BLAENAU Gwent council is struggling to find new foster carers as the amount of children coming into its care continues to rise, a meeting has heard.

A Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) report, discussed by the council’s audit committee on Tuesday, says the rise and increasing demand for placements is putting fostering services under pressure.

A self-assessment by the council in the report described the "current rate of increase in looked after children numbers as unsustainable from a workforce and budgetary position," although a pilot scheme to recruit specialist foster carers is being implemented.

Alison Ramshaw, from the council’s safeguarding team, told the audit committee that the number of looked after children is continuing to rise.

Ms Ramshaw said the reasons for the rise were partly due to legislation changes.

“The numbers are rising because we have a number of children placed with family members who are LACs (looked after children) because the department has been involved with safeguarding for that child,” she added.

Cllr Gareth Leslie Davies (Plaid Cymru, Cwm ward) asked whether the council has enough foster carers to meet the rise.

“The simple answer to that is no,” said Ms Ramshaw.

“I could not tell you how many would be enough.”

Ms Ramshaw added that the council has a pilot scheme to recruit professional foster carers and that several initiatives to help recruitment are being set up.

However, she said encouraging more people to become foster carers is proving difficult.

“We do seem to have exhausted all avenues to try and encourage people to foster,” she told the meeting.

“We have got a cohort of foster carers but it’s an ageing population and we do need to consider how we can keep that pool going.”

Cllr Davies asked if it was fair to say the council is ‘struggling’, to which Ms Ramshaw replied, “very much so.”

The CIW report also found that children in placements are cared for by foster carers who provide them with “good experiences and opportunities.”

Cllr Malcolm Cross (Labour, Sirhowy) said despite financial pressures, the fostering service is performing well.

He added: “I would like to think in Blaenau Gwent we have got a proud record of looking after children."