Posted on: 7th May 2020

Home for Good has been made aware by Leeds City Council’s fostering team that they are being put under increasing pressure by COVID-19.  They have joined with Church Leaders' from across the City to ask Christians to consider whether they could open their home to the most vulnerable children.  

Even before this crisis, Leeds had a need for 200 more foster families to meet the needs of children coming into care in the city. Every year foster carers retire and a new generation of foster carers need to be inspired. Coronavirus has exacerbated this challenge even further.

Leeds’ fostering team have told us that all their foster families are full to capacity and that they are seeing a rise of children, and particularly young teens, who need the care of a foster family during this challenging time.

We have been shocked by headlines of domestic violence cases rising by 20%, of more than 2 million children living in hugely vulnerable situations, and of just 5% of children known to be at risk attending school. It is also expected that as lockdown starts to ease over the coming months many more children will need to come into care as the full impact of living in neglectful or abusive situations becomes apparent.

Children in Leeds will need safe and loving families to care for them. For those children the real emergency of 2020 will be then, not now.

We are asking people in Leeds who may be able to open their home to a vulnerable child to respond now and complete the form on our webpage https://homeforgood.org.uk/leeds-response.

On completion, Home for Good will be in touch to help explore your interest further.