnight (8-21 May). The need is particularly for families to offer homes to teenagers and groups of brothers and sisters.
With this in mind, we are asking everybody with an interest in foster care to promote The Fostering Network’s foster carers’ charter to any prospective councillors they meet. Having a charter in place helps foster carers get the recognition they deserve and need to provide children with the best possible care.
These headlines from our sample charter show what a strong and collaborative fostering service looks like. Challenge your local politicians to commit to a fostering service that can offer foster carers:
The Westminster Government has issued a call for evidence for its stocktake of foster care in England.
The stocktake, announced last year, is seeking to understand what currently works well and why, where improvements are needed to achieve better outcomes for fostered children and identify areas where more research is needed.
Following the publication of the Children Commissioner for England’s Stability Index, Melissa Green, director of operations at The Fostering Network, said: ’We welcome this report as it sheds further light on one of the major issues affecting children in care today.
