Whether existing provision in residential and foster care is sufficient to meet the needs of children and young people who are looked after…

The Scottish Government’sforthcoming National Foster and Kinship Care Strategy will recognise the need formore foster carers and it will set out ways of working with COSLA, local authoritiesand independent foster carer providers to identify more effective approaches tothe local recruitment and retention of foster carers.
The first annual inspectionof fostering services by the Care Commission was published on 14 November and statedthere were 527 children who are not in a foster placement of choice.
The Social Work InspectionAgency’s performance management inspection of each local authority’s social workfunctions will record the number of places available in the local provision of fosterand residential care and, where necessary, make recommendations for improvement.
Each local authorityis required by statute to prepare and publish, in consultation with partners inhealth and other agencies, a plan for the provision of relevant services for childrenin their area. This plan should cover services for children in need, including thosein residential care.