The work of a support fostering scheme in Bradford was featured this week in The Guardian.

The borough's "support care" is described as a fostering service with a difference.

The respite service aims to step in part-time to offer help to families that are struggling cope in order to prevent children going into care full-time.

It has been running in Bradford for five years and similar schemes also operate in other areas - including Birmingham, Belfast and Manchester. All have resulted in a fall in the number of children ending up in care.

In Bradford, of the 200 referrals to social services about half are placed in support care and of those Joy Howard, who heads the service, believes that as few as six end up in care full-time.

She told The Guardian: "Parents were saying they needed some kind of help - and it wasn't necessarily care."

The schemes run under several names including "neighbourhood care" and "short-break fostering" but all aim to offer early intervention in a family and prevent the downward spiral of poor educational attainment and self-esteem that is synonymous with children in care.

In Bradford, the scheme is available to families with children aged eight to 18 and the support carers are drawn from a pool of foster carers.

Placements are tailored to the individual family, limited to about nine months and usually involve two nights a week away from home.

The role of the carer is more like that of an aunt or family member, says Ms Howard.

In Birmingham, a similar scheme is offered to under-eights and the carers are registered childminders who have received training as foster carers.

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