With children back at school and teenagers off to university, families are being asked if they now have time to foster.

'Got time to foster?' is a campaign being delivered by Staffordshire County Council to help find families for children in its care.

A series of Facebook Live Streams with real foster carers, running throughout September, will help highlight the urgent need for more foster families.

The fostering recruitment bus will also be out and about across Staffordshire visiting local towns.

Every year, tens of thousands of children across the UK need someone to provide foster care and in Staffordshire alone, the council needs to find 60 more foster families this year.

The latest push is reminding families that fostering is flexible and there are lots of different types which can be fit in around people's lives.

Whether people have free time in the week or at weekends, can offer short or more longer term care, there are children aged 0-18 that need support.

Staffordshire Foster carer Nicola Clay and husband Jonathan are supporting the latest campaign.

Nicola said: "We've been fostering for around 16 months now.

"We decided to go into fostering as I wanted a change of career and our own children had grown up and gone off to University and we had the time and space to make a difference.

"Fostering has been the best thing and the hardest thing we have ever done but seeing the difference we made to the baby we cared for has made it so worthwhile and we would encourage anyone considering fostering to just go for it."

Mark Sutton, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People at Staffordshire County Council said: "September is often the time of year when people make changes in their lives, sometimes prompted by children going off to university or moving away.

"This often leaves people with more time on their hands and this is why we have launched our latest Got Time to Foster campaign.

"We have over 1,200 children in our care and we know that placing them with a foster family gives them the best chance of a happy, normal life.

"We are always looking for foster families to come forward and when you hear about the amazing difference that fostering can make to a young person's life, you'll see why it's such a wonderful thing to do.

"All sorts of people can and do foster with us and you're never on your own.

"There's always support at hand and lots of training available.

"And this year, we are especially looking for foster carers for teenagers, sibling groups and children with additional needs too, so please get in touch with the service if you think you can make a difference."

The next online information event will take place on Friday 1st October 2021 at 10am.

The fostering recruitment bus will also be at the below towns from 10am – 2pm on the following dates:

- Wednesday 15th September – Tamworth St Edithas Church

- Thursday 16th September – Rugeley Market Square

- Friday 17th September – Newcastle Iron Market Square

- Thursday 23rd September – Cannock Market Square

Further information about fostering and dates of upcoming events can be found on the dedicated website fosterforstaffordshire.co.uk

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