Do you know someone caring for someone else’s child?
Durham County Council is urging people to come forward with private fostering arrangements to help families get the help and support available to them.
Private fostering is when a child under the age of 16 (or 18 if they are disabled) is cared for by someone who is not their parent or a close relative. This is a private arrangement made between a parent and carer, for 28 days or more.
Close relatives are defined as step-parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, uncles or aunts.
Legally, people in a private fostering arrangement need to inform Durham County Council as the local authority.
Jan Edwards, service manager for safeguarding, said: “If you know of a child being privately fostered, please don’t ignore it. It’s likely that everything is fine but the council has a legal requirement to carry out checks and they could be missing out on support and advice.”
For more information log on to www.durham.gov.uk/privatefostering and to inform the council of a private fostering arrangement call: 0845 850 5010.