Foster carers are people who are willing to take children in the care of the local authority into their own homes and care for them. Care can range from 'emergency placements' where a child might stay for only a few hours, to weeks or months - or sometimes very longstanding arrangements which last for years.
Living in a foster family can give cared for children a taste of what ordinary family life is like - particularly important if their own upbringing has been traumatic.
Foster carers were interviewed by the Centre for Social Justice's Couldn't Care Less report. They record that in a survey of over 300 current and former carers, 61% of carers said they began the work 'to help disadvantaged young people' and 48% 'wanted to make a difference'.
The difficulties they faced include coping with children with very complex needs, conflict and stress, lack of support and training, poor funding (especially from the public sector) and not enough autonomy and status. One in two foster carers reported conflict with social services, 38% with the birth family of the fostered child, 27% of current foster carers said they had faced false allegations of abuse and 36% had experienced placements breaking down.
For more information about fostering, look at the section of our site for foster carers.