A Birmingham couple are supporting an urgent campaign to find more foster carers to look after the UK’s most vulnerable children.
Dr Thomas Barnardo started fostering children more than 130 years ago and since then the charity has helped hundreds of thousands to grow up happy and healthy.
Now the charity is calling for more people to consider providing caring and stable home environments to help transform young lives, as there’s a pressing need to find more than 7,000 foster carers in the next 12 months to support children desperately in need of loving families.
The campaign is being supported by Birmingham couple Shakeel Ahmed and Zahida Bibi, who are foster carers for Barnardo’s.
YouGov research for the charity reveals nearly half (46 per cent) of people think a lack of support from fostering agencies is likely to put people off fostering, 62 per cent say they think people may not be confident they can look after a foster child, and 45 per cent believe not having any training on how to be a foster carer could be an issue.
However, in stark contrast, a poll by Barnardo’s of its own foster carers reveals that more than 8 in 10 carers (82 per cent) are happy with the level of support and advice they receive from their Barnardo’s fostering service and believed it was “excellent” or “good”, while three quarters (75 per cent) said they would recommend their Barnardo’s fostering service to others.
Barnardo’s foster carers rate the support and training they receive highly, with almost 80 per cent saying the out-of-hours support was either good or very good. Almost 90 per cent also rated Barnardo’s supervising social workers as good or very good.
Barnardo’s support includes 24-hour access to a qualified social worker, training, access to foster carer support groups, short breaks and a generous financial fee.
Marcia Briscoe is the operations manager for the Barnardo’s West Midlands Fostering & Short Breaks Service, based in Halesowen.
She said: “Children who have been taken into care have sometimes experienced trauma or difficult circumstances making everyday challenges more difficult to overcome.
“Having a foster carer to support them through the difficult times can help enormously but our carers can only do this if they're properly supported too. That’s why we ensure they have everything they need - including advice, training and peer support - to feel confident they can help transform a young life.”
To find out more about becoming a foster carer, or the support Barnardo’s can offer visit www.barnardos.org.uk/fostering or call the Barnardo’s West Midlands Fostering & Short Breaks Service on 0121 550 5271.
