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<p>The data requested is not held centrally. <br><br>The Department for Education
is clear that siblings should be placed together where possible. While the data requested
is not held centrally, Action for Children published research on 8 September highlighting
the importance of keeping siblings together where this is in their best interests.
This research can be found online at:</p><p><a href="http://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/news/archive/2014/september/keeping-siblings-together"
target="_blank">www.actionforchildren.org.uk/news/archive/2014/september/keeping-siblings-together</a></p><p>The
Department is working closely with councils to help them recruit more foster carers
who can meet the needs of children harder to place, such as sibling groups.</p><p>Nationally,
fostering services are improving their recruitment of foster carers. In 2013 the Government
announced a new package of support totalling £750,000 to help local authorities boost
foster care recruitment by broadening the range of people who foster.</p><p>This funding
is supporting four consortia partnerships of local authorities and independent fostering
services, two of which have made increasing the number of foster carers that can care
for sibling groups a priority. We plan to share the learning from the consortia in
2015.</p><p>We would also welcome bids to the Innovation Programme from local authorities
who may like to test new, innovative approaches to addressing this issue.</p>
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