WIGAN'S social services department is looking for modern foster families to take up the challenge of caring for disturbed boys of all ages.

During Foster Care Fortnight (June 14-27) the council is highlighting the importance of male foster carers in families.

Patsy Bull, resource manager in family placement, said: "Fostering has been traditionally viewed as a woman's task, with the male carer going out to work and being minimally involved with planning for children.

"However, there have been a lot of changes in recent years.

"Our experience is that boys are more likely to be placed in care and harder to find foster families for.

"Domestic violence is increasingly a feature of their family life as is marital separation, and different step-father figures. Many sons think that aggression towards women is acceptable, and the family begins to break down.

"The modern foster family has changed as well. There is as likely to be two carers at home full time or both working part time, as there is to be one at home and one at work.

"Male foster carers are likely to take an equal share in parenting and to have the time and interest to devote to the challenge of fostering.

"The support of these male carers is crucial to the many boys who come into foster care, lacking the experience of a stable father figure.

"Their difficult aggressive behaviour, especially towards women, hides the pain and upset of feeling unwanted.

"They need the increasingly full-time role that the male foster carers take, dealing with difficult behaviour, giving individual time and attention, and showing by example that men and women can treat each other with respect."

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