Huw Irranca-Davies, Minister for Children and Social Care in Wales, is now encouraging more LGBT people to step forward to Foster or adopt children in Wales. He stated – “Wales  needs more prospective adoptive families to care for the 140 children who are currently waiting for an adoptive family.”

Foster care figures.

Since 2005, adoptions by same-sex couples have been allowed in England and Wales. In the year 2016 t0 2017, 1 in 8 adoptions in Wales were with same-sex couples. In 2017, around 6,000 children in Wales were ‘looked-after’. There are currently 4,435 children in care in Wales.

Huw Irranca-Davies also said –

“It is an exciting time to become a foster carer in Wales. Implementation of the National Fostering Framework will ensure that all foster carers in Wales are properly supported and rewarded to provide the best possible care for the children and young people in their care.”

Foster care recruitment: a point of view.

It is encouraging that following the recent LGBT Adoption and Fostering Week, senior politicians are actively supporting the campaign. There is no doubt that LGBT carers have made a hugely valuable contribution. We just need more of them. So when a Minister celebrates the contribution they make, it is time to spread the message throughout society.

There are still over 7,000 new families needing to be found to offer homes for vulnerable children and young people. A public awareness programme to inform the nation as to the hard work and efforts of its foster carers could have brought some significant benefits. Not the least, it would have cleared up many of the misconceptions people have about foster care. In the recent stocktake the authors put down a challenge; at least in terms of the perception it could create, to a statistic quoted by The Fostering Network – 5,900 new fostering families needed in England. They said about the figure: “it often leads people to assume that we have thousands of children sleeping in children’s homes because there are no foster carers available. That is not so. The overwhelming majority of children who need to be fostered are quickly found placements, and at any one time, significant numbers of approved carers do not have a child to look after.”

What is ignored here is the rising numbers of children experiencing multiple placement breakdowns. The damage done here can be long lasting for the youngsters concerned and certainly to the morale of the carers. This must bear upon the issue of recruitment and retention.

Find out more about foster care…

Fostering is currently facing some particular challenges. There are at present, increasing numbers of children and young people coming into the care system who have what is termed complex needs. Such children commonly have behavioural issues brought on as a result of trauma they experienced before becoming ‘looked after’ by their local authority.

Rainbow are looking for people who want to help these children and young people by training to become therapeutic carers. A therapeutic carer is able to support the therapy programmes a child may need to overcome their experiences. Contact our recruitment team on 020 8427 3355 – or, you can call our National line 0330 311 2845, to discover more about the challenges and unique rewards of therapeutic care can offer. We can also more general information such as – foster carer pay? How long does it take to become a foster carer? Types of fostering to consider, foster carer requirements, can you foster a child if you are in a same sex relationship and can you foster if you are over fifty years of age?

Go to our web link below for our latest Rainbow news – http://bit.ly/2e8PrIK

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