1. Family Placement Services Fiona Bennett

2. Aim: To provide a range of family placement services to children and young people Objectives: To enable children to: Maintain meaningful links with their birth families Have a sense of belonging, continuity and positive self-identity Understand their past in a way which facilitates their development Achieve their full potential

3. Dilemmas Shortage of at least 10 000 foster carers across the UK Lack of resources impacting on payment, recruitment and retention Lack of training, learning and development and progression opportunities Complexity and demands of task Poor outcomes for children and young people

4. Workforce Issues Almost 50 000 children in foster care (73.6% of all looked after children). Registration, accountability, qualifications and investment should reflect critical role in childrens lives Target of 50% achieving S/NVQ level 3 in next 5 years Quality foster care promotes better outcomes for children and young people and carers are increasingly viewed as paid members of the child care workforce

5. Further information Barnardos Family Placement Services provides 70 specialist permanent placements to the most vulnerable looked after children in Scotland. Services include regular respite, a same race placement service and psychotherapy. E-mail fps.scotland@barnardos.org.uk Tel: 0131 228 4121 The Cost of Foster Care (2005) was published by Fostering Network and British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF). Available from www.fostering.net and www.baaf.org.uk