A recent statement issued by Scotland’s thirty-two Chief Social Work Officers has highlighted an acute shortage of available fostering homes in Scotland, with children as young as three being placed in residential homes.

Whilst a shortage of foster carers across the UK has been a long-standing issue, children under five years old being placed in residential homes alongside much older young people is alarming. A local authority’s own foster carers are historically approached first to care for very young children, so with residential home placements being sought instead – this points to a general lack of foster carers across Scotland. This points to a care emergency that should be triggering an urgent ‘call to action’ for the government and fostering providers to increase carer recruitment efforts.

Andy Elvin, TACT CEO and Chair of The Fairer Fostering Partnership, said: “With the recent statement issued by Scotland’s thirty-two Chief Social Work Officers with regards to the acute shortage of available fostering homes, it is clear that this is a care emergency. Children as young as three being placed in residential homes isn’t acceptable or in the best interests of children.

“Here at TACT, we’ve introduced a number of financial wellbeing initiatives to help make fostering viable for more people. We’ve also introduced our ‘making spaces’ program centred around increasing our carers’ spare bedroom capacity to provide additional care, particularly to help bring siblings together.

“However, we do need more action at a governmental level as a matter of urgency to bring more people to fostering across Scotland. We would happily work with our Scottish LA colleagues and the Scottish government in a national foster carer recruitment effort. It is clear that we need to work together in concert to address this emergency. The new legislation requiring that all Independent Fostering Providers are charities is an excellent opportunity to promote fostering across Scotland.”

So what can be done? The initial response needs to be focused on finding suitable foster homes for those under fives that are being placed in residential homes. Providing care for young people with complex needs has also been highlighted as a priority. Local authorities would need to prioritise their own recruitment strategies, of course. Independent fostering agencies based in, or covering Scotland, should not only formulate integrated carer recruitment marketing campaigns aimed at providing care for the under fives – they should be looking to nurture and upskill their current foster carers, where possible.

Moving forward, there does need to be a general change in the way local authorities approach the referral and matching process for under fives and, in fact, all young people.

All referrals for foster care should call on both in-house local authority carers and external agency carers simultaneously – with the ‘best match’ being the goal in every single scenario. With a level playing field of care requests, all fostering providers would be in a better position to respond to care emergencies such as this. Ultimately it would help to create a wider pool of skilled foster carers able to care for children of all ages and with differing needs.

Read more about fostering in Scotland with TACT.