Cumbria Fostering is pleased to announce that Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council are among five local authorities to receive funding of more than £1m to boost foster carer recruitment in the region.
Cumberland Council, Westmorland and Furness Council, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool Council and Lancashire County Council have been successful in a regional bid to become a pathfinder for the Regional Fostering Recruitment and Retention Hub.
The Pathfinder has been awarded £1.2 million and will help others learn how to successfully implement regional approaches to foster carer recruitment - nationally.
Funded by the Department for Education (DfE), the hub will act as a first point of contact for those interested in fostering. Over the next two years, the government has pledged to deliver a fostering recruitment and retention programme so foster care is available for more children who need it.
The funding announcement has been welcomed by Cllr Emma Williamson, Executive member for Children and Family Wellbeing at Cumberland Council. She said: “Along with our partner local authorities in the North West region we are delighted to be part of this ground breaking, collaborative approach to foster carer recruitment.
“Our aim is always to ensure we can find the right families to foster our most vulnerable children and we are confident that this new programme will help us reach more potential foster carers.”
Cllr Sue Sanderson, Cabinet member Children’s Services Education and Skills at Westmorland & Furness Council, also welcomed the news of the successful funding bid. She said: “We welcome this funding announcement from the government. With declining foster carer numbers and an increase in need for stable homes for our most vulnerable children, we really need an initiative to encourage more people in to foster care.
“We hope that this collaboration in foster care recruitment will support, enable and empower our foster carers to care for all our children in loving family homes.”
The hub’s aim will be to build upon regional relationships to achieve a shared vision for foster care. Launching by April 2024, it will also help carers make an informed choice about how fostering could work for them and to guide them through the approval process.
In total there will be 10 similar clusters running this programme across the country, comprised of 98 local authorities. Over the course of the programme there will be lots of opportunities to share experience, evidence and learning and the regional hubs will be instrumental in shaping the future of foster care recruitment and retention.
For those interested in fostering in Cumbria please visit cumbriafostering.org.uk to find out more about fostering with your local authority.