A new fostering service is set to be launched to help vulnerable children in Oxfordshire.

Families are needed for the new service, which is being launched by Parents and Children Together (Pact) at the charity's annual lecture at Oxford Brookes University on Wednesday.

Pact spokesman Liz Roberts said it already has a branch in Reading, and is now set to launch in Oxfordshire.

She said: "The reason we are highlighting Oxfordshire initially is because we have the prestigious speaker, international child psychologist Sue Gerhardt, to endorse the announcement for us when she is the guest lecturer at our annual lecture."

Ms Gerhardt, from Oxford, is an author and researcher, who is set to speak on Why Love Matters, looking at how the earliest relationship affects a child's emotional wellbeing.

Mrs Roberts said the lecture will include the way "pathways" laid down at an early age can contribute to anorexia, addiction and anti-social behaviour.

Mrs Gerhardt said: "In preparing for this lecture, I have been hearing how Pact has demonstrated that the agency's strength lies in finding permanent replacement families for some of the most challenging children and in supporting the people who take them into their homes."

The Pact fostering service is separate from the one run by the county council. The council has 300 registered foster carers, and needs about 20 more. For more information about Pact, call 0118 938 7600.