Thinking of fostering

Poppy9

I work for LA and have seen payments to foster carers to take children on holiday with the family. All expenses are met by SS in addition to the weekly payment.

Some foster carers used to take this to the extreme claiming £1 for a school activity day but I think this has stopped since they paid a decent salary to foster carers. My LA does a "career" scale to recognise the training, experience, dedication etc. of foster carers.

Most LA do not have enough foster carers and you may find you are asked to take a child from a neighbouring LA as an "out of county placement".

gizmo111

Poppy9 wrote: »

I work for LA and have seen payments to foster carers to take children on holiday with the family. All expenses are met by SS in addition to the weekly payment.

Some foster carers used to take this to the extreme claiming £1 for a school activity day but I think this has stopped since they paid a decent salary to foster carers. My LA does a "career" scale to recognise the training, experience, dedication etc. of foster carers.

Most LA do not have enough foster carers and you may find you are asked to take a child from a neighbouring LA as an "out of county placement".

Yours must be an unusual LA - most include the cost of holidays in the payments and don't pay for actual holidays.
AFAIK all local authority have different levels of carer gained throuhg expeirience and relevant training.
Which LA pays a decent salary?

Poppy9

gizmo111 wrote: »

Yours must be an unusual LA - most include the cost of holidays in the payments and don't pay for actual holidays.
AFAIK all local authority have different levels of carer gained throuhg expeirience and relevant training.
Which LA pays a decent salary?

They restructured a few years ago as most foster carers moved to private agencies who paid a lot more than the LA. The min. allowances paid by a LA are :
Outside London

Age 0-4: £125.09 (£121.68) Age 5-10: £142.49 (£138.61) Age 11-15: £177.38 (£172.55) Age 16+: £215.74 (£209.86) In London

Age 0-4: £146.81 (£142.81) Age 5-10: £167.36 (£162.80) Age 11-15: £208.42 (£202.74) Age 16+: £253.10 (£246.21) The Fostering Network recommends an additional four weeks allowance to cover the cost of birthdays, holidays and a religious festival.

Note these are only minimum recommendations and LA can set their own level.

compared to a private agency that pays

On average carers are paid approximately £340 -£390 per child per week, over a year and taking into account the fostering tax allowance, this equates to a similar salary of approximately £22,000.

Plus the LA has to pay an agency fee.

Therefore it was in LA interest to develop their own pay structure and it includes a retainer for when the Foster parent does not have a placement, plus it provides training to NVQ level to recognise that foster carers are professionals and to ensure good standards in the care of LAC. However LA foster carers are not employees and do not acquire pension rights or sick pay.

If a foster carer is going on holiday and tells SW that they cannot afford to take the foster child/children then the LA will consider paying the cost.

gizmo111

I don't agree that foster carers are well paid for the job they do. The allowances above are for a child and as such are mostly spent on a child - and is broken down item by item to show it should be spent on a child. The birthday and xmas allowance is not for the carer but to be spent on the child and child buying presents etc for family. The fee they get on top is around £100 - £150 per week and that is their wage, although obviously the more they have the earn.
Don't forget this a 24/7 job and IMO even £22,000 is not a lot for bringing up some of the most vulnerable and damaged children in society. However with the tax credit boost and it being non taxable it is a great way to earn money from home whilst you have your own children at home.
An agency will also train to NVQ level and beyond.
Not many LA's will pay extra for a child to go on holiday as they expect that to come out of the fee allowance for the child.....Last time I asked my manager to contribute to a holiday for a child in care she looked at me as if I had taken leave of my senses,
I don't think that anyone going into foster care does it purely for the money or expects to get rich from it, it has it other rewards and we as a society should be grateful that there are people prepared to open their doors and offer a loving stable home to a child, equally we should be prepared to pay for that, and I don't think that FC's get anywhere near what the job is worth.

lostinrates

DH and I would also consider fostering in the future, but plan to move sometime in the next year. I'm guessing the training is restricted to the local auhourity area and there is no point in us staring this where we now are if we plan to move out of the area?

gizmo111

lostinrates wrote: »

DH and I would also consider fostering in the future, but plan to move sometime in the next year. I'm guessing the training is restricted to the local auhourity area and there is no point in us staring this where we now are if we plan to move out of the area?

Not neccasarily as the training is transferable - however if you told your local LA you were planning ot move they would most likely tell you to wait as the process is quite time consuming and intensive apart from the training.

MadMac_2

We have talked about it also, but I think I favour the adoption route as we would both get far too attached - but I suppose this works both ways and some children might stay in touch? Does anybody find this - and enjoy it, or otherwise?

fitzilian19

my friend fosters babies... she usually stays in touch with the parents, and recently she's had a spait of birthday parties of ex-fosterees... (as i'm a close friend and head babysitter for her i get to see the newest photos!!)

i think they have a reasonable length of time for handovers when the children are adopted out...


however, she has to have home contact time between the parents and children and as she has 2 kids at the mo, that means at any one time she can have herself, hubby, own son, the two foster children, 2 parents and 2 social workers in her home.

quite often the parents are highly emotional and can take their frustrations out of the foster carer..


however... all that said, i would love to foster and she would never give it up!

gizmo111

however, she has to have home contact time between the parents and children

Why?
If contact is to be supervised then it is up to the social worker to arrange this - I would never ask a carer to have contact in their own home and would never expect them to agree, not many carers would agree to this either.

fitzilian19

dont know why... just that since the second one came in the last batch, both mums visit in her home...

she doesnt mind... until one of the mums gets stroppy and takes their frustration out on her...

maybe thats just how her LA works... ?? the social workers around her generally seem incompetant...