Sir -

One of the headline topics on today's (Monday) news, is that the reputable charity, 'Action for Children' have discovered that of 18,000 children fostered last year, almost a third included siblings who were fostered in separate homes. This is potentially hugely damaging to those children, but is something that fostering professionals say is unavoidable, because there is a significant deficit of foster carers able to take more than one child.

What is never discussed it seems, is the fact that child services departments and social services departments across the country, interfere to such a degree in foster homes, that many areas of what a fostered child needs most, family normalcy, are undermined at best, and destroyed at worse. For example, a normal parent might smack (that's smack...not beat) or otherwise punish a child with fines or grounding etc, when all other avenues have been exhausted to address disobedient or disruptive behaviour.

However, social workers will not accept this normal parenting behaviour, rendering foster carers powerless to effectively address bad behaviour in foster children, simultaneously empowering fostered children (who can only benefit from normal and natural parenting) and reinforcing their bad behaviour. In other words, letting them know that they can do as they wish, with impunity.

Some fostered children are more emotionally and psychologically damaged than others, and normal parenting will need reinforcing and supporting with expert help to address damaged children, but undermining often experienced, good parents damages progress with fostered children, and represents something which will stop parents like me taking on a child needing a good, stable home, and a good, caring parent.

Little will change until, and unless, child services departments become something more than arenas of political-correctness...however well intentioned.

Will Richards

Malvern