Liz Hamilton: New initiative offers children a real chance to live a life

Thomas is one of the lucky children. For the past 16 years he has received all the love and care one would expect from his parents, Trisha and Tommy.

It’s been extremely tough, though, as they have struggled with the daily routine of caring for a child with severe disabilities and complex needs.

Thomas, the youngest of four children, was born with severe cerebral palsy, osteoporosis and epilepsy, and he’s registered blind. If it wasn’t for his parents’ determination he could easily have been one of the hundreds of children who each year go into care and end up looking for a foster placement.

For the children whose parents can no longer look after them, life becomes a lottery.

A survey commissioned to launch Foster Care Fortnight, which starts today, found that of those who would consider or are already fostering, only a quarter would take a placement for a child with multiple disabilities and complex needs.

Exhaustion (48 per cent) and the fear of not getting enough support (47 per cent) were the main reasons given by potential foster carers who would not, or were unsure if they would want to take a placement for a disabled child.

The survey results show these children – who are over-represented in the care system – are left on the foster care shelf.

Every child, no matter their circumstances, ability or disability, deserves the right to enjoy the love and nourishment of family life. That’s why today we have launched the recruitment drive for carers for our new fostering service aimed at increasing the number of placements for severely disabled children across Scotland.

It is estimated that 1,000 more foster care families are needed across Scotland – and many of those are needed to care for children with severe disabilities.

We have decades of experience helping birth families support their disabled children and we aim to use this expertise to offer foster carers a complete support network to ensure they have all they need to sustain a placement.

Most importantly, everyone deserves loving and caring parents like Thomas’s – whether it’s their birth parents or foster parents.

• Liz Hamilton is fostering co-ordinator for Quarriers. www.quarriers.org.uk