Caring Joan and Michael Dixon today told how after 24 years as foster parents they hope to offer a home to one of Bradford's most disturbed youngsters.

The couple have already fostered over 500 children. Now they aim to be among the first in the district to qualify for the Fostering Challenge scheme, which offers a new option for Bradford's most damaged and difficult-to-care-for young people.

The teenagers involved - mostly boys, but a few girls - currently live in specialised children's homes far from Bradford, having exhausted other options through disruptive behaviour and involvement in crime.

Under the new plan they can stay with new "specialist" foster carers, who will receive a bigger allowance in return for more intensive, one-to-one care with extra input from health and education workers.

Mrs Dixon, 56, who has three grown up children and four grandchildren said: "The problem with out of district placements is that when the authority stops paying for them, when they reach the age of 16 and a half or 17, they return to Bradford and have nothing to fall back on apart from a life of crime, or if they're female, a life on the streets.

The Dixons hope to take on a teenage girl if they are approved for the scheme. They have years of experience in dealing with disturbed girls, including many under the control of pimps.

"You can't expect these girls to be angels," Mrs Dixon said.

"With some of them you can understand why their mum has kicked them out, but you can't treat them like children - their experiences have gone beyond childhood and I can't give it back to them.

"It's a question of finding distractions to help them change their behaviour - not just saying 'don't do that'."

More information about becoming a Fostering Challenge carer is available from (01274) 754331.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.