FOR many foster parents, fostering is a vocation rather than a career. Taking on a child, often with complex difficulties, can be challenging and demanding, but for many foster carers it is probably the most rewarding role they have ever fulfilled.

One Bradford foster carer, who wishes to remain anonymous, has expanded her family through foster caring. As well as having grown up children of her own, she has adopted as well as fostered for many years.

"First and foremost is the child. You get a phone call saying a baby needs a placement, and can I help. You know that child needs you and you will be there for that child," she says.

However, foster caring is also a paid profession and the recent decision by Bradford Council's executive committee to slash certain payments has raised concerns among those dedicating their lives to the 24/7 role.

According to Bradford Council, national changes to adoption, quicker court cases due to the Family Justice, and priority given to placements with family members, means fewer 0-5s need fostering.

In any week, there are between 10 and 15 per cent vacant places costing the council in excess of £5,000 a week. Most of the vacancies are for the 0-5s.

It says paying carers indefinitely when they have vacancies isn't sustainable. While there are sufficient children to fill those vacancies, they tend to be school-aged; need to live with siblings or have disabilities.

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The council says that since February, the number of vacancies has been falling. This is partly due to carers becoming more flexible about children they agree to look after which it says is 'very positive.'

It says the changes are also about bringing its payments to foster carers in line with other local authorities and independent fostering agencies. Foster carers receive an allowance for each child in their care covering clothing, food and transport etc. A vacancy retainer is paid with this allowance, something the council says isn't provided by other councils or independent fostering agencies (IFAs). Carers also get a fee of 52 weeks of the year, even if they do not have a child in their care, something it says many other authorities and IFAs don't provide.

In addition, carers receive £10 per child per day if they take a child on holiday with them during their four-week paid annual leave or can claim this back if they don't take annual leave.

Many foster carers will say it isn't about the money - caring is their priority. Realistically though, they also have to live, and keeping a roof over the children they are caring for, including their own families, is a priority.

Why they should be paid for an un-filled placement prompts a valid argument which the foster carer we spoke to acknowledged, though she adds that many have left well paid jobs to be foster parents, and she is concerned the changes could impact particularly on single carers.

She also talks of the challenges foster carers face; of fostering babies born drug dependent who need swaddling and close contact for nights on end and the logistics of having to organise care for the rest of her family while accompanying a poorly child during their stay in hospital.

Another issue, she says, is that some foster carers may only be able to take children of a certain age to fit in with their own families.

"I am a good foster carer, I have a good reputation and I am now thinking 'what will happen to me? I can't afford not to work," she says.

Another anonymous foster carer, who is single, says: "My foster children are my life. I have dedicated my life to them to give them the best start in life. I am so passionate about it. You do it for love but you still have to keep a roof over their heads."

Councillor Ralph Berry, executive member for health and social care, says: "We have over 400 foster carers in the Bradford district who provide an extremely valuable service, giving children who have had a difficult start in life, a secure and loving home.

"Foster carers are not council employees; they are self-employed. The support and finance currently provided by the council is currently higher than that provided by a number of councils and independent fostering agencies."

He believes the changes will have a positive impact because it means they can place Bradford children with Bradford foster families who are able to meet their needs.

Foster carers are also being offered training and support so they can be more flexible about the children they can foster and a dedicated family-finding role will be created so more work can go into finding the right carers for the right children.