More foster carers in the borough are resigning or opting to house Ukrainians instead, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

three children in coats hold hands — Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Barnet Council has appealed for more people to sign up to become foster carers amid a “national shortage”.

A council report stated that since 2019 the borough’s approval rates of mainstream foster carers had “continued to decrease” by 6%, compared to 7% nationally.

The council had aimed to increase its target of recruiting five foster caring households a year, between 2020 and 2023, but could not attract more carers and only met the original five families per year.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday (8th) councillor Anne Clarke commented on the difficulty the borough was experiencing.

Cllr Clarke asked: “[The council’s] fostering teams have done so much good work trying to reach out but has there been any work to look at areas that are not successful?”

Chris Munday, the council’s head of children’s services, said: “Our fostering data is better than a lot of authorities.

“We have looked at best practice elsewhere and I’m interested in the fact that there are real challenges in London, across the whole of London, to recruit foster carers.

“We’ve been the best in terms of offering homes for Ukrainians and yet we can’t get people to be foster carers, which is an interesting challenge.

“I think we need to reflect on what that means for us as a place. We’re clearly very welcoming, we’ve welcomed thousands of people from Ukraine, Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Syria, we’ve been hugely welcoming, and yet we can’t find enough foster carers for our children here in Barnet

“I wonder what we need to do, and that’s a challenge I would throw to you as members.”

Cllr Clarke added people were worried they were not eligible to foster as they did not “have a spare room” and questioned whether this had been an issue for people participating in homes for Ukraine, to which Chris said it was something the council had managed to navigate.

The council’s report stated: “The national challenge of recruitment of foster carers has continued throughout 2023/24, impacted by the cost of living crisis and the Ukrainian crisis, as potential carers supported the Homes for Ukraine scheme.”

An added concern was the borough’s current foster caring community was “ageing” meaning carers were resigning after having fostered for “considerable lengths of time” and younger fostering families were “relocating outside of London”.

In response the council said it had reviewed its support offers to carers, support groups had been created, and it had reinstated the ‘exit interview process’ to carry out an analysis of what had happened when carers resigned.

In a bid to increase interest the council aimed to ensure its current carers enjoyed being carers and felt appreciated.

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