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UK
Children in need
Most children and young people can rely on the
constant support of their parents while they are growing up. Parents who
look after them, comfort them when things go wrong, praise them when
they do something well, support them with their schoolwork, and
encourage them to achieve their goals in life. But this is unfortunately
not the case for every child. Across England there are over 60,000
children and young people in care whose families are, for a wide variety
of reasons, unable to offer them all of this support. Two-thirds of
these children live with foster families. Yet the system that should be
helping these children to achieve their potential is all too often
letting them down.
A survey by the Fostering Network, released to
coincide with this month's Foster Care Fortnight, found that 47% of
looked-after children in the UK had experienced at least one change of
school, in addition to expected age-related moves, since coming into
care. One in five of those who responded had experienced two or more
additional changes of school, with one in 20 moving schools at least
four times. Children coming into care have a hard enough time finding
their feet without having to cope with a school move. And for those who
get moved time and time again, it is hardly surprising that they fail to
match the achievements of children from more stable backgrounds. Only
11% of looked-after children in England achieved five GCSEs at grades A*
to C in 2005, compared with 56% of all children, while less than 5% of
care leavers go on to university. These poor outcomes are mirrored in
Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The Fostering Network believes that the shortage of
foster carers - more than 10,000 across the UK - is one of the key
factors in these poor educational outcomes. The shortage leads to
children living miles away from their friends and families, being split
up from their brothers and sisters, and, most worryingly, being moved
between foster families - the latest figures show that 15% of
looked-after children over 10 have had three or more placements in the
past 12 months. It is these frequent moves that all too often mean a
change of school, making it hard for children to achieve academically,
and also making it hard to make and maintain relationships.
In an attempt to tackle this damaging shortage of
foster carers, the Fostering Network is once again co-ordinating Foster
Care Fortnight. The nationwide campaign aims to raise awareness of
fostering and to recruit more foster carers. A wider pool of carers
would enable local authorities to find the right foster family for more
children, meeting their needs in terms of culture, religion, language,
location and interests. And it is when good matches are made that foster
carers are able to offer children stability, and to make a real and
lasting difference in their lives. But while Foster Care Fortnight helps
to highlight the shortage of foster carers and encourage people to come
forward, a two-week campaign once a year is not enough.
In order to transform outcomes for looked-after
children, we need to see sustained investment in fostering from the
government, and a commitment from local authorities to provide foster
carers with the resources and support they need to do their jobs.
Fostering services that are prepared to pay and support their foster
carers properly have shown that it is possible to recruit the number of
foster carers needed, but unfortunately many still have to learn this
lesson.
The Fostering Network is therefore calling on the
governments of the UK to provide sufficient funding to allow local
authorities to implement allowances that cover the full cost of
fostering, a fee structure that pays foster carers for their work, a
framework for training foster carers, and support systems that enable
them to care for vulnerable children. Being taken into care can be
traumatic for a child, but this does not mean that their potential
should be left unfulfilled. Despite the depressing statistics, there are
many success stories of children in foster care - indeed, with a theme
of fostering brighter futures, this year's Foster Care Fortnight also
celebrates what many fostered children have achieved and continue to
achieve. And with the continued hard work and commitment of foster
carers, and improvement of their fostering services, more and more of
society's most vulnerable children can look forward to brighter futures
and a happier life.
Robert Tapsfield is chief executive of the Fostering
Network The Fostering Network is the UK's leading charity for all those
involved in fostering, and exists to ensure that all fostered children
receive the highest standards of care. To find out more about Foster
Care Fortnight and the work of the Fostering Network, contact 020 7620
6400 or visit www.fostering.net
Robert Tapsfield
May 16, 2006
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/comment/story/0,,1775502,00.html
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