EXTRA foster carers are needed in Dorset – to keep local children in the county.

More than 50 youngsters are currently being cared for by independent foster families outside of Dorset.

Social services keen to recruit more closer to home, welcoming applicants from diverse backgrounds.

Figures show that the number of new foster carers being recruited in Dorset is barely keeping up with the numbers who leave, mainly through retirement.

The situation is forcing Dorset Council to use independent foster carers, often through an agency, which adds to the cost, and is occasionally not able to find a good match for children within Dorset.

At the end of March figures shows that Dorset Council had 144 mainstream foster carers and 53 ‘connected persons’, usually family members, as foster carers.

The county currently has more than 460 children in its care, some of which might eventually be looking for a foster home, while others will return to their own families.

Senior social worker Mary Taylor told this week’s corporate parenting board that an agency used to help with recruiting had produced innovative campaign material but was still below the target of finding 75 new foster families over two years.

She said that support for in-house Dorset foster carers had been improved with a range of courses available and with each foster carer having their own development plan. The council’s fostering team had also developed support groups, including one for the sons and daughters of foster carers.

“We continue to need more foster carers than we have – retaining and recruiting is a real focus for us and there is some more work to do to get to where we want to be,” she said.

Interim executive director for children’s services Theresa Leavy, said that recruiting foster carers had become increasingly competitive with a demand for round the clock support and for quick responses to concerns – which she said was valued more by foster carers than how much they were paid.

“They have increasingly told us that the range of support we offer is important...families need quick responses which are meaningful and I’m sure we do that,” she said.

Ms Leavy said that more foster carers needed to be recruited to keep Dorset children within the county and also to be able to get the best match between a child and its foster family in the area where they had a sense of community.

“We are looking for all sorts of people, we want our foster carers to be as diverse as possible. There’s still a thought that we don’t accept people from all backgrounds, but we absolutely do and welcome an interest from anyone.”

Pic : New interim director of children’s services Theresa Leavy, (centre) with cabinet briefholder Cllr Andrew Parry and corporate parenting panel chair Cllr Toni Coombs