Foster families offered funding to expand homes

Foster families who would like to care for more children but do not have the space are now able to access funding to help them extend their homes.

Bradford Children and Families Trust and Bradford Council have opened the support fund to create more bedroom space for children in care in the district.

The money is also available to special guardians and adopters to help siblings to stay together, and to carers who with adaptations to their homes could support children with disabilities.

Councillor Sally Birch, the council's Executive Member for Children and Families, said: "If we're asking people to step forward and care for children, we must also look at how we can support them to do that."

The fund is in addition to the Room Maker scheme, launched in 2024, that provides funding for foster families to create more bedrooms by funding smaller-scale adaptations.

Charlotte Ramsden, chief executive of Bradford Children and Families Trust, said: "We're excited to launch this new scheme, which demonstrates our commitment to supporting foster carers, kinship carers and adoptive families across Bradford.

"A lack of space can often be the barrier that prevents a child from staying with family or stops someone from becoming a foster carer.

"By helping families create the space they need, we can increase local care capacity, keep more children close to home and support more children to remain safely within their family networks."

Birch added: "This is an important investment in Bradford district's families and our children.

"We want more children to stay close to home and, wherever possible, remain connected to their family networks.

"This scheme is part of the wide range of support we provide and will help more families give children the stable, loving homes they deserve."

The initiative aims to help keep children close to their communities, ensure brothers and sisters remain together and support more children to grow up in loving family homes rather than entering or remaining in care.

The policy forms part of wider work by Bradford Children and Families Trust and Bradford Council to increase local fostering capacity and strengthen permanence options for children across the district.

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