FOSTER care is set to be boosted across the county by a new series of initiatives launched by Lancashire County Council.

These will include a foster care academy aimed at supporting new carers through the application process and first year of looking after children, along with a mentoring scheme aimed at helping people learn more about the process.

The council also aims to set up fostering communities in which experienced carers offer peer support to those with less experience in Burnley, Pendle, Rossendale, Chorley, and Hyndburn as well as in West and Central Lancashire.

County council cabinet member for children, young people, and schools Phillippa Williamson said: “We need the support of foster carers just as much as ever. The council needs to find around 20 places every week for the children and young people it cares for.

“We really value our foster carers, and recognise the incredible impact they can make on a child or young person at a time when it is really needed, whilst also enriching their own lives.”

These new initiatives come after a difficult time for fostering due to the coronavirus situation which made normal processes much more difficult to carry out.

However the council hopes that foster carers who are currently taking a break from fostering, and retired foster carers, will be able to come forward again.

Foster carers could be asked to care for children and young people across a wide age range, from birth to 18-years-old, with a particular need for foster carers who could support an older child or teenager.

As well as the new training and support initiatives new and experienced foster carers can expect to receive an allowance of between £250 and £428 per week for each child they care for.

Ms Williamson said: “We’ve set up and developed these initiatives to support our foster carers as much as we can, and to help them with the amazing job that they do.

“Although becoming a foster carer is exciting, we appreciate that it can also be challenging at times.”

To find out more, visit www.lancashire.gov.uk/fostering.