Charity concerned about foster childcare

A CHARITY is concerned about the number of children being cared for unofficially by people who are not close relatives.

The British Association for Adoption and Fostering commissioned a survey of 1,021 children aged nine to 16 which suggested that more than one in 10 youngsters in England and Wales could have been privately fostered.

Of those, nearly half (46 per cent) were anxious about the arrangement and 42 per cent said no one outside of their family knew what had happened.

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The survey found that of those who had been privately fostered, six per cent said they were not well looked after.

Private fostering is when a child is looked after by someone who is not a close relative for 28 days or more.

By law, parents and carers should tell their local council of the arrangement.

Association chief executive David Holmes said: "The possible extent of private fostering as revealed by this survey is concerning, but it is encouraging that so many people seem to be telling someone about their arrangements.

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"However with less than 2,000 notifications to local authorities last year it could indicate that this information did not get through to the local authority.

"We are urging anyone working in schools, hospitals, GPs' surgeries, mental health services, and probation services to learn about private fostering, and work together with local authorities to ensure that children are safeguarded."

He said "invisible children" who were being privately fostered without the authorities knowing could be at risk of mistreatment.

The association is running an awareness campaign about private fostering this week.

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Children's Minister Delyth Morgan said: "It is vital that local authorities always know about private fostering arrangements, so we can be sure that children and young people are being properly cared for and are not at risk."

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