Potential foster parents have been urged to come forward and help Oxfordshire County Council reduce the number of children in the care of social services.

The authority has spent thousands of pounds on adverts in an attempt to attract people interested in fostering or adopting children.

County Hall has profiled several children in the hope potential carers will come forward.

One advert reads: "Brennan is four and we're looking for a family to adopt him. Because he was abused and neglected, Brennan can be serious and appear quite grown-up; if you could encourage him to be the fun-loving little boy he can be, that would be great.

"He enjoys riding his trike and playing with plasticine."

Profiles of six other children aged between four and 11 are also featured in the advert.

A recent inspection of the authority's children's services department rated Oxfordshire as serving 'some children well' but identified a dearth of suitable foster carers as an area for improvement. There are 480 children in the care of social services, but only 302 registered carers. Of these, only a handful have indicated they want to foster on a long-term basis.

Fostering champion Jean Fooks, a Liberal Democrat Oxford city and county councillor, said: "We are not unique in needing to keep finding foster carers, but the question is how to reach people more effectively. It's a difficult job.

"It's essential that our excellent foster carers are given more support and, where possible, higher remuneration for greater experience.

"This is the least we can do to fulfil our responsibilities as corporate parents for the children in our care.

"I think any way we can publicise this and suggest this is something people might want to do is good.

"One of the criticisms is that we haven't been able to follow up people who are interested in fostering fast enough. We haven't had enough effort going into that in the past, but it's something we are beginning to address." Last year, a scrutiny review of foster care placements recommended various ways to improve the recruitment and retention of foster carers.

It criticised the high cost of agency and out-of-county placements, and said more in-house investment was needed.

It also recommended that foster parents be eligible to join the local authority pension scheme, something the county council's cabinet has not pursued.

Helen Oliver, head of the county council's fostering service, said: "Fostering is an extremely rewarding job for the right person.

"We welcome interest from all sorts of people -- married or single, working or unemployed, property owners or those living in rented accommodation.

"What is important to us is that people can offer children in council care a secure and loving home."

For information, call 01865 816057.