There are 70,000 children in the public care system in the UK. This number could be significantly reduced if more local authorities used support care to help families in crisis, writes Freda Lewis.
Support care schemes - currently run by around 35 English and Welsh local authorities - aim to help families through serious problems with the aim of keeping them together. Rather than being moved to a foster family or residential unit, children remain at home and spend regular short breaks with a specialist foster carer.
Keeping children out of public care where possible is the best result for their families. It is also much cheaper than residential or long-term foster care so helps over-stretched social services budgets.
Take Michael, for example. When his wife left him, he became the sole carer for his four sons, three daughters and two step-daughters. He did his best but with the pressure of living in overcrowded accommodation, struggling to make ends meet and keep track of the children's lives, he quickly found himself at breaking point.
The children stopped going to school, their behaviour was increasingly antisocial, the flat was getting damper and dirtier and there was no money to fix the boiler. The family came to the attention of social services and the children were classed as children in need and placed on the child protection register.
All nine children were at risk of entering the care system, but a forward-thinking social worker realised that if the housing situation could be addressed, other issues could then be tackled while keeping the children at home. She suggested support care for the two children, Ben, seven, and Dan, nine, deemed to be in greatest need.
Ben and Dan spent two weekends a month with their separate support carers for 18 months. They settled in quickly and enjoyed activities that they could do at home, including visits to local parks, swimming, gardening, and cooking.
The family has now moved to a house with a garden. Michael has struck up a friendship with a local foster carer who he chats to about any parenting issues he's struggling with. They have acquired a reliable car so they can go on outings and get to school on time. There are now strict boundaries in place regarding behaviour and school attendance. The children have been taken off the child protection register and the children in need list.
And what did all this cost the local authority? It came to just under £8,000 in carers' fees, retainers and allowances for 18 months. What would it have cost if the children had been taken into full-time foster care for the same period? Over £27,000, and that would just be for the two children. It would have been much more if all nine had required full-time foster care.
The Fostering Network wants all local authorities to offer support care to families that could benefit from it. It makes financial sense as well being the best option for many families. The Fostering Network believes that local authorities cannot afford to not offer support care.
· Freda Lewis is director of the Fostering Network Wales. The Fostering Network's conference Support Care - The preventative face of foster care takes place in Cardiff tomorrow. Visit www.fostering.net for more details
