AN urgent appeal for new foster carers has been launched to 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.

On Wirral, there are 793 children in council care, many of them desperately needing families and individuals willing to help them and give them a home. 

Cllr Kathy Hodson, chair of Wirral Council's children, young people and education committee, said: "We need foster carers to provide a safe and loving home for local children right here in Wirral.

"If we don’t have enough, we are faced with having to place children outside the borough or into residential care, which is often not ideal.

"When something happens that means a child can no longer live at the family home, it can be even more distressing for them to be told that they have to move outside of the area. This means they can’t stay at their school or see their friends because they have had to move away, which can, in some cases, be hundreds of miles away.

"That is why we need more foster carers and a wide range of people with different skills and backgrounds.

"That includes ages, single people and all sorts of family sizes. Put simply, the more carers and different types of carers we have, the better chance we have of finding an ideal match with a child or young person.

"And the more children that remain in Wirral and who benefit from caring and well supported foster care, the more chance that they will grow into the adults that we want and need for our whole area to flourish.

"As we start a new year, it is the perfect time to think about fostering and how you can make a real difference by providing a new start for local children. So please get in touch and start the new year off in an amazing way."

For more details, email fosteringadmin@wirral.gov.uk, call 0151 666 4616, or visit the website