Push for new foster carers in Coventry and Warwickshire

[dutchman]

A renewed drive to get people to become foster carers in Warwickshire’s getting underway.



Staff from the council will be touring the area over the next few weeks trying to encourage people to sign up, with the roadshow stopping at Nuneaton’s Ropewalk Shopping Centre today.

It comes weeks after a warning more children in care in Coventry could end up being moved out of the city because of a shortage of foster families.

Of the 611 youngsters in care across the city, 450 of them are being looked after by fewer than 200 carers, with the others are in children’s homes.

Charity Barnardo’s estimate across the West Midlands, 650 new carers are needed to satisfy current demand.

Kelly Furness from Warwickshire’s Fostering Service said: “We try to be quite active in the community to create opportunities for people to see us face-to-face.”

“We need to keep the idea of fostering in people’s minds – and there a lot of people out there with skills they’ve used with their own children or in their work lives they could use to foster.”

“We’re particularly interested in meeting potential carers who can offer long-term care or provide homes to teenagers.”

For more information on fostering in Warwickshire, click here and in Coventry, click here.