Opinions are divided on what should be the priority when selecting foster parents, reports Emily Pykett
PARENTING, as everyone will agree, can be a difficult job at the best of times. But Falkirk Council is a "corporate parent" – an organisation with 80 young people in its care – and juggling children's health needs with their desperate wish to have a
home they can call their own is often a delicate balancing act.
Despite annual publicity campaigns to "recruit" new foster parents, there is a shrinking pool of available carers who have been vetted for their suitability.
Many youngsters need to be looked after by the local authority because their parents are abusing illegal substances and not looking after the children properly.
And with 17,000 children under the age of five admitted to UK hospitals each year as a result of passive smoking, children's services have to be aware of their responsibilities to provide a healthy environment.
Outside school, children spend most time at home with parents or carers, which is why Falkirk will decide next Tuesday whether to rubber stamp a policy whereby prospective parents will only be considered if they can show they don't smoke, or have quit for at least 12 months.
"We are very mindful of the challenges and dilemmas around this issue," says Margaret Anderson, head of the council's service for children and families.
"We very much want to be able to recruit more families that can care for children who need to be placed. But we have to remember that second-hand or passive smoking contains gases which have marked irritant properties and 60 per cent are known or suspected carcinogens.
"I would hope this will not be seen as a barrier by prospective parents because we really want to encourage people to come forward and help us meet the needs of these young vulnerable people.
"I hope people will see these proposals as an example of how we are trying to promote good health for children and adults, because we are very, very dependent on people in the local community coming forward to express interest in becoming adoptive parents.
"We know that children coming through the care system already have experienced high levels of disadvantage and because of that we have to be extra careful we do not disadvantage young people any further."
Councillor Gerry Goldie, convener of housing and social work at Falkirk Council, can see that people may not be able to understand why at a time when they desperately want people to adopt or foster, the proposed policy appears to be at odds with that.
But he says: "As a corporate parent, the council cannot be responsible for placing children in situations where they may be at risk."
Health groups insist that councils must put the child's health needs first.
Sheila Duffy, the chief executive of Ash Scotland, congratulated Falkirk Council for taking a firm stance.
She said: "We have looked at the evidence in detail and being exposed to second-hand smoke, a toxic substance, can bring on or make worse asthma and chest problems. There is also a serious risk it can cause childhood cancer.
"This is not about foster carers smoking, it is about children being exposed to second-hand smoke. Under-fives tend to be around carers more so they need greater protection and that's why the council wants to bring in this rule.
"It is not a solution just to smoke in another room. The research shows that smoke travels through a house and can still have adverse effects."
Carol Leaning, a foster parent who has looked after 180 children over 20 years, is an ex-smoker and can see both sides of the argument.
She said: "It is very difficult. I have a friend who is a smoker, and she takes care to only smoke outside her house, but she is not allowed to foster young children.
"But she fosters an older child who then goes back to her natural family at weekends, and they smoke in the house, so I do not see the fairness in that.
"If I go into a smokers' household, it makes me cough and my eyes sting, so goodness knows how it affects the children. But if they can't go into a foster home because of this rule, it seems like they are missing out."
Andrew Girvan, the director of Action for Children Scotland (formerly NCH), says his charity, which offers foster placements to children over the age of 12, can offer a compromise.
He said: "It would appear to be a balancing act: how do you juggle the competing needs of a child who wants a decent home and that child's rights to live in a healthy environment?
"We believe there is a middle way. We are an adoption agency and in terms of our own policy we recruit foster carers and monitor their lifestyle – how much they smoke, how much they drink.
"Our foster carers have an agreement not to smoke in front of the children or in communal areas.
"Although we only foster young people over the age of 12 we think this could be a better way forward.
"The danger is there is already a shortage of people coming forward to be foster carers or adoptive parents.
"If you introduce this barrier some people think they would not make the grade as parents because they smoke, and that's completely wrong.
"And the further risk is, more children could fall through the net and be excluded from the family homes on offer because of a policy like this."
But the move has angered pro-smoking campaigners who believe it curtails their personal freedoms.
Neil Rafferty, a spokesman for the smokers' rights group Forest Scotland, said: "The best interests of the child is to be placed with the best possible foster family.
"What Falkirk Council are saying is they might find the perfect foster parent but because they smoke they are going to be deny the child a transformational experience.
"Why doesn't it just issue guidelines saying if you have a habit we do not approve of you are not fit to be a foster parent? Are they saying smokers are not fit to be parents.
"It's a very short step from this policy to putting in place a ban on smoking in your own home.
"Will they start taking children away from their birth homes if parents smoke?"
Falkirk Council denies that any of this is the case, with Ms Anderson stressing: "No, that is not what we are saying in our policy. We have to approach this in a very measured way."
She added: "The people of Falkirk show their generosity and selflessness in so many other ways and I would encourage anyone interested in fostering or adopting to come forward.
"Just one more person could make a real difference to a child's life."
When it comes to adoption council puts the needs of children firstIN ADDITION to the potential restrictions on smokers adopting, prospective parents are required by Falkirk Council to meet a set of stringent criteria.
They must be within 45 years of age of any child being placed with them, unless they have a pre-existing relationship with the child, such as being the grandparents of the adoptee.
Applicants must also be prepared to accept a child with what the council terms as "complexities", which include a disability of some sort, a past history of abuse or an older child.
Single parents or same-sex couples are permitted to adopt, but applications will not be accepted if they are only seeking to adopt babies or children under the age of three.
The council also states applications from all ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds are welcome, but applications will only be granted for "domestic or inter-country adoption".
The council is, however, very definite about how it views the adoptions system and who it is designed to benefit.
It states: "Adoptive parents are required to meet the needs of children from Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannan area requiring adoption, not to provide children for families."
This criteria is the result of a review carried out in 2007, when it was realised that an updating of council guidelines was required to bring it into line with recent legislation, research and practice, "particularly in relation to smoking and partnership arrangements".
