Foster Care Fortnight: York children and young people need local foster carers now
City of York Council’s fostering team is urging local people like you to help change children and young people’s lives through fostering.
The council always needs local people to provide safe, loving homes to children and young people who can’t live with their birth families.
And there are lots of benefits to fostering with your local council, rather than with other commercial or charitable organisations. These include local support and training from our specialist team; helping York children and young people, and being part of our wider York fostering community, where foster carers support one another.
Martin Kelly, OBE, the council’s corporate Director of Children and Education, explained: “Fostering for your local council really does ensure that you’re supporting children in York who need your help. And fostering for City of York Council means that you’ll benefit from one of the best financial packages in the region.
“We don’t expect our foster carers to foster for free, though we know that many of them don’t come into fostering for the financial benefits. Our foster carers receive a competitive fee each week, on top of the standard allowance to cover the day-to-day costs of each child they foster.”
Cllr Bob Webb, the council’s Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, said: “Our foster carers are all ordinary people doing the most extraordinary role and we are incredibly grateful for the love and support their give our children and young people each and every day.
“But we always need more foster carers to help provide local children with safe homes in and around York. Our foster carers are as unique as the children and young people they foster, so I’d urge anyone who’s thinking about fostering to get in touch and find out more. You don’t have to have children of your own, be married or in a relationship, or own your own home to foster. And you can work, have pets and live alone, as long as you have a spare room and space in your heart, we’d love to hear from you.”
York’s fostering families will be celebrating Foster Care Fortnight together at a family fun day event.
To find out more about how you could change a local child’s life through fostering visit https://fostering.york.gov.uk/