SOMEBODY ELSE'S CHILD CAMPAIGN ON PRIVATE FOSTERING AND SAFEGUARDING OF CHILDREN

That this House congratulates the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) on its excellent campaign Somebody Else's Child, running from 22 February 2010, to draw attention to private fostering, the arrangement where a child who is under 16 (or under 18 if with a disability) lives with someone who is not a close relative (i.e. not a step-parent or grandparent, aunt, uncle, older brother or sister) for more than 28 days; notes the legal requirement for private fostering arrangements to be notified to the local authority where a child is living; commends the efforts by national and local government and the BAAF to increase understanding and awareness of private fostering and the importance of notification; recognises that children living in private fostering have a broad range of individual circumstances, from parents working away, parents suffering ill-health or young people who have had arguments at home or other family difficulties, and that these circumstances also include some children trafficked into the UK or within the UK for the purposes of domestic slavery or prostitution; and calls on local safeguarding children boards to continue to highlight private fostering as an important safeguarding issue.