Call for young to stay in care until 21
Sarah Cooper
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Plans to allow children to stay in care until the age of 18 do not go far enough, a leading fostering expert has said.
Robert Tapsfield, chief executive of the Fostering Network, has welcomed an announcement of pilot sites for the Right2bCared4 programme, which lets children stay in care longer, but wants to see young people given the chance to stay until the age of 21.
"We should not still be having to argue about the importance of children staying in care until they are 18," he said. "Local authorities need to be making it easier for young people in care to stay with their foster carers until they are 20 or 21."
Right2bCared4 will see 11 local authorities look at the best way to plan care around the needs of young people, giving them a greater say on whether they stay in care until 18 or move into independent flats or hostels. The scheme is part of the Care Matters: Time for Change white paper.
From this month, pilot projects will be run in Bournemouth, Barnet, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Merton, North Tyneside, Oxfordshire, South Gloucestershire, Plymouth, Tower Hamlets and Warwickshire for three years.
In Merton, which has been awarded £110,000 per year, between eight and 10 existing carers interested in continuing fostering beyond the age of 16 are to be recruited. The council is taking the project further than the age of 18 suggested by Right2bCared4 by offering the service to young people into their early twenties.
Dave Hill, director of children, schools and families, said: "This is about legitimising their care through to 24 if they want to stay for that long. For children who have often been through difficult times, to have this opportunity to keep them in a foster placement is fantastic."
In Tower Hamlets young people over 16 can already stay in care, so the pilot will develop support through the role of the independent reviewing officer.
Its £82,500 a year will allow the officer to co-ordinate care planning for young people over 16 who leave local authority care to live with friends or family.
Shahid Tilly, manager of the independent reviewing officers, said: "We want to use the money to develop the role of the independent reviewing officers so they have more meaningful engagement with young people in their care planning."
