An appeal has been been for more foster carers in Northumberland to help keep vulnerable children within their communities.
Too often, due to a lack of foster carers, youngsters are placed with families away from their local communities and sibling groups are separated, The Fostering Network and Northumberland County Council's foster care team have warned.
The issue is being highlighted during Foster Care Fortnight, which runs until May 22, as calls are made for more people to come forward to foster children to ensure they can be cared for locally. More than 430 young people are currently in care in Northumberland.
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Coun Guy Renner-Thompson, the council's cabinet member for children’s services, said: "The council currently supports over 160 foster families, but with close to over 430 children in care, there is an urgent need for more people to come forward and join the team.
"You could make a real difference to the lives of local children and young people by offering them a stable home.
"We greatly appreciate everything our Northumberland foster carers do for children in care, and we can't thank them enough. By supporting each other and working together as a team, our fostering community makes sure that our children can grow up locally and safe, in a nurturing and loving environment, to reach their full potential."
Graham Reiter, service director for children's social care, added: "We want to make sure that our children can stay with foster families local to the communities they are familiar with. This minimises further disruption to their lives by helping them stay in their school, close to their friends, and maintaining connections with other family members.
"If you think you have the space in your home and your heart, and the skills needed to help children thrive, please get in touch. You can call us or join one of our face-to-face or online 'Is fostering for me?' sessions."
Backing the campaign are partners Jonny and Dean, from Blyth Valley, who decided to apply to become long-term foster carers after feeling they had "so much more to give".
Jonny, 34, a community nurse, said: "We currently have a little seven-year-old boy living with us who jokes every day that he’s going to stay with us until he's an old man. Fostering brings a lot of special moments and those moments just blow you away.
"One that stands out was when I was teaching him how to brush his teeth properly and one night he turned round and said: 'You’re like my dad,' and that was so lovely. It melts your heart and it’s those moments that make fostering worth it. That’s why we care, so could you, come and foster with Northumberland."
Dean, 34, an assistant grounds manager, added: "We just felt we had so much more to give and we knew how many children were out there needing a loving home, so we decided to find out more. He’s changed our lives, we’re out and about more – going places and doing new things.
"We both work full time, so we applied to care for a child who was of school age. But it’s not about someone coming into your home and fitting in with your life – we've all lived different lives so we have to blend into a new one and build a family together."
Tynedale foster carer Diane initially provided respite and short-term care before she moved into offering long-term foster care for two siblings, alongside her own son.
She said: "If you're thinking about fostering, you can change somebody's life for the better. It's a challenging job, and it's surprising how you can grow as a person, because you're making a massive difference to somebody's life.
"We've seen these children grow, we've seen them change so much in the short time that we've had them. They're happier, comfortable and safe, and we're like a real family now. We really are. They have their own birth family, which is really important, but they call us their own family now."
To find out more call Caroline Matthews on 01670 62 62 62, email foster@northumberland.gov.uk or visit www.northumberland.gov.uk/foster
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