Independent agencies report rise in complexity of foster children's needs
Derren Hayes
Monday, March 6, 2023
Independent fostering agencies (IFA) have seen a rise in referrals of children with complex needs, sibling groups and babies in the past year, latest research suggests.
A survey of IFAs by the National Association of Fostering Providers (NAFP) found there has been a significant uptick in the number of very young children and large sibling groups referred to agencies from local authorities since spring 2022 due to a shortage of internal placements available.
The NAFP report, which does not include any statistical data, states that in England the rise in referrals for placements for under-fives has been accompanied by a decline in referrals for over-15s. This trend was seen across all regions but was particularly marked in Greater London, the South East and West Midlands.
Greater London has also seen a marked rise in referrals for sibling groups, according to the report, although this is a trend across England over the past 18 months. Senior placement officers interviewed for the report hypothesised that the recent rise in sibling group referrals could be due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and cost-of-living crisis.
IFAs referred to the need for creative approaches to meet the needs of siblings and to ensure that they were placed together or as geographically close as possible. For example, considering if one sibling group could be placed in two households that were geographically close and where there was confidence that the foster carers could enable siblings to spend time together on a regular basis.
There was a consensus among IFAs that the young people being referred to them had more complex needs issues than before the pandemic – and that these were often not fully considered by local authorities trying to find placements for children. The most common example of this was where a referral requested a ‘standard placement’ when the provider felt the child’s needs warranted a placement with a higher level of specialist care.
The shortage of placements nationally has also resulted in local authorities expanding the geographical area of their searches, meaning that providers are increasingly receiving referrals from local authorities located some distance away, and with no prior commissioning or contracting relationship in place.
Another emerging trend that accelerated in the last three months of 2022 is the increase in referrals for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, many with complex needs due to the trauma they’d experienced. IFAs expressed frustration that referrals from councils often came with little information about the child’s needs or individual requirements.
IFAs also highlighted the problem of unaccompanied children being separated from those they had bonded with during their journey to the UK, increasing the risk they would run away from their foster carers. They suggested unaccompanied children be located close to the people they feel are most important to them.
Harvey Gallagher, chief executive of NAFP, said: “At the start of the pandemic, there was an increased demand for IFA foster care for teenagers. Since then, referrals for children under 12 years have been increasing and our study suggested a growing complexity of need in these younger children, resulting in it being sometimes harder to find foster carers for younger children than it is for teenagers. IFAs are reporting seeing an increase in referrals for babies, some of whom do not have complex needs, historically, not something we might have expected.
“Referral trends are also, though, impacted on by a variety of other factors, including the global pandemic, socio-economic changes and local authorities re-shaping their own provision.”
The report includes several recommendations for local authorities, IFAs and the government, including more flexible funding arrangements for unaccompanied children who wish to remain in foster placements.
