Dozens of Nottinghamshire households apply to become foster carers

It comes as the number of people applying has steadily fallen over the last five years, including a significant drop last year.

This year, Foster Care Fortnight has been focusing on Fostering Communities and aiming to highlight the need for more foster carers.

The Fostering Network said society must not “lose sight of the fact we urgently need more foster carers to come forward to care for children locally”.

But the latest Ofsted figures show 8,280 households in England applied to become foster carers in the year to March 2022 – the lowest figure in the last five years, and a drop of 26 per cent from 2020-21.

Foster care places are split into two categories, local authority placements,organised and managed by the local council, and those delivered by independent fostering agencies, such as charities and organisations that can place children with approved families.

For local authority-managed placements, the number of approved households in the year to March fell 18 per cent from 2020-21, with just 2,075 approved across England, including 15 Nottinghamshire.

Mervyn Erskine, TFN chairman of trustees, said: “We can’t lose sight of the fact we urgently need more foster carers to come forward.

“When a child comes into care needing a foster home, it is essential they can live with a foster carer who can meet their individual needs, in the area they belong – ultimately, everything they need to be the absolute best version of themselves."

The figures also show about 15 applications were approved in Nottinghamshire in the year to March 2022, though some of these were submitted in previous years.

It means about 230 households were offering placements at the end of March 2022 – down from 340 in 2018.

Yvette Stanley, Ofsted's national director of regulation and social care, said: "Foster carers make such a difference to children’s lives by providing stable and loving homes, so it’s a concern that there are not nearly enough carers available for the growing number of children needing care.

“Getting foster-care matches right is central to ensuring children’s individual needs are met. However, the shortage of carers makes good matching far more difficult and can leave children without the care they need."