Help keep problem young out of trouble

To help youngsters who are involved in crime, the county's Youth Offending Service is looking for people to care for teenagers involved in drugs or in trouble with the police.

The service has teamed up with Derbyshire County Council and the county's Drug Action Team to recruit 20 "contract carers" who will look after youngsters, mainly teenagers, who cannot live at home for a variety of reasons.

It follows the success of a six-month pilot project which saw four contract carers recruited.

The carers will be paid £400 a week to take a youngster into their home to provide 24-hour support.

The idea is to prevent youngsters being sent to children's homes outside Derbyshire or to secure units, where they could end up mixing with hardened criminals or be tempted by drugs.

The county's social services department is also looking for people to become "remand contract carers", who will take a young person on remand into their home to care and support them as an alternative to secure accommodation.

Councillor Anne Western, cabinet member for health and social care, said: "These young people are very much at a crisis point in their lives.

"We hope that the contract carer will be a positive role model, providing one-to-one support to help prevent the young person's downward spiral.

"We feel it would be better to place them in a supported environment, rather than one where they will mix with people who are further down the road of offending or drug taking."

Prospective carers should have experience of working with challenging young people, be a positive role model and dedicated to wanting to help young people and be capable of keeping records that could be used in court.

Couples or individuals with experience of residential social work, specialist foster carers, retired police officers, nurses or people who have left or retired from caring professions are being sought in particular.

The carers could be asked to take on a teenager for a short or long time and arrangements will depend entirely on the situation with each individual child.

All contract carers and remand contract carers will be expected to dedicate their time to supporting the young person and should not have other commitments that will interfere with their ability to care for them.

People who offer short-term care will also be invited to step in to offer temporary care to give long-term carers and the young person a break from each other.

Mrs Western added: "These roles are very challenging but can also be extremely rewarding. They will make a big difference to improving the outcomes for these young people."

For a contract carers information pack call Jackie Thatcher on 01629 772036 or contact Lynda Stone, contract care manager, on 01629 580000 ext 2023 for more information.