Social housing tenants can now apply to be foster carers

This is a significant change to policy, as it was not previously possible due to he rules regarding spare rooms in social housing.

Employment & Social Security have agreed to change the policy and remove this obstacle for any tenants who wish to apply to become foster parents.

Director of housing Lynne McLagan said it was clear from previous experience in Guernsey and the UK that social housing tenants can make wonderful foster parents.

'Aside from the obvious advantages to more children having access to foster care that this initiative will provide, there are also additional benefits to the management of our housing stock,' she said.

'Enabling our tenants to apply to foster and transfer to larger accommodation (up to three-bed only) or remain in accommodation if they have a spare room, could free up our smaller units of accommodation for which there is significant demand.'

To provide more information for social housing tenants interested in fostering, a series of drop-in events have been arranged where representatives from the fostering and housing teams will be available to answer any questions.

Supervising social worker at the family placement services Emma Beaven said the change in policy had been welcomed by the services.

'A shortage of foster carers in Guernsey often leads to a lack of placement choice for young people, which results in some young people being placed in residential home when they could be placed in a family environment,' she said.

Research has shown that children benefit significantly in terms of their emotional, social and educational development if they are placed with a foster family.

'Fostering can be challenging, but it is also extremely rewarding,' she said.

'I would like to encourage anyone who is interested to come to the drop-in sessions or to contact the family placement services for more information.'

The drop-in sessions are:

• Wednesday 21 October: 12.30pm - 2pm at St Martin's Parish Hall

• Thursday 22 October: 5.30pm - 7pm at Beau Sejour

• Friday 23 October 1pm - 2.30pm at Kindred Centre