A FOSTER carer has warned children’s futures could be at risk unless more volunteers sign up to provide a home for them.

New figures from the Department for Education showed more than a third of children in care in the county are being looked after more than 20 miles from their homes.

And foster mum Samantha Bamford said moving children away from their school, friends and family could damage their future development.

Last year, 170 of the 465 children in council care – 37 per cent – were sent more than 20 miles from home. That was the sixth highest proportion in the country.

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Of the 465 in care, 320 are looked after by foster carers.

Ms Bamford said it was important children stayed as close to home as possible.

The 42-year-old has fostered three children with husband Paul Giesberg and went on to adopt one.

She said: “Their education is absolutely a key thing and if they can stay at the same school they get an awful lot of stability.

“Sometimes the kids are able to return home so it is important that they have that contact with their families.

“Seeing the children develop if they are in a safe and caring home, that is the biggest satisfaction that everybody gets from fostering.

“Giving children a childhood is the key to their future happiness.

It is important that they can have strong relationships when they are young. As long as you can care for a child, fostering is open to a wide range of people from different backgrounds.

“The child who we adopted is severely disabled and every level of small progress he makes is very rewarding.”

Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member for education Melinda Tilley blamed a lack of foster carers and lack of space in children’s homes for the numbers being sent long distances. In total, 125 children were cared for outside the county, of which 105 were sent more than 20 miles away.

Last year the county council announced plans to build two new children’s homes and two assessment centres to try to cope with demand.

But Mrs Tilley said more foster carers were needed.

She said: “Lack of capacity is the main problem. Children are always better off with a family if we can find a family for them.

“We want to make Oxfordshire the foster capital of the UK.

“As a county council we are offering extra money and extra time off to our staff who become foster carers.

“We will be taking a stall to Oxford Pride in June to encourage more same-sex couples to foster.”

Council spokesman Owen Morton agreed it was important children in care were kept close to home. He said: “The majority of children are successfully placed within Oxfordshire, but for those who are placed with foster carers outside the county, at some distance from their birth families, it is harder to stay in touch with friends and family.

“The county council would like to attract more local foster carers to enable children to remain in the county and maintain links with their families.”

In November, the county council’s cabinet agreed to plans to give staff who foster children an extra five days paid holiday each year.

There are also plans to increase the £250 sum a foster carer receives for recommending someone who is later approved to become a carer.

There are currently 315 households signed up to foster in the county. To be a foster carer you need to be 18 or above and enjoy working with children.

The council prefers people who have a spare room in their house for a foster child, but this is not essential.

After getting in touch with the council, potential carers are invited to meet the council’s fostering team and a social worker will then visit their home.

Applicants will undergo checks by the police, probation department, NSPCC and the council and will attend training days and workshops.

To find out more call the council on 08007 835724.