WELSH FOSTERED CHILDRENUNDERVALUED, WARNS TOP FOSTERING CHARITY

For immediate releaseWednesday 15April 2009

CHILDREN FOSTERED by half of Wales’s local authoritiesare being undervalued, according to a new survey being published tomorrow (Thursday 16 April 2009).

The survey, carried out by leading fostering charity the Fostering Network Wales, shows that foster carers in half of Wales’s 22 local authorities are receiving fostering allowances below recommended minimum rates. This means their fostering expenses are not fully covered, leaving them out of pocket as a result of fostering or their fostered children going without.

This is despite fostering standards, which state that all foster carers should be reimbursed for the full costs of looking after a fostered child. While the costs of fostering a child are unlikely to vary much across the country, allowances started at just £71 per week and differ widely between authorities.

The Fostering Network’s recommended minimum allowances, published annually, are widely accepted as the benchmark for necessary expenses incurred as a result of fostering. For 2008-09 they started at £121 per week for a baby and varied according to the age of the child.

Freda Lewis, director of the Fostering Network Wales, said: “It‘s high time the Welsh Assembly Government showed that it fully values children in care by making sure that all foster carers across the country have enough money to pay for the things that their fostered children need.

“A statutory requirement on local authorities to give their foster carers an adequate allowance is vital. If this doesn’t happen many Welsh fostered children will remain undervalued and their foster carers will continue to struggle to make ends meet.”

ENDS

For more information contact the Fostering Network on 020 7620 6441/6437/8415 or email

Notes to editors:

  1. Fostering allowances should enable foster carers to provide for a fostered child’s material needs such as clothing, food and personal possessions.
  1. There is no law covering the level of fostering allowances in Wales, leaving local authorities free to set their own rates. In contrast, foster carers in England and Northern Ireland now all receive a minimum allowance set by their governments.
  1. The Fostering Network carried out a surveyof all 22 local authorities in Wales to find out what rate of allowances they paid in 2008-09. The results show that 11 give their foster carers less than the Fostering Network’s recommended minimum rates.
  1. There are around 4,600 children in care on any one day in Wales, with three-quarters (3,500) living with foster families. There are approximately 1,900 foster carers in Wales and the Fostering Network estimates that another 750 are needed.
  1. The Fostering Network is the UK’s leading charity for all those involved in fostering, and aims to make life better for fostered children and the families that care for them.