Letter: Foster farther

I WAS very moved by your report (14 May) about how only one in four foster carers is prepared to take on a disabled child.

Although Liz Hamilton, fostering co-ordinator for Quarriers, did an excellent job of explaining to potential foster parents that support exists in Scotland for people who are brave or decent enough to make the effort (Platform, same issue), I must admit that I would find it very difficult looking after a child with special needs.

In my view, people who foster children are already saints; those who take on children with several physical or mental problems are off the scale.

But what concerns me more is the high number of disabled children in care in the first place. Did their disabilities play any part in their being “given up” by their birth mothers, or are their situations a consequence of their parents’ chaotic lifestyles? Or is it simply a case that it is more difficult to find foster and adoption homes for them? If this is the case, I hope this campaign gets people’s attention.

MARGARET SMITH

St Alban’s Road

Edinburgh