Cash crisis has left Wales short of 700 foster families

As a result Wales has more than 3,500 children in care but less than 2,000 foster families able to provide a home and comfort.

The Fostering Network says that nine out of 10 Welsh councils don't pay enough allowances.

The care organisation recommends allowances start at �105 for a baby and more as children grow older and need more to be spent on them, especially for clothes and food.

The chronic shortage of foster carers across Wales means that many children being looked after by local councils are not receiving the kind of personal and fully committed care they need from a dedicated foster family.

Wales needs another 700 families willing to become foster carers in order to bridge the gap which has meant that brothers and sisters are being split up and divided among different families.

The shortage has also meant that some children are being sent over the border to England.

Hundreds of more volunteers are urgently needed and many local councils have launched recruitment campaigns to try and find new foster parents.

Jane Butler, of the Fostering Network Wales, said: "I think it is important that foster carers are given the proper training and support for what is an increasingly stressful job."

A survey, published by the network, found that 63% of local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales give foster carers less than recommended minimum allowances for spending on the care of fostered children.

The results suggest that thousands of carers are being left out of pocket as a result of fostering, while the children are experiencing different standards of living depending on where they are fostered.

The Fostering Network's recommended minimum allowances, published annually, are widely accepted as the benchmark for necessary expenses incurred as a result of fostering.

For 2003-04 they start at �105.74 per week for a baby, and vary according to the age of the child.

'Let down'

The survey found that actual allowances paid to foster parents started at around �50 per week for the youngest children.

Policy and campaigns manager Vicki Swain said: "Fostered children are being let down by a system which values them differently depending on where they live.

"Governments are effectively relying on foster carers, who are largely unpaid, to subsidise the state.

"That's why we are calling on the UK Government, Scottish executive and Welsh assembly to take steps to implement national systems of fostering allowances and proper funding for all local authorities to ensure they can pay these rates to all foster carers."

Sheila Hollins, who has fostered more than 100 children in Rhondda said: "It can be frustrating and stressful, but it is absolutely delightful to see the changes in a young person after they have been here for a while."