Southampton City Council- News and Updates

 As children are forced to leave the city, foster careers in Southampton are urging more people to take action.

Andy Maxwell of Nursling has been a foster parent for over six "wonderful" years and is now encouraging others to do the same.

It was revealed earlier this year that over 200 Southampton children in care are living outside of the city due to a lack of foster families.

Southampton City Council currently cares for over 500 children, and there are just over 140 approved fostering households in the city.

Andy stated that he has never seen such "low numbers" of foster parents and hopes that more people will assist children in remaining in the city.

READ MORE: Available fostering places in England have fallen by 23% in four years, according to Ousted.

According to the 52-year-old DJ: "I know it sounds corny, but we are the luckiest people on the planet. My wife and I work well together, and we both enjoy working with children." Our friends were foster parents, and we both wanted to do it ourselves, so we discussed it with our three daughters and decided to go for it." "We called the council, and within 24 hours, someone was at our house talking with us about the process and determining whether we were suitable." " Our youngest initially stated that we should only have babies, so we went through all of the preparations and had our first child about six months later.

"Our most recent departure was an eight-month-old, and we fall in love with every child who walks through our doors." We've kept in touch with many of the children who have stayed with us. We send them birthday cards and are currently planning a large get-together with them.

"We've done more training and are now working with children and young teenagers." "When a child enters the system, it could be for a variety of reasons." They require love and security, and we make a significant difference in the lives of the children."

Andy is also a member of the Southampton Foster Careers' Association, which he describes as "one big family" by bringing together fellow caregivers.

"We've had a lot of online training through the council to help us be better child careers and teach us what to do for all the different kids," he said.

We have also met many wonderful foster parents and have assisted in the education of future foster children.

"You had nearly 30 people learning how to become foster parents when I started."

Obviously, some people drop out, but the number of people starting the process has decreased dramatically.

"It is a fantastic opportunity that will change your life. I cannot recommend it highly enough."

"Fostering with Southampton City Council is incredibly rewarding," said Helen Field, fostering service lead at Southampton City Council. Our foster careers have created a wonderful fostering community in the city and recognize the importance of children and young people remaining active members of their communities.

"It is preferable for most children to live in Southampton so that they can continue to attend school, spend time with friends and family, and see familiar faces on a regular basis." We urgently need more foster careers to join our fostering community in order to provide a safe and caring home for Southampton children who are unable to live with their own family for a variety of reasons.

"You can foster whether you're a family with your own children, a single person, or a couple." "We'd encourage anyone who wants to find out more to get in touch with our friendly fostering team who can talk you through the process and support you on your way to becoming one of our wonderful foster careers." Our foster careers come from all walks of life and are all supported by a professional network to help them respond to the needs of the child they are looking after, whether it's for a weekend, a month, or their entire childhood.

For more information, visit https://makemedebtfree.co.uk/dealing-with-council-tax-arrears-with-southampton-city-council/