Only one foster carer in four prepared to take a disabled child

Only a quarter of foster carers, or those considering becoming carers would take a child with multiple disabilities and complex needs, while only around 50 per cent feel they could care for a child with less complex disabilities.

The YouGov survey was commissioned by Quarriers, a social care charity, to mark the start of Foster Care Fortnight, an annual campaign to raise the profile of fostering and attract new carers.

Of more than 1,000 current and potential foster carers surveyed online, 55 per cent said they would consider looking after a child with a learning difficulty, while 51 per cent said they would foster a child with a mobility disability.

The proportion dropped to 40 per cent for children with serious emotional or behavioural problems.

Liz Hamilton, fostering service co-ordinator at Quarriers, said the results were “disappointing”.

She added: “Severely disabled children face extreme challenges every day of their lives and it seems so unfair the odds are stacked against those in the care system when it comes to finding a foster care placement.

“I would urge potential foster carers to see past the barriers to ensure the hardest-to-place children get an opportunity to benefit from family life.

“Quarriers has decades of experience supporting birth families support their disabled children, and can use this expertise to offer foster carers a complete support network to ensure they have all they need to sustain a placement.”

Exhaustion and not getting enough support were the main reasons given by potential foster carers unwilling to have a disabled child placed with them.

Ann Clarke, who has been a short-term foster carer for children with disabilities for five years, understands the worries and issues for carers, but said fostering is “extremely rewarding”.

She began caring at home after seeing a two-year-old girl turned away from the respite centre at which she worked because of a lack of space.

The 50-year-old from Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire said: “It felt awful knowing the foster family must have been going through such a tough time to have asked for some respite support, and yet I couldn’t take the child in my project as it was at full capacity.

“I decided that if I couldn’t do it in my professional capacity I would become a respite foster carer for other foster carers of children with severe disabilities or emotional and behavioural problems, to give them a break.

“It can be tough but working with children with disabilities is extremely rewarding, both professionally and as foster carer.”

Quarriers said Scottish Government, figures show that a total of 5,023 children were in foster care in Scotland as of July 2011