Councillor Hegenbarth will propose and Councillor Stanley will second:

That the Council notes:

-        There are over 800 children in the care of the County Council, and approximately 250 in-house foster carers in Gloucestershire - but many more carers are needed to meet growing demand.

-        Nationally and locally, recruiting and retaining sufficient foster carers is an enormous challenge.

-        That all elected Members, as representatives of our communities, should be encouraged to help promote fostering and support potential carers to come forward so that we can create a resilient, diverse, and caring foster parent network that can meet the needs of all children in our care.

-        That, whilst the responsibility for recruiting and retaining foster carers sits with the County Council, Tewkesbury Borough Council can assist by signposting prospective carers to where they can find relevant information, including a dedicated page on the Borough Council’s website.

That the Council supports:

-        Borough Councillors in promoting fostering and encouraging them to begin sharing information on foster carer recruitment across all networks so that we can ensure the message gets out boroughwide across a variety of platforms. This can include:

o   Sharing information about foster recruitment on social media.

o   Adding a link to https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/fostering/ onto email signatures.

o   Adding a section on foster recruitment to our local newsletters/ updates if this is appropriate, and not attached to any party-political messaging.

o   Sharing information on foster recruitment with Parish and Town councils, local schools and community organisations so that these groups can also help to disseminate information.

Additional information:

GCC_2786 Fostering Generic A4 Poster_AW.pdf (govdelivery.com)

57.1          The Mayor referred to the Notice of Motion, as set out on the Agenda and indicated that, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, it was necessary for the Council firstly to decide whether it wished to debate and determine the Motion at this evening’s meeting, or whether it wished to refer the Motion, without debate, to a Committee for consideration with authority either to make a decision on the matter or bring a recommendation back to Council.

57.2          Upon being proposed and seconded, it was

RESOLVED           That the Motion would be discussed at this evening’s Council meeting.

57.3          The Motion, as set out on the Agenda, was proposed and seconded.  The proposer of the Motion advised that this Motion had also been considered by Gloucestershire County Council earlier this month and he felt that it was necessary to take a proactive approach to promoting fostering and to put on record the Council’s appreciation for the hard work of foster carers and what a difference they made to children’s lives.  As representatives of the community, it was necessary to ensure that Councillors had all of the necessary resources available to help. 

57.4          The seconder of the Motion indicated there was a crisis in Gloucestershire with children being moved outside of the county to Worcestershire due to a lack of foster carers.  This had a significant impact on children who had to change schools and move away from friends and family and support networks.  He felt that anything which could be done to keep them within the county should be done and that Gloucestershire County Council colleagues should be supported to ensure that foster carers were respected and valued.  The Council could play its part by promoting fostering on social media and acting as a facilitator in the community to encourage as many people as possible to come forward as foster carers.

57.5          During the discussion which ensued, a Member questioned what financial support was available for foster carers and the seconder of the Motion indicated that was not relevant to this particular Motion which was about doing as much as possible to promote fostering on behalf of the County Council; however, whilst foster carers did receive a full package of support, which contained elements for the foster carer themselves and to meet the needs of the child, it was not a job which was done for financial gain.  A Member sought clarification as to whether “adding a section on foster recruitment to our local newsletters/updates if this is appropriate, and not attached to any party-political messaging” was encouraging Borough Councillors to include information in leaflets or suggesting that it was not done on the basis that it was a political newsletter.  In response, the proposer of the motion confirmed it was the former as the intention was to encourage anyone to actively promote fostering in any material, whether that be leaflets or online; rather than making a political point, the purpose of the Motion was about coming together to do something positive and promote a worthwhile service.  Another Member expressed the view that this was something which Borough Councillors should be doing in any case and suggested there was other work being done by the County Council which they should also be promoting including that in relation to homelessness and the environment.  The proposer of the Motion agreed and encouraged other Members to submit Motions for various things they wanted to promote and to speak to Officers and Members about including this in communications.  A Member indicated that she wholeheartedly supported the Motion and, in terms of sharing information, that was something which some Members were already doing and there was nothing preventing them from doing that.  Another Member felt this was an excellent Motion - he had come across fostering as a member of the adoption panel at the County Council and had seen first hand the incredible work foster carers could do and the impact that had on outcomes for children.  He indicated that the question of financial support was worth thinking about as it could be a potential barrier.  There was a shortage of foster carers in the county and he wondered whether the Motion should be further extended to search for prospective adopters.

57.6          In summing up, the seconder of the Motion indicated that he had been told that capacity was beyond 90% in Gloucestershire, hence why there was a crisis, and it was incumbent upon everyone to support the County Council in encouraging fostering.  He felt that adoption should potentially be looked at separately.  The proposer of the Motion indicated that this was not a difficult thing to achieve and could be as simple as putting information on the Council website to signpost. Ultimately, the fantastic work done by foster carers needed to be applauded and they should be helped in any way possible.

57.7          Accordingly, the Motion was proposed and seconded as set out on the Agenda and, upon being put to the vote it was

RESOLVED           1. That it be NOTED that:

-  there are over 800 children in the care of the County Council, and approximately 250 in-house foster carers in Gloucestershire - but many more carers are needed to meet growing demand;

-  nationally and locally, recruiting and retaining sufficient foster carers is an enormous challenge;

-  that all elected Members, as representatives of our communities, should be encouraged to help promote fostering and support potential carers to come forward so that we can create a resilient, diverse, and caring foster parent network that can meet the needs of all children in our care; and

-  whilst the responsibility for recruiting and retaining foster carers sits with the County Council, Tewkesbury Borough Council can assist by signposting prospective carers to where they can find relevant information, including a dedicated page on the Borough Council’s website.

                                               2.    That the Council supports Borough Councillors in        promoting fostering and encouraging them to begin sharing             information on foster carer recruitment across all networks      to ensure the message gets out boroughwide across a             variety of platforms. This can include:    

- sharing information about foster recruitment on social media;

- adding a link to https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/fostering/ onto email signatures;

- adding a section on foster recruitment to our local newsletters/updates if this is appropriate, and not attached to any party-political messaging; and

- sharing information on foster recruitment with Parish and Town councils, local schools and community organisations so that these groups can also help to disseminate information.