The proposal to recruit teachers displaced by the schools shake-up as foster parents is an interesting one. Despite the encouraging response to the T&A-backed campaign to recruit more foster parents, there are still plenty of children in need of a caring home. Among them are some who are difficult to place because they need one-to-one support.

There are apparently a dozen Bradford teenagers who fall into this demanding category and are currently placed in expensive residential units away from the city where they are receiving a package of care tailored to their problems. The plan is for these youngsters to be placed with foster parents with a specialised professional background who will be paid an enhanced rate to give them the care and attention they so desperately need if they are to be integrated into society.

Who better to take on this work, the argument goes, than teachers - a group of professionals who spend their days dealing with children and their problems - especially as some of them will be looking for a new role in life after the schools reorganisation? That is a valid point, though it must not be forgotten that there are non-teachers, too, who are blessed with the special qualities needed to take on this sort of challenge.

It is good to see lateral thinking of this sort, which could solve several problems at a stroke - and save the Council money as well. However, if it does go ahead the Council needs to apply the same rigorous vetting procedure that is used for all applicants to be fosterers to ensure that they fit the bill in every way.

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