AN initiative in foster care is being launched and ordinary people are being sought to help make the project a success.

Preventative foster care is aimed at giving vulnerable young children a chance to improve their lives through an intensive short-term care programme.

North Yorkshire County Council is one of only six areas in the UK to win Government funding to run a pilot scheme and is to do so in the Harrogate district.

Under the scheme, children are placed with foster carers for between six and 12 months, before returning to their natural parents or to an adoptive family.

The county's executive member for children, Caroline Patmore, said: "This programme is all about daily encouragement - recognising and rewarding good behaviour, as opposed to focusing on and punishing the bad.

"Due to their early experiences, these children often lack basic skills, such as brushing their teeth or eating with a knife and fork. So, it's important to take things slowly and focus on what they can do, not what they can't."

People chosen as foster carers will be couples, with one partner at home full-time and must live within an hour of Harrogate. They will be paid £250 a week, plus an allowance.

If they have children, there must be a gap of at least six years between the foster child and their youngest child. For details, call 0800-028 6599.