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Crisis appeal over Jewish foster home shortage
A spokesperson for Barnet Council said the borough had only “six Jewish fostering households”
September 19, 2017 12:49
A spokesperson for Barnet Council said the borough had only “six Jewish fostering households”
September 19, 2017 12:49Jewish children in crisis are being left without Jewish foster care because of a lack of suitable families.
“It is difficult to give numbers but we do know there is a national shortage of Jewish foster families,” said Mark Cunningham, chief executive of Manchester’s major welfare charity The Fed. He added that the charity had received inquiries from local authorities in London, which were forced to look in the north because “demand is outstripping supply”.
Two London councils, home to large sections of the Jewish community, say there are more children in need than Jewish families to help them. In such cases, Jewish children are placed with non-Jewish families.
A spokesperson for Barnet Council said the borough had only “six Jewish fostering households.”
He added: “With such a large population, we are always open to more Jewish applicants, and would like to speak to anyone who is interested.”
Hackney Council said it needed Jewish foster carers for children in the Orthodox community, while Barnet Council explained that it was weeks away from launching an awareness campaign around the lack of suitable placements.
The shortage comes more than six years after Norwood, the Jewish family charity, closed down its foster services, which had helped local authorities find families in the community. Since then, local authorities have been left to recruit their own carers.
Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, deputy Mayor of Hackney, confirmed that it needed more Jewish foster families to cope with the growing demand.
“There is a shortage of foster carers both nationally and across Hackney,” she said. “It is important for us to have foster carers that represent the diversity within our borough, including the Orthodox Jewish community.
“We currently have a small number of Jewish foster carers who provide loving and culturally sensitive homes to Jewish children, either on a short-term or long-term basis. However, there is an ongoing need for more Jewish foster carers to provide homes for teenagers and sibling groups, and offer respite to other Jewish families in order to support the children and young people from this community.”
One in five disabled children in Hackney are from the strictly Orthodox community and often need temporary care.
Mr Cunningham said there could be a crisis ahead. “The community here is growing rapidly, so it is only natural that the problems and needs grow with it. We need to grow the amount of foster carers we have to keep pace with the demand.”
Over the summer the charity ran a recruitment drive with Manchester City Council to raise awareness.
Shelley Lewis, children and families social work team manager for The Fed, added: “We have always advocated that Jewish children be placed with Jewish families. That is why it is important to have more families from across the breadth and depth of the community.”
Anyone interested in becoming a foster parent can email Hackney Fostering Recruitment at fostering.recruitment@hackney.gov.uk or Barnet Council at fostering@barnet.gov.uk
