AN innovative fostering scheme is to be piloted by North Yorkshire County Council.

The project, known as Treatment Foster Care, is aimed at helping young people with complex needs to turn their lives around.

It will provide youngsters with an intensive individually tailored programme in the care of selected foster carers who have 24-hour support from a specialist team.

The council says the approach was developed in Oregon, in the US, and is now being piloted by 15 social service departments in this country.

North Yorkshire is launching a recruitment drive to find people to take part in the scheme.

A spokesman said: "The biggest challenge facing North Yorkshire County Council is finding sufficient dedicated carers of the right calibre to make this scheme work in the county.

"The Scarborough and Ryedale areas of the county have been chosen and we are to launch an intensive campaign to seek out the carers that need to be recruited."

The campaign will be launched on Monday at the Sure Start Children's Centre, Briercliffe, Scarborough, including contributions from existing specialist carers and a young person who has until recently been in care.