Around 700 more foster carers need to be found urgently to cope with the fostering demand in Wales, a new survey has found.

Welsh local authorities have told a charity researching the issue that there is a shortfall in the number of available carers.

The charity, Fostering Network, said a larger pool of suitable guardians is crucial if children are to enjoy the benefit of being fostered to people who best understand their needs.

Foster facts

Carers in Wales: 1,850 Foster children: 2,700 Homes required in Wales: 700 UK registered carers: 19,000

The claim comes at the start of Foster Care Fortnight, during which many of the councils will be staging events in the hope of recruiting more people to plug the foster parent gap.

Care gaps

The survey is based on returns from 15 of Wales's 22 local authorities, which were asked how many carers they needed in order to have a suitable diverse range of foster parents.

They said they needed 700 guardians to guarantee finding families who could meet youngsters' individual needs.

Each child should live with a carer carefully chosen to meet his or her specific needs

Fostering Network

That means Wales's 1,850-strong pool of carers needs to swell by around another third to take care of its 2,700 foster children in the best way possible.

Fostering Network executive director Gerri McAndrew said: "These new figures show that we still have a desperate need for more foster carers.

"It's not just a question of numbers - each child should be able to live with a carer carefully chosen to meet his or her specific needs in terms of location, culture, lifestyle, and even interests.

"The wider the pool of carers available, the more likely it is that a good match can be found."

Foster homes

Councillors in Cardiff - where the network is setting up a new office - are highlighting their needs in the most visible fashion.

Former Wales rugby international Robert Jones is to release 400 white balloons in the city to symbolise the number of children who need fostering, when only 137 foster homes are available.

He said: "With two beautiful adopted children of my own, I have had first-hand experience of the love and care that foster carers give.

"Without that love and care, my children would not have had the start in life that they deserved.

"People don't realise that you don't need special skills or qualifications - you just need to have a genuine desire to help children and young people."