A £400,000 recruitment programme has been organised to provide care for children under council protection.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has announced it will invest the money in its fostering service during the next two years.

The authority wants to use the cash to recruit six specialist foster carers and eight respite carers.

The council says the foster carers, who would be paid an extra £500 a week on top of the normal fostering allowance, would save the authority money as it would mean the children would not have to leave the borough and their schools.

There are 61 foster carers across the borough, including six who provide short breaks for families with children with disabilities. There are a total of 94 children in foster care.

However, the authority says there are continual problems of both the retention of carers - 11 retired last year and six were recruited - while the cost of finding suitable care outside Redcar and Cleveland varies between £1,500 and £4,000 a week.

Patrick Harford, the lead councillor for social care, said: "In the search for specialist foster carers, we will be looking for extraordinary people with extraordinary skills and experience over and above what we would expect from mainstream foster carers.

"We are confident there are people who will respond to the challenge and it is only right that they will be properly rewarded for such dedicated work.

"The respite carers will also have a vital role to play."

Council leader David Walsh said: "We see this as money very well spent. The children we are responsible for deserve the very best care."