05/08/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/08/2024 09:51
8 May 2024
Running from 13-26 May, Foster Care Fortnight is a national campaign organised by the charity, The Fostering Network. The fortnight of activity helps to increase awareness around the need for more foster carers.
In Blackpool, there are currently around 265 children and young people in the care of an independent fostering agency (IFA) or in residential care, some of whom are awaiting a loving foster home.
To honour the hardworking and dedicated foster carers in the town, Blackpool Council will be holding a host of activities throughout the fortnight.
The iconic Blackpool Tower will be lighting up in pink as a way of saying thanks to the council's foster carers, and to raise awareness of the need for more people to consider fostering.
A raffle will be held daily throughout the fortnight for the council's foster carers to be in with a chance to win a range of prizes kindly donated by some of the town's attractions. These include free family passes to the Sandcastle Waterpark, Blackpool Zoo, and The Backlot Cinema as well as a gift certificate from the Winter Gardens. Other prizes include a wellness gift hamper from Asda and a range of other items.
The council's fostering team and foster carers will take part in a walk along the Promenade on Thursday 16 May before being treated to tea and cake at the Solaris Centre. They will then be encouraged to share some heartwarming stories from their fostering journeys in keeping with the 'fostering moments' theme for Foster Care Fortnight 2024, which focuses on the everyday interactions that make a lasting impact.
As a foster carer with Blackpool Council, people can make a positive difference to the lives of local children and their own.
Jane and Michael Fletcher have recently retired from fostering with the council after ten years. The couple, who live in Pilling, have fostered around 25 newborn babies during this time.
They first started fostering when their grandchildren had started school. Jane had taken retirement to care for her grandchildren whilst Michael continued to work as a sub-postmaster until around 2018.
Fostering is something that the couple had wanted to do for some time, however they had presumed that they were too old to be considered.
Jane said:
Cllr Jim Hobson, Blackpool Council Cabinet Member for Children's Social Care, said:
Blackpool Council is one of five local authorities set to benefit from £1.2m to boost foster carer recruitment in the region.
Along with Blackburn with Darwen Council, Cumberland Council, Westmorland and Furness Council, and Lancashire County Council, the council has been awarded funding from the Department for Education to launch a regional foster carer recruitment hub during spring 2024.
To find out more about fostering, visit www.blackpool.gov.uk/fostering
or call 01253 420222.
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