Following the recent BBC report on profit making fostering agencies and the practice of offering cash incentives to recruit foster carers working for local authorities, TACT CEO, Andy Elvin, was interviewed on BBC News.
The practice of using financial inducements, or golden hellos as the BBC describes them, to get foster carers to switch agencies, is potentially harmful to children in foster care. TACT’s experience is that moving agencies can be disruptive to carers when the new agency does not turn out to be all it was promised to be.
Andy Elvin says “Golden Hellos shouldn’t be allowed, they don’t create new foster carers, what we need in the UK is new foster carers, not for existing foster carers to be recycled through the system because of inducements being offered to them”
“TACT condemns financial incentives and profiteering by commercial foster care agencies. Their profits are excessive and this is money coming directly from cash strapped local authority children’s budgets that could be spent on looked after children.”