A COUNCIL report has found "there are a worrying number of children" not staying at foster homes for a sustained period of time.

Wigan Council's latest report on the The Deal for Foster Carers states 174 children have remained with their current carer for two years or more.

But there are concerns about the amount of children who are not able to achieve a settled home due to placement moves and unplanned endings.

Although the majority of children remained with their carer, 47 had three or more placement moves in the last year.

The report acknowledges that for "these children and young people, the family finding process becomes increasingly difficult as their needs become more complex with each move".

There are 63 children placed for adoption or progressing through care proceedings too.

Despite these concerns there has been an overall decrease in the figure of children who are looked after up to April 30.

And this is "contrary to both regional and national trends which are showing an increase in the number of children looked after".

Since November last year there has been "a tip in the balance of children looked after to those leaving care".

A total of 159 children went into care between April 2018 and April 2019 but 187 children left care over the same time period.

The report said: "There are a worrying number of children who are not able to achieve permanence due to placement moves and unplanned endings.

"We need to do more to achieve our ambition for our children.

"We are seeing positive impact across our services and for children who are cared for however, we can also learn from what is working well in other aspects of our work and look at the connectivity to this, so we can strengthen and complement each aspect."

At the end of April the council had 195 fostering households looking after 274 children and young people.

Overall, the local authority has 70 per cent of children in care living within a family based setting.

There were 22 unplanned internal placement endings and 23 externally between April 2018 and April 2019.

The report said: "These unplanned endings to placements were because children needed to move on from their existing care giver due to the carer no longer being able to meet their needs.

"This is due to the child’s needs escalating and the carer no longer feeling able to safely care for them or due to the carer’s own health needs deteriorating.

"However, most instances unplanned endings are as a result of children’s emotional presentation impacting on their ability to form attachments and settle both at home and at school.

"Since November 2018 we have begun to see a decrease in the number of unplanned endings internally, with a settled trend starting to appear.

"However, the external figures do remain volatile and we are aware that there is more work we need to do here."

The council plans to set up a team including a speech and language therapist, a clinical psychologist and specialist carers to provide support to children.

It also wants to allow carers to have access to short breaks as an alternative to respite.

A budget of £437,000 for the service, which covers costs staffing, holiday provision and marketing, has been outlined.

It is thought that the service will reduced internal unplanned endings by four a year - 20 per cent - which could save £748,000 from placing these children into residential care or £108,000 if they were directed to independent foster care.

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Director of children’s services at Wigan Council, James Winterbottom, said: “Our clear goal is to ensure all children are cared for in a loving, stable family setting in the borough and have a safe place they can call home.

“To make this happen we need to recruit more foster carers and give them the very best support.

“Through The Deal for Foster Carers and our ‘Mockingbird’ and ATOM programme, foster carers receive lots of support, training and advice from other experienced foster carers in the area and our dedicated fostering team, so they can provide the best family life for our young people.

“We still need more foster carers to come forward and would encourage anyone who is thinking of becoming a foster carer to get in touch with us.

“We are looking for a range of people to offer stable homes for our children and young people, building up trusting relationships and allowing them the space and time and build their confidence.

“We are also looking for supported lodgings carers to young people leaving care, by giving them accommodation in the home of a supportive adult.”