Keeping children in residential care is expensive. When Birmingham city council saw an increase in older children entering care, largely through behavioural problems, it launched a six-year programme to find foster placements for them. This cut the annual costs for each child from £150,000 to £91,000 in the first year, falling further thereafter, with longer-term benefits, such as an improvement in school attendance and a reduction in criminal behaviour, likely to be felt further down the line.
The programme, Step Down Fostering, which has been running since 2014, is provided by charity Core Assets and funded using a social impact bond (Sib). A social investment organisation, Bridges Fund Management, put up £1.3m.
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