Susan Thompson, 58, from Renton fostered 24 children in four years, but gave up after she said she ‘lost all confidence’ after dealing with social workers.

The mum, who has four of her own children, told the Reporter: “Fostering is the best job in the world, but more and more people are being forced into private fostering because they’re treated so poorly by the council.

“We’re not involved in a care plan for the children, we’re given no information. We’re glorified babysitters to them.

“When I came into fostering, the other foster carers told me: ‘Don’t tell the social anything, don’t tell them your business’ but I’m not like that. I wanted to trust them, I was totally naive.

“There’s a lack of communication between fosterers and social workers, they use the things you tell them against you.

“I complained about my social worker about how the children and I were being treated, and ended up in an appeal with the same social worker I’d complained against.

“It took all my confidence away. I’ve not been for another job, my son says he doesn’t recognise me, I was a strong person, but now I’m asking questioning myself constantly.

“They take advantage of people’s good nature. It’s usually middle aged women, with grown up kids, who just want to help.” Responding to her concerns, the council has issued an open invitation to Susan to discuss them.

Susan and her husband Archie signed up for short term fostering for children over 12, but fostered one family for two years, and a baby.

For two years, Susan fostered three local sisters from one family. She said: “I had three sisters who were four, five and eight for two years.

“Social work had told me to prepare them that they weren’t going to see their mum over Christmas, so we’d been preparing for that. One week before Christmas the social worker came to our house and told the girls they were being adopted to a ‘forever family’.

“The girls were devastated, there had been no mention of adoption before, they weren’t prepared at all. I was so angry that they’d upset the children like this, I wasn’t qualified to answer any of their questions, I had no information for them. I wasn’t told anything about it.

“The girls weren’t adopted till August, so I don’t know why they told them seven days before Christmas. It was horrible.

“I resigned from fostering after they were adopted out. I didn’t trust the system any more and I’d had enough.” Susan has not seen the three girls since they’ve been adopted, despite social workers telling the children they would be allowed to visit her and Archie.

Susan said: “I feel like I’ve abandoned them. I was told I would see them, I told the girls I would visit, and now I’m being told I can’t.” “On one occasion with no prior notice, a social worker turned up at her door with three children in the car waiting to come in.

“That’s how much you notice you get. I wasn’t going to just turn them away.

“One of my friends had a very challenging boy, he had behaviour problems and she fostered him for two years, and she was well into her 50s. She got no respite, or no offer of respite, and they knew how challenging this boy was.

“She felt if she said she needed respite they would’ve just taken him away.” “People don’t do this for money so they should at least give us respect.” Susan says she has looked into private fostering but has been ‘burned’ by her experience. She added: “It tore us apart, me and Archie could take anything on the chin, but the way the social spoke to us, and spoke about us in meetings was horrible. When you walk into meetings it’s so intimidating, foster parents have no say, we have no voice.” “The social workers don’t like you having an opinion.

“I looked into private fostering and couldn’t believe the difference, you’re listened to, you’re involved in the children’s care plan. The dynamic is so different.” In response to Susan's claims, the council said it 'completely rejects' the suggestion a social worker turned up with three children with no prior notice, and explained it takes a 'structured approach' to placing every child with any new family.

A spokesman for the local authority said the return of a child to their home would 'never happen' after a visitation, adding that would be a 'multi-agency' decision with the foster family 'at the heart' of deciding what is best for the child.

The spokesman told the Reporter: "We use a structured approach to placing a child with any new family, and so we completely reject the suggestion that a social worker arrived at a foster carer’s home with children without prior notification having been given.

"In addition, the return of a child to their home would never happen after a visitation, as this is a multi-agency decision with the foster family right at the heart of deciding what is best for the future of the child.

“We are sorry to hear that one of our former foster carers holds such views, and we’d like to extend an open invitation to them to come and discuss them further with us at any time.

“We have dozens of foster carers in West Dunbartonshire and they do a fantastic job caring for some of the most vulnerable children in our community.

“They have an absolutely vital role and provide an invaluable service to the community. That is why we take every step to provide carers with all the information they require to fulfil their roles to the best of their abilities. We assign a dedicated link worker to each carer and they hold regular meetings to ensure communication and support is available.

“Our carers can make recommendations to the service at any time, and more formally as part of their annual review meeting. This process usually resolves matters and for any others there is a robust complaints procedure in place.”