More than 1,000 children and young people are in need of fostering in Cambridgeshire.

The figures were reported by The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fostering Service who needs to find homes for more than 30 groups of brothers and sisters, and more than 100 young people aged 11-18.

With fewer than 300 carers currently fostering for the local authority and around 50 new children and young people being referred to the service each month, the need to find more local foster carers cannot be overstated.

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fostering Service is a not-for-profit organisation whose priority is to find safe, local homes for the children and young people in its care.

As a child-centred service, the wellbeing of each child and young person is kept at the heart of everything it does.

This will be reflected in the service’s new digital campaign aimed at encouraging residents who are considering fostering to do so with their local authority.

Tracey, who fosters with Cambridgeshire County Council, has been able to turn her spare bedrooms into safe spaces for several sibling groups during her time as a foster carer.

She said: “We think it’s really important that these children have the chance to stay together, especially when they first come into fostering.

“Going into a strange home with people they’ve never met before – they don’t know what’s going on, they don’t necessarily understand what’s happening and why.

“They might have to change school as well, so everything in their world is turned upside down.

“That consistency of having their sibling there is really important to them.”

As part of the local authority, the service prioritises keeping both the support it provides its carers and the children and young people in its care local.

This helps to create a local community of foster carers who can provide each other with additional support and helps keep the children and young people close to their friends, their schools and their support networks.

Tracey has been a foster carer for five years, beginning her fostering journey with an independent foster agency before joining the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fostering Service.

“I personally prefer being with the local authority,” she said.

“The support and training we get here is excellent and we have access to many more foster carers for their support too.

“I’ve got quite a few friends now who are foster carers which is useful because they are generally the only ones you can talk to about things to do with fostering.”

To anybody considering becoming a foster carer themselves, Tracy says if you’re already thinking about fostering, you have a pretty good idea of what might be involved.

She says it can be hard work, but says it is “incredibly rewarding”.

“You really can make a difference,” she said.

“It’s so important that (some of) these children who have had such hard and difficult starts in life are supported to go on to a much more positive future.

“We just need more foster carers who are able to provide that sort of support.”

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fostering Service will share a series of messages explaining the benefits of fostering with the local authority via social media and other digital platforms throughout August and September.

Chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s children and young people’s committee, Cllr Bryony Goodliffe, said: “We truly hope that this campaign will help to raise awareness of that fact that fostering with your local authority is in the best interest of the children in our care.

“If you’re able to join Tracey and our other amazing foster carers in their efforts to give local children and young people the best possible start in life, we urge you to get in touch with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fostering Service.”

If you can provide a stable, loving environment in which a child or young person who cannot live with their birth family can flourish, there are many ways to get in touch.