Councils fall short in efforts to monitor private foster care

If the rate of voluntary notification about private fostering does not improve then local authorities face being hit with a compulsory registration scheme next year.

The Commission for Social Care Inspection inspected 50 local authorities last financial year, before it merged with Ofsted. But the findings from the inspections, which were unveiled last week at a British Association for Adoption & Fostering (BAAF) conference, show only one in ten councils have developed a comprehensive strategy on private fostering arrangements.

Of the remainder, 14 per cent had made significant progress on notifications, but 54 per cent had seen little or no progress and 22 per cent knew of only one or fewer privately fostered children in their area.

Councils are currently required to raise public awareness of the requirement to notify them about private fostering arrangements. But under the Children Act 2004, the government has the power to introduce a compulsory registration scheme for private fostering within four years of the Act becoming law.

David Holmes, chief executive of BAAF, said: "The serious question is: 'have we received enough evidence that enhanced notification is working? If not, what else do we need to do?'"