Fostering in Staffordshire

Fostering Staffordshire

We are happy to share that, as a West Midlands based fostering service (Birmingham), we are an approved Foster Carer provider for Staffordshire County Council (as well as for all local surrounding Local Authorities) which means that when children and young people from the Staffordshire area in need of Foster homes, Staffordshire Childrens Services will forward us a referral to see what suitable homes we have for that child within the area. As such we work with them closely to ensure we recruit and train the most suitable and well-matched Foster Carers possible.

To give you an idea of the scope of fostering, specific to Staffordshire, please see below localised information that you may find helpful.


How many children are in care in Staffordshire?

It was reported by Staffordshire County Council that in March 2022 that there were 1303 looked after children and young people from within the local authority area, of which the vast majority of these (71%) were placed in foster homes. This number of looked after children has risen steadily over the years as you can see from the information below:



Foster in Staffordshire

2022

2019

2021

2018

2020


Category of Need of Looked After Children 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
N1. Abuse or Neglect Number 388 406 413 427 434
Percentage 35% 35% 34% 34% 33%
N2. Child'sDisability Number 27 26 26 25 28
Percentage 2% 2% 2% 2% 2%
N3. Parental Illness or Disability Number 11 c 12 11 13
Percentage 1% c 1% 1% 1%
N4. Family in Acute Stress Number 182 203 232 249 273
Percentage 17% 17% 18% 20% 21%
N5. Family Dysfunction Number 413 456 487 483 500
Percentage 38% 39% 40% 39% 38%
N6. Socially Unacceptable Behaviour Number c c c c c
Percentage c c c c c
N7. Low Income Number c c c c c
Percentage c c c c c
N8. Absent Parenting Number 74 70 47 46 52
Percentage 7% 6% 4% 4% 4%

Why are the children coming into care

The reasons that children and young people are entering care in Staffordshire is monitored by the Local Authority. You will see from the details below, that  overwhelmingly over the last few years this due to abuse and neglect.

During your assessment and training to become a Foster Carer we will provide you training to understand what impact this may have had on the children that come into your care, their development, their understanding of boundaries or their ability to trust adults to keep them safe.

About the Children that Come into Care

Children come into care every day of all ages, however we do find that there are certain age groups that have higher numbers, for example; In March 2022 children and young people aged 10-15 years account for the majority of looked after children (39%)


Under One Years of age 4%
10-15 years 39%
1-4 years 17%
16-17 years 21%
5-9 years 19%

When you hear us talking about matching, one of the areas that we will always try to match where possible is the ethnic profile of children and their Foster Carers. To give you an idea how this is reflected in Staffordshire please see the below information as reported by Childrens Services.  This is important information to know as in order to be able to match effectively, there needs to be a foster carer base that reflects the demographics of the city’s children and young people.

White children and young people make up 88% of the care population fostered population in Staffordshire, followed by Mixed Heritage children (7%), Black/Black British children and children of other ethnic origins (2% each) and Asian/Asian British children (1%) (maybe we could add a chat for this or one of those rolling number bars)



Fostered children ethnic profiles

White children and young people 88%
Mixed Heritage children 7%
Black/Black British children 2%
Children of other ethnic origins 2%
Asian/Asian British children 1%

What Foster carers are needed in Staffordshire?

What Foster Carers are needed in Solihull
There is a real need at the moment to increase the number of foster home across Staffordshire. As a whole, we need to recruit committed carers across the board for children of all ages, however, there is a clear and evidenced need to recruit additional Carers that are able to offer homes to children aged 10-15 as this is the age category that has the highest number of all fostered children.

We are also dedicated to keeping siblings together, where appropriate, and as such are in need of homes that are able to consider fostering more than one child.
There is also an increasing demand for mother and baby placements and children with complex medical needs and/or life limiting conditions.

Full Training and support is provided to our Carers to ensure that they are able to offer the types of placements they would like and are considered suitable for. Click here to find out more about what different types of foster care placements you could offer to children from in and around Staffordshire. Alternatively use the contact form below to get in touch with a member of our team

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Interested? We’d love to hear from you. You could help us to make a real difference and give a child a safe and stable home.

Make an enquiry below.

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Foster in Birmingham
  There is a special place in heart for fostering Birmingham because it’s where we are based. With that in mind if you are in the Birmingham area, a really big benefit for you as an F5 Foster Carer is having our headquarters almost on your doorstop – Our office has an open door policy so you are free to pop in whenever you like for a chat or to ask any questions, its also where we hold the majority of our training and support group meetings. FIND OUT MORE
Foster in Coventry
As a Birmingham based agency we have good connections and relationships with our neighbouring Coventry City Council. With that in mind if you are thinking of fostering in Coventry, a really big benefit for you as an F5 Foster Carer is being so close to our headquarters. FIND OUT MORE
Foster in Dudley
We are happy to share that we are an approved Foster Carer provider for Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (as well as for all local surrounding Local Authorities) which means that when children and young people from the Dudley area are in need of Foster homes, Dudley MBC Childrens Services will forward us a referral to see what suitable homes we have for that child. FIND OUT MORE
Foster in Herefordshire
 
Foster in Shropshire
 
Foster in Solihull
As a Birmingham based agency we have good connections and relationships with our neighbouring Solihull Council. With that in mind if you are in the Solihull area, a really big benefit for you as an F5 Foster Carer is being so close to our headquarters – Our office has an open door policy so you are free to pop in whenever you like for a chat or to ask any questions, its also where we hold the majority of our training and support group meetings. FIND OUT MORE
Foster in Staffordshire
Foster in Stoke-on-Trent

We are happy to share that we are an approved Foster Carer provider for Stoke on Trent Council (as well as for all local surrounding Local Authorities) which means that when children and young people from the Stoke area in need of Foster homes, Stoke on Trent Childrens Services will forward us a referral to see what suitable homes we have for that child. As such we work with them closely to ensure we recruit and train the most suitable and well matched Foster Carers possible.

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Foster in Telford & Wrekin

We are happy to share that, as a West Midlands based fostering service (Birmingham), we are an approved Foster Carer provider for Telford and Wrekin Council (as well as for all local surrounding Local Authorities)

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Foster in Walsall

We are happy to share that we are an approved Foster Carer provider for Walsall Council (as well as for all local surrounding Local Authorities) which means that when children and young people from the Walsall area are in need of Foster homes, Walsall Childrens Services will forward us a referral to see what suitable homes we have for that child. As such we work with them closely to ensure we recruit and train the most suitable and well matched Foster Carers possible.

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Foster in Warwickshire

We are happy to share that we are an approved Foster Carer provider for Warwickshire County Council (as well as for all local neighbouring Local Authorities in the West Midlands) which means that when children and young people from the Warwickshire area are in need of Foster homes, Warwickshire Childrens Services will forward us a referral to see what suitable homes we have for that child.

FIND OUT MORE
Foster in Wolverhampton

We are happy to share that we are an approved Foster Carer provider for Wolverhampton Council (as well as for all local surrounding Local Authorities) which means that when children and young people from the Wolverhampton area in need of Foster homes

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Foster in Worcestershire

 

As an agency based in the heart of the West Midlands based we have good connections and relationships with all Local Authorities in the area including the children’s team at Worcestershire Council. With that in mind if you are in the Worcestershire area, a really big benefit for you as an F5 Foster Carer is being quite close to our headquarters

FIND OUT MORE