Search for new foster families in Southampton

6:00am Friday 15th March 2013 in News

Search for new foster families Search for new foster families

A NEW drive has been launched to find foster carers from among Southampton's various religious groups.

The city council has launched its Families For Forty campaign to find homes for some of the city's children who are currently in care.

It already has wide support from churches and the city Council of Faiths, and is aiming to find homes for 40 children.

To launch the campaign, Paul Woodman, the leader of City Life Church, presented council cabinet member for children's services Sarah Bogle with artwork containing 40 keys.

The work represents the search for the 40 new homes.

Cllr Bogle said: “We've seen an unprecedented increase in the number of children coming in to care in the last two to three years, which has put increased pressure on the council's existing pool of foster carers.

“The council has been recruiting new carers at an increased rate in order to try and meet the new level of demand, and working alongside the different faith groups will help find new foster families for some of our most vulnerable children.”

If you are interested in fostering a child, visit the council website.

Comments(10)

loosehead says...
8:12am Fri 15 Mar 13

Why hasn't the Echo printed the whole story?
The council has approached all faiths?
Funny that in church last Sunday we were told it was Christian families that were wanted & it was 40 families?
Also the reason given by the council was a saving of £1million to the council so why hasn't this story been researched properly?

Report this post »

SholingBoy says...
11:42am Fri 15 Mar 13

The press release has been truncated - full version is on the Southampton City Council website - latest news. The campaign is by churches and faith groups in the city. The launch included representatives from the Council of Faiths and church groups.

The reason for the campaign is to find caring, safe homes for children.

Information evenings are advertised on the website www.families440.org.
uk

Report this post »

SholingBoy says...
11:45am Fri 15 Mar 13

Here is the Southampton press release http://www.southampt
on.gov.uk/news-event
s/latest-news/faithg
roupfosteringdrive.a
spx

Report this post »

lifeleaderchris says...
11:45am Fri 15 Mar 13

Whilst there are some inaccuracies in the report, it is good to see the Families for Forty campaign in the media. The campaign is a response from the faith communities to the cities needs rather than a council campaign. The aim is to see 40 children in homes. It seems that the response has largely been from the Christian community so far. Any saving for the council is a help rather than a motive.

Report this post »

lifeleaderchris says...
11:46am Fri 15 Mar 13

Whilst there are some inaccuracies in the report, it is good to see the Families for Forty campaign in the media. The campaign is a response from the faith communities to the cities needs rather than a council campaign. The aim is to see 40 children in homes. It seems that the response has largely been from the Christian community so far. Any saving for the council is a help rather than a motive.

Report this post »

loosehead says...
12:28pm Fri 15 Mar 13

Sorry but at my church we were told this was a way to save the council a million pounds a year.
this was the reason behind the council doing it.
When you foster children if for more than a couple of nights you are given money towards the upkeep of the children & some Foster Parents receive a wage to take on long term children.
what we were not told was if you would take on these children for free & pay for their upkeep so saving the council this money?
I have looked at fostering & the lady said little glass squares in your door will have to be made safe,you won't be able to get the children involved in sports or take them to church or even take them for a holiday unless their parents are okay with it?
So the parents object to church so who's staying home to look after them?
Sorry this is nothing but a cost cutting exercise by the council

Report this post »

SholingBoy says...
1:30pm Fri 15 Mar 13

We launched this campaign from the faith groups as a caring response to the 480 children currently in care in our city. There are plenty of adoptive parents/foster carers who have a faith/go to church. I am one of them. Sorry you have heard some misinformation, quite a lot unfortunately! Come along to one of the information evenings and find out more...

Report this post »

TheWhiteTiger says...
2:09pm Fri 15 Mar 13

Great to see faith groups taking an active approach to caring for some of our city's most vulnerable people - and recruiting others to do the same.

Report this post »

loosehead says...
3:32pm Fri 15 Mar 13

SholingBoy wrote:
We launched this campaign from the faith groups as a caring response to the 480 children currently in care in our city. There are plenty of adoptive parents/foster carers who have a faith/go to church. I am one of them. Sorry you have heard some misinformation, quite a lot unfortunately! Come along to one of the information evenings and find out more...
I was interviewed by Angela Morton,
My wife goes to church & at that time I coached Rugby.
we were asked if one of us would give up on these if the parent objected to them.
we were told we couldn't take them on day trips unless the parent okayed it & anything we wanted to do to give these children an interest we couldn't do it unless the parents gave us permission.
We have doors(internal) with little glass squares we were told we would have to replace them even though we might only have the child for one or two nights?
In the end the things we could or couldn't do got so restrictive we decided not to go ahead with fostering.
we were told as we hadn't had children(my fault low count) we might not be allowed to foster & this was the final straw.
I heard a vicar at Lordshill church tell us the reason for the appeal her name was Trudy & it was said it would save the council £1million so we saw this as a cost saving exercise & nothing elswe

Report this post »

SholingBoy says...
3:38pm Fri 15 Mar 13

Sorry to hear your experience.The information evenings will have representatives from the fostering team, current foster carers and those interested - to give an open space for people to say how they have resolved some of these things. Feel free to come along or invite others.

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree