Covid pandemic has 'significant influence' on fostering in Hartlepool after rise in children in care

Hartlepool Borough Council chiefs said they have continued to recruit and assess prospective foster carers to limit the authority’s dependence upon ‘more costly, external provision’ for children.

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An update on fostering provision from July to September 2020 is to be provided to the council children’s services committee next week, and there has been an increase of four foster carer households during this time.

This takes the total number of foster carers to 148, and they provide placements for 236 children and young people in total, 11 more than on June 30 2020.

However of the 148 approved fostering households, there were eight which were ‘on hold’ due to, either, the individual circumstances of the carer, or in order to ‘shield’ which equated to nine placements.

A report of the council director of children’s and joint commissioning services Sally Robinson, notes the fostering service has seen increased demand due to the coronavirus outbreak, and staff members have stepped up to help.

She said: “The most significant influence upon the fostering service in this quarter continues to be the Covid pandemic.

“There has been a month-on-month increase in children becoming looked after during this time, the overall number rising from 328 in June, to 360 in September.

“Of those staff members who stepped up in the last quarter to offer ‘non-connected’ emergency care, two have gone on to request full assessment and have taken part in September’s digital ‘Skills to Foster’ preparation programme.”

She adds it is hoped and anticipated that their joining Hartlepool’s foster care ‘family’, alongside the other 26 families being assessed and 11 awaiting assessment, will enable the local authority to continue to meet demand.

However Ms Robinson, in her report, warns some children may need to have their needs met by the independent sector.

She said: “Realistically, however, for some of those children (who are unable to reunite with their family) who will therefore need permanence via foster care, their needs will need to be met by the independent sector.”

In a bid to continue to attract prospective carers from the Hartlepool community to help deal with increased demand, additional recruitment activities have been held.

This has included foster carers, staff and a young person appearing on camera to talk about the need for, the rewards from and the impact of fostering for children and young people.

The reach of the short videos – which went out on social media – was very wide, one item having reached ‘18,000 people within 48 hours’.

However it has been warned while this has led to an increased enquiry rate, it is ‘well known’ that a quick and proactive response is crucial to maintaining interest and momentum, which is more difficult due to Covid-19 pressures.

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