A pioneering support scheme which gives a break to struggling Bradford parents is being copied nationwide.

Around 20 similar schemes have already been set up around the country and hundreds of inquiries have come in from other interested local authorities, organisations and welfare workers.

Bradford Support Care helps stop families in crisis from splitting up by offering parents a series of short breaks from their children.

The scheme, run by Bradford Council's social services department, was the idea of former foster worker Joy Howard who now co-ordinates it.

"I saw the need for something that would stop young people being taken in to care at a time of family crisis - something that could take the heat out of situations by giving parents going through a rough patch a chance to sort out their problems," she said.

"All families have their ups and downs. Most families are lucky enough to have other relatives who can help out and take the children for a while - but there are some who just don't have that option. When that happens, problems can spiral and peak and end in the parents asking social services to take the children into care."

Mrs Howard said the Support Care Scheme was more of a "befriending service" for parents and children, disproving the stigma that social services was only there to take children away from their families.

The average "care time" can last between six and nine months with a child staying at a carer's home for one weekend a month. It can also be a day or just an overnight stay.

Janet Exley, from Undercliffe, has been a foster carer for 13 years and has worked for the Support Care Scheme since it began in 1996.

The 42-year-old said she had looked after 30 youngsters in that time and all of them had been able to return home.

"I have seen the devastation of kids when family ties have been cut for good," she said. "We want families to ask us for help before things get to that stage, before they fall apart. The care we give makes a world of difference.

"Parents know their youngsters are being looked after in a safe environment while they have time to recharge their batteries and work through the rough patch they are experiencing."

Bradford has around 25 carers at this time who are helping 70 families across the district.

Mrs Howard said: "We know the scheme works, we know we can get good results and that's why we have had hundreds of inquiries from other people across the whole of the country interested in doing a similar thing."

Hackney, Hull, Birmingham and Leeds are just some of the places where schemes are up and running.

The scheme has created so much interest that it is now being promoted across the UK by the Fostering Network, a registered charity hoping to get funding to employ a national development co-ordinator for it.

A spokesman said: "The results are amazing - that's why we want to support it. Thanks to the scheme, more and more children are able to stay at home with their families where they belong."