Cumbria foster carer shortage sees children sent outside county

Image caption, Councillor Anne Burns says the authority's new strategy will lead to improvements

Dozens of children in the care system in Cumbria are being looked after outside the county, new figures show.

About 700 youngsters are officially under the care of Cumbria County Council with 95 of them in residential homes outside the county.

A shortage of foster parents and lack of specialist placements have been blamed.

The authority has pledged to increase the number of local placements.

It also plans to look at independent living options for 16 and 17-year-olds.

More than 200 children are with independent fostering agencies which aim to find families for youngsters, the county council report says.

However, a lack of foster parents, and children entering the system with "specialist" needs, means there is not enough help available within Cumbria.

'Harder to place'

There has also been an increase in the number of children aged between 10 and 15 being taken into care.

Such children are "harder to place" because of their age, the report says.

By contrast, there has been a reduction in the number of children under a year old being placed in the council's care by courts.

Allerdale has the highest number of children under the county council's care with 160, while Carlisle has 150, the Local Democracy Reporting Service says.

Barrow also has 150 youngsters in the county council's care system, while in Copeland the figure is 130.

In South Lakeland it is 67 and Eden has 20.

The county council recently agreed a new strategy for children in its care, covering the period 2019-23.

Councillor Anne Burns, the cabinet member for children's services, described it as "a step-change" in the authority's approach.