Hundreds of Wiltshire children in need of foster care support

There's a call for more foster carers in Wiltshire, with around 450 children in the county unable to live with their parents.

Wiltshire Council has told Greatest Hits Radio that it has around 180 foster carers supporting young people already, but aims to increase that beyond 200.

"When we realise that a family can't cope with looking after their own children, there is a move to put them into care," said Cllr Laura Mayes, Cabinet Member for Children's Services.

She told us that they're looking for families in Wiltshire who're able to welcome one or two children into their household.

Cllr Mayes said: "The outcomes for children who can spend time, in loving homes is just so great.

"And when you speak to foster carers and children who are in care, how their lives have been transformed by being in a safe environment, it's a very, very rewarding thing to do."

Children can end up in care for various different reasons, with child abuse and neglect among the most extreme cases, while in others domestic violence could be present in the household or parents have issues relating to drugs and alcohol.

Cllr Mayes said everything is done to help the family stay together, but when all other options are exhausted, children are going into care.

She added that some foster carers are respite carers, which allows a family and a young person some time out, saying that it can be 'enormously beneficial to both sides'.

One example of the difference foster caring can make is in a young girl Cllr Mayes first met when she was around 10 years old.

"She hadn't really learnt to read or write, she'd had a very tricky start," she told us.

But a few years later, Cllr Mayes met the girl, who was almost unrecognisable.

"I didn't quite recognise her because she just looked so well and was glowing. And I asked her what she was up to and she was going to start reading astrophysics at Exeter University

"She'd also taken on her foster carers surname because she was so happy in that environment," Cllr Mayes said.

Foster carers in Wiltshire need to be over 21 and have a spare room, with the council providing support and training to ensure everyone is comfortable.

Carers are also paid between £400 and £740 per week to support each child they're supporting.

More information can be found here.