An urgent campaign has been launched to recruit more foster carers in Wirral.
The council is seeking more people from all walks of life to become foster carers to help look after children across Wirral.
Nationally there are rising numbers of children who need foster care and an ever-increasing need for individuals and families willing to support some of our most vulnerable children.
In Wirral there are just under 800 children in the council's care, many of them desperately needing families and individuals willing to help them and give them a home and be their foster carers.
Without carers in Wirral children can be faced with the prospect of having to move away from everything that is familiar to them.
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Councillor Wendy Clements, chair of Wirral's children, young people and education committee, said: "When we don’t have foster carers who can help provide a loving home and place of safety, we face having to place children outside of Wirral or into residential care.
"For a child who has something happen in their family and who can't stay at home it is even more distressing to then also be told they have to move somewhere else to be safe, that they can’t stay at their school or see their friends because we have to place them dozens, even hundreds of miles away.
"That is why we need more people with different skills, backgrounds and ages from large families to single carers to help us - the more carers we have the better we can match them with the right child or young person.
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"And the more children we can keep in Wirral, who we can provide foster care for and ensure are well supported, the better chance of those children growing up and being the adults that we want and need them to be in Wirral.
"As we get into the new year it is the perfect time if you have been thinking about fostering to get in touch and really make a difference and help provide a new start for local children in Wirral."
If you are interested and would like more details, email fosteringadmin@wirral.gov.uk, call 0151 666 4616 or go to wirralfostering.org
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