Home for Good & Nottinghamshire County Council urgently need to find foster carers - join the ZOOM call on Thursday 7 May at 3.30pm

Before the start of the COVID-19 crisis, Nottinghamshire County Council had over 1,000 children in care and under 200 foster families, who were already stretched to meet the need. The coronavirus pandemic has been challenging for all of us, and some have experienced profound loss. But alongside the news of new cases, second peaks, tests and vaccines, there are also shocking headlines of domestic violence cases rising by 20%, of more than 2 million children living in hugely vulnerable situations, and of just 5% of children known to be at risk attending school.

Nottinghamshire and other local authorities are reporting to Home for Good that safeguarding referrals are significantly down, which is hugely concerning. All are preparing for a significant rise in referrals as lockdown ends and all children must return to school. This will put huge pressure on children’s services and more foster homes will no doubt be needed.

Children across Nottinghamshire will need safe and loving families to care for them. For those children the real emergency of 2020 will be then, not now.

But in order to prepare, we must act immediately. Home for Good is calling on churches in Nottinghamshire to share about this need with their communities to raise awareness and give people the opportunity to respond. Please join us on a ZOOM call hosted by Home for Good on Thursday 7 May at 3.30pm, where we will be joined by the Director of Children’s Services from Nottinghamshire County Council to share more about the challenge they are facing. Joining instructions for the call can be found here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/nottinghamshire-covid-19-response-call-tickets-104017818094

Following the call, Home for Good will have a range of resources ready to go and we hope you will be able to use and share these in your online church gatherings and on social media platforms. The resources will include:

1. A short film to show on Fostering Sunday, or as soon after that as you are able (the film will be accessible from homeforgood.org.uk/nottinghamshire-response once the page is live)
2. The film will direct people to this webpage, where they can sign up to find out more
3. Home for Good will be hosting weekly online information events in partnership with NCC, for all those interested in exploring becoming a foster carer

Home for Good has piloted a similar scheme with communities in other parts of the UK and we have been overwhelmed by the Church’s response, seeing significant numbers of people stepping forward to foster in this critical period.It is our prayer that alongside the great work that many churches in Nottinghamshire are already doing to combat the poverty and injustice exacerbated by COVID-19, we would also be known for our response to needs of vulnerable children at this time.