Foster care professionals have attacked a storyline in Coronation Street which they fear could exacerbate the national shortage of foster families.

The National Foster Carers Association say the current blackmail plot involving foster couple Roy and Hayley Cropper could discourage people from volunteering to become a carer.

The couple have been lured into paying £5,000 to illegally 'adopt' abuse victim Wayne by his evil stepfather after they were barred from becoming his legal guardians by legitimate means.

And in a plot similar to the real-life drama of Jeffrey and Jennifer Bramley, who went on the run with their two foster daughters in 1999, Roy and Hayley are set to go on the run with Wayne later this month.

A spokeswoman for the NFCA said they had advised Granada, makers of the hit ITV soap, not to pursue the plot.

She said: "There is a national shortage of foster carers and we need to encourage people to come forward. We are very concerned that this could be stopping children getting the care they need."

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She said the association has been contacted by fosters carers worried about the misleading representation of carers and the idea that people have to go to such extreme lengths to protect a child.

The NFCA estimates that another 7,000 foster families are needed in the UK.

A Granada spokeswoman said: "People must remember it is a fictional drama. The current plot has only just begun and we would urge people to see how it unravels over the coming weeks."