Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what extra support is provided to foster carers receiving children who have experienced multiple placement breakdowns.
Edward Timpson
The statutory framework is clear that fostering services must provide carers with the necessary training, information and support, in the interests of children placed with them.
Through the Children’s Services Innovation Programme, the Government continues to support the roll out of interventions such as KEEP (Keeping Foster and Kinship Carers Safe and Supported) and the Mockingbird Project. The Children’s Services Innovation Programme has £100m worth of funding and supports 53 programmes in the development, testing and spreading of more effective ways of supporting children and families who need help from children’s social care services. KEEP is a training programme for foster carers and part of the National Implementation Service, which has £4.1m worth of funding. The Mockingbird Project supports groups of ten foster carers around a ‘hub’ which provides support. This is part of the Fostering Network, which has £1.6m worth of funding. Both projects aim to increase the positive parenting skills of foster and kinship carers in responding to children’s difficulties. They seek to build resilience, improve placement stability and enable young people to thrive as children and adults.
