We help children and young people in need of foster care
Children and young people are fostered for complex reasons:
- Abuse or neglect by parents or other members of the family
- Parent's serious illness or death; mental illness
- Practical problems, such as the difficulties of unsupported single parents
- Problems with relationship, including coping with difficult behaviour, conflicts between young people and their parents
- The need for parents and children to have a break
- Need for care of asylum seeking children or children with no parent in the UK
- Young people who are on remand.
Many looked after children and young people will have been affected by distressing and damaging experiences including physical and sexual abuse and neglect. Some may be in care because of the illness or death of a parent. Others may have disabilities and complex needs. The majority of young people in care come from families who experience hardship and are separated from them because their family was unable to provide adequate care. A tiny minority are in care because of offences they have committed.
Consequently, looked after children and young people experience sadness and loss and often have low self-esteem and are usually more stressed and vulnerable than other children, sometimes because of poor parenting. But even where this is the case, their parents and wider family are very important to them.
Not only do they have to come to terms with the distressing circumstances that have separated them from their families; they also risk losing many valuable memories about their families and childhood. These memories, when put together with knowledge about their families' background, make up an important part of their identity and can help children make sense of some of the bad things that have happened.
The term 'looked after' was introduced by the Children Act in 1989 and refers to children who are subject to care orders and those who are accommodated. Wherever possible, the local authority will work in partnership with the parents. Many children and young people who become looked after retain strong links with their families and many eventually return home.
