LABOUR has been challenged to radically improve its fostering service which caters for less than half the children in Haringey who are in care.

The council currently has 119 foster carers who look after 185 children, but more than 405 children in Haringey are either in care homes, hostels, or are looked after by private fostering agencies.

Lib Dem Councillor Rachel Allison challenged the Labour administration to make serious improvements to its service and try to recruit around 200 new carers.

She said at Full Council on Monday: “I want the service to work and I want children to have the best possible outcomes.

“We have been told the council should be aiming for 80 per cent in house foster carers and 20 per cent out of borough placements, but in Haringey it's closer to the complete opposite situation, with a 30-70 split of in house to agency.

“We need to find an extra 200 foster carers to foster 340 children children between them. The outcomes for children would be better, there is a major financial incentive for council to have more in house carers.

“There must be hundreds if not thousands more people who want to help out children, so what's going wrong?”

Cllr Allison, who sits on the council's Corporate Parenting Advisory Committee, enlisted a friend to test Haringey's and its competitor's services, and presented the damning findings to the meeting.

She said her friend had struggled to get through to a Haringey officer and was told it would take a week to get an information pack on fostering, whereas other councils sent out brochures the next day.

She also slammed the Haringey website for failing to properly attract potential foster carers, and called for a radical overhaul of what was on offer.

She said: “If we are trying to attract foster carers, there needs to be a a change in the whole attitude about this, because given the choice, who are they going to choose?

“Where are the video clips, where are the photos? I want easy to access information that tells me about fostering, I want to know about the support I'd receive, the payments I'd get. I want to know other people's expereiences, how other children have been helped, and I need to know why I should choose Haringey above everybody else.”

She added children not fostered by the council cost twice as much to care for per year, and argued Haringey could save up to £8.5m if much carers were recruited.

Councillor Lorna Reith, cabinet member for children and young people, responded to the criticisms, saying: “I'm perfectly prepared to accept our service is not where it should be.

“What I'm puzzled about is, if you were that concerned about issues, you had months and months to raise them. You have raised things, made suggestions – about taking fostering leaflets to area assemblies – and we have done just that.

“Where you have made constructive suggestions, they have been picked up.

“I think this is more to do with being embarrassed about the cuts are going to have on this service.”

She said improvements to the website are already underway, but added there is a “Haringey factor” when it comes to child care in the wake of the Baby P scandal, and the council is teaming up with other boroughs to publicise its service jointly to minimise that.