Bradford Council workers have warned the Government of growing recruitment problems in children's services.

The message came as Health Minister Jacqui Smith toured the headquarters of the Adoption and Fostering Unit in Shipley yesterday.

Meeting social workers and foster parents, she was told about the work of the unit, which was the first to win a Charter Mark in the country.

Managers gave a presentation on the successful Shared Care Service, which arranges short breaks for people with physical and learning disabilites, and a new project which works with parents to prevent adolescents being taken into care.

But head of children's services - adoption and fostering Richard Bates said the Council was still struggling to find people to care for children despite national recognition of their work.

"We have got problems," he said. "Carers and adopters do all they can and put up with the pressures but the fewer there are of them, the harder it is."

Geoff Green, manager of the Shared Care Service, told the minister that lifestyle changes were making it more difficult to recruit. "We pay people peanuts," he said.

"People might not do it for the money, but in the future we might have to revisit that. Recruitment has got harder and harder as the years have gone by."

The Council's children's service currently needs 30 adults to adopt children with a wide range of needs and 50 extra carers for short-term, long-term and respite care.

Ms Smith said she already knew of the good work in Bradford, but had learnt a lot from talking to carers on the front line.

She said: "As a Government, we have made significant increases in overall funding for Social Services, but I recognise the pressure on these services because they are dealing with the most vulnerable people in our society. Part of what I want to do is to make sure we encourage more people into the system to do this sort of work."

She added that adoption and fostering was not easy, but that the enthusisam and commitment she had seen proved there were many personal rewards.

Councillor Kris Hopkins, executive member for health and housing, said Bradford had the third best adoption and fostering service in the country.

He said: "Bradford Council is trying to do whatever it can with the resources it's got but across the whole of Social Services there are immense pressures."