Lib Dem anger at delays on register
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The Liberal Democrats have criticised the government's plan to give itself more time to decide whether to introduce a compulsory registration scheme for private fostering arrangements.
The Children and Young Persons Bill will give ministers an extra three years to decide whether to require registration of all private fostering arrangements, where parents put their child in someone else's care. Under current laws the government has until November 2008 to implement such a register or lose the right to do so.
Annette Brooke MP, the Lib Dem children's spokeswoman, told CYP Now it was time ministers made a decision. "We were talking about this when we were discussing the 2004 Children Act," she said. "The latest figures show there has been almost no progress at all."
The British Association for Adoption & Fostering (BAAF) said it was important to learn why some authorities are better at persuading parents to register private fostering than others.
Figures recently released by the government suggest there are only 1,250 privately fostered children, but BAAF says the figure is likely to be much higher (CYP Now, 14-20 November).
