Newcastle's Foster Carer Shortage

Every local authority in England is looking for foster carers, and Newcastle is no exception. The recruitment campaigns on buses and radio are not a branding exercise. There is a genuine and persistent gap between the number of children who need a home and the number of households approved to provide one.

The consequences of that gap are not abstract. They show up as children placed a long way from their school, siblings separated, and teenagers who move repeatedly during the years when stability matters most.

Why the shortage exists.

Several pressures have arrived at once.

The number of children in care in England has risen over the past decade, driven by a mix of poverty, family breakdown, domestic abuse, parental mental ill health and substance misuse.

At the same time the existing carer workforce is ageing. A significant proportion of long-standing foster carers are approaching retirement, and each one who steps back takes years of experience with them.

Housing plays a larger role than most people realise. Fostering generally requires a spare bedroom, and in a city with pressure on housing that alone excludes many households who would otherwise be excellent carers.

The cost of living has an effect too. Fostering allowances are paid, but households doing the arithmetic on a second income and childcare often conclude they cannot afford to take it on.

The children who are hardest to place.

Demand is not evenly spread, and the shortages cluster in predictable places.

Teenagers are the largest group waiting. Public perception of fostering skews towards younger children, and older children are frequently characterised as difficult when what they mostly are is older.

Sibling groups need carers with the space and stamina to take two, three or more children together, and separating siblings is one of the losses children in care report most bitterly in later life.

Children with disabilities or complex health needs require carers with specific capacity and training.

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arrive with particular needs around language, trauma and cultural continuity, and carers who can meet them are in short supply everywhere.

What fostering actually involves.

There is more than one type, and the differences matter.

Short-term or emergency fostering covers a child for a period while longer-term arrangements are worked out, sometimes at very short notice.

Long-term fostering provides a permanent home through to adulthood where returning to the birth family is not possible.

Respite or short breaks give regular, planned support to another foster family or to parents of disabled children, which suits households who cannot commit full time.

Parent and child fostering supports a young parent and their baby together, usually while an assessment is carried out.

Kinship or family and friends fostering is where a relative or someone already known to the child takes on the role. It is a substantial and often overlooked part of the system.

Who can apply.

The eligibility rules are considerably wider than public assumption.

You do not need to be married, to own your home, to be under a certain age, to be in a heterosexual relationship, or to have children of your own. Single people foster. Renters foster, with the landlord's agreement. People in their sixties foster.

You do need a spare bedroom in most circumstances, the time to devote to a child, and to pass assessment.

Assessment is thorough and takes several months. It involves enhanced criminal record checks, medical checks, references, a detailed exploration of your own history and relationships, training, and a panel decision.

Some past convictions are an absolute bar, particularly those relating to children. Many others are not automatically disqualifying and are considered in context.

The support that comes with it.

Approved carers receive a fostering allowance intended to cover the costs of caring for the child, along with a fee element in many arrangements that recognises the skill involved.

There are tax arrangements specific to foster carers that treat the income differently from ordinary earnings, which is worth understanding properly before making financial decisions.

Carers are allocated a supervising social worker, receive ongoing training and have access to out-of-hours support. Local carer associations and national organisations provide peer support, which experienced carers consistently describe as the thing that keeps them going.

Independent agencies also recruit in the region, and prospective carers can approach either the council or an agency.

Why local placements matter.

When a local authority cannot place a child locally, the child may be placed out of area. That can mean a new school, the loss of friendships, a longer journey for contact with birth family, and the erosion of everything familiar at exactly the moment a child has already lost their home.

Recruiting carers in Newcastle keeps Newcastle's children in Newcastle. That is the entire argument, and it is a strong one.

Share your thoughts.

What do you think puts most people off fostering, and what would change their minds?