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Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 30 January 2009

Fears for beds that give carers a break

UNION officials have vowed to fight plans to close Islington’s last remaining respite beds for foster children.
The Lib Dems want to remove the beds from Grosvenor Fostering Resource Centre, insisting they cost too much and claiming that children prefer to stay with foster parents than in institutions, when their families or carers need a break. They hope to save £270,000.
But the public service union Unison has warned the plans will lead to job cuts and say that more children will end up being placed in institutions outside of the borough.
The Town Hall was this week unable to say how many foster children have been placed with foster families outside of the borough for respite care in the last three years or how many were placed in institutions or children’s homes outside Islington over the same period.
The centre, in Highbury, offers a place for children to stay when their families or foster parents need some time out.
But Islington’s education chief councillor Paula Belford said the six beds at the centre are under-used and cost £19,000 a week to run. She said the costs mount up because of the number of staff legally required to be present and the running of the building. According to Town Hall figures it costs £947 per child if every bed is being used, £300 per child for in-house foster carers and £747 for agency foster families.
Cllr Belford, who said staff will not lose their jobs, said: “The building’s not shutting down, it’s safe.
“We consulted the children and they said they would rather go to another foster family than be put in an institution and isolated. The staff will still stay and do outreach work and eventually the contact centre will be there.”
Unison assistant secretary Mike Calvert said: “The council needs a facility that can take children in emergency situations and they should not rely on expensive out-of-borough placements.”

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