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Could you offer a loving home?
13:26, 27 Feb 2012Recruiting foster carers and adoptive parents
As the number of children in care across Nottinghamshire reaches an all-time high, the County Council is launching a month-long campaign on Monday 27 February 2012 to recruit more foster carers and more adoptive parents.
Nottinghamshire County Council needs 50 more foster carers, with 25 of these for children over 10 who are often harder to place and it needs to find adoptive families for 51 children who are currently being looked after by foster carers.
Cabinet member for children and young people’s services Councillor Philip Owen said: "Since the case of Baby P in 2008, awareness of issues facing children in care has grown considerably.
"Across the county, we currently have 776 children in care - nearly double the number four years ago - and we urgently need more people to get in touch who feel that they could offer a stable and loving home to children.
"Our previous drives to recruit more foster carers and adoptive families have been largely successful, but as well as the increasing demand for foster carers, for example, we also have to replace those who are retiring or find that they’re no longer able to foster for various reasons.”
More than half of the county’s children in care are over 10 years old, with a significant number being as old as 16 or 17.
"With fostering and adoption, we have relatively little difficulty recruiting families willing to take babies. Our challenge tends to come in other areas such as placing brothers and sisters together, placing older children and placing children with developmental delay or developmental uncertainty. These are the areas of need in which we need more help.
"So if you are interested in learning more about becoming a foster carer or an adoptive parent, we’d urge you to give us a call or visit our website.”
Gina and Alistair Morton from Hucknall began fostering in 1995 and have cared for over 15 children during that time. They are approved to look after children of five years and older either on a long-term basis or to provide regular short breaks for other carers.
Gina said: "I’d been thinking about fostering for some time and knew a friend who was a foster carer. Alistair and I both have children from previous relationships and we decided to pursue fostering and help young people who couldn’t live with their own families.
"We would recommend anyone who thinks they could be a foster carer to give it a go. There’s a lot of help and support available from the County Council and many, many young people out there who need help and guidance and need to feel loved and wanted.”
Case study
Katrina and Richard Kelly from Newark adopted brother and sister Katie (2) and Anthony (1) through the County Council last year. The couple were approved a year ago. Mother’s Day this year will see the family celebrate both the children’s christenings and the one-year adoption anniversary.
Katrina said: "The whole process fulfilled all our expectations and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the adoption route to anyone who desperately wants children.”
The County Council offers foster carers and adoptive families a range of support, allowances and training.
Thinking about to adopting or fostering a child?
To find out more about adoption or fostering, call the Council’s recruitment teams on tel: 0845 301 8899 for fostering or tel: 0845 3012288 for adoption or visit our website: www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/adoptionandfostering.
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