There is an urgent need for more foster carers for teenagers across Scotland, new research from the Fostering Network has found.
The survey, published at the start of Foster Care Fortnight, shows that half of Scottish fostering services are desperately seeking foster carers to make sure that teenagers can be found the homes they need. And the situation is getting worse; all 16 fostering services responding to the survey were looking for more foster families for teenagers than last year.
Across the UK, a child comes into care and needs a foster family every 22 minutes. The Fostering Network estimates that an extra 1,000 foster families are needed in Scotland in 2012 alone.