The care children receive could
be suffering, it is claimed.
'Stealing' carers threatens care
Some private foster care companies are trying to ‘steal’ carers from local councils in moves that threaten the care of children and cost taxpayers money, industry figures have said.
When private fostering companies try and recruit carers already working for councils, local authorities can end up using the same carer but at a higher cost due to agency fees.
If the carer moves to an agency it can also upset the development of children in care as they may be forced to move placements.
IS 'POACHING' COMMON?
Grace Wyatt is director of private agency Nexus Fostering.
Listen to her reaction to what we have found.
Foster carers can be attracted by higher fees and a belief they will receive more support in the private sector.
At the end of last year some Swindon Borough Council carers were directly approached by a private foster care provider inviting them to switch.
Graham Senior, manager of the council’s family placement team said:
“Legally there's nothing to stop
them
doing that but we were very unhappy about it.
"The correspondence took no account
of children
already in placement with those carers and what the
agency expected we would do
with those children
if the carers suddenly jumped ship and went over
to them.
"It was a bit of a surprise and an alarming step.”
Big Players
Laurie Gregory is a director of The Foster Care Co-operative, an independent foster care provider
which
invests any profit back into support for children and carers.
He says the case in
Swindon was
not an isolated incident:
“There are some very very big players
and they have become
big as a result of
stealing foster carers from local authorities offering them
very large incentives to
come across
and then charging
local
authorities a lot of money for the
privilege."
Unclear
But it is unclear how widespread the practice is.
Grace Wyatt, director of private fostering company
Nexus Fostering, has nearly thirty years experience in the industry and believes the
practice of
‘poaching’ carers no longer takes place.
Click the audio box above to hear her thoughts.
Even when council foster carers are not being directly targeted, many choose to move to private
providers
under their own steam.
Dr Derek Kirton has carried out research in this area
for the University of
Kent, he believes there
is a fairly "substantial move" to independent agencies:
“This can sometimes reflect feelings
that they want to feel more valued and better paid for what
they do."
Ginny Daniels, fostering team manager at Dorset Council,
says some carers are moving to the local authority:
“In Dorset the traffic is the other way.
Without us
stealing from other agencies a number of foster
carers have come to us who have
been approved with
private agencies but haven’t had the placements," she said.