Thinking of fostering

Savvy_Sue

gizmo111 wrote: »

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.

that's the way I've known it done too: SW collects child, takes him/her to contact centre, mum comes to contact centre.

fitzilian, if your friend is finding it stressful and unpleasant, she should TELL her SW that she needs contact to be arranged out of her home. The idea of two birth mothers having contact at the same time in someone else's home beggars belief, especially when you consider that these mums WILL have quite serious problems of some kind - or their children wouldn't be being fostered!

richardw

What is the worst a foster child can do to disrupt the family?

tori.k

richardw wrote: »

What is the worst a foster child can do to disrupt the family?

A lot or not at all you cant be certain untill the child is placed with you, alot of these children have some really heavy issues,and you cant be sure that you will get the full history from SS, a few months ago a story hit the paper where a carer's child was abused by a older foster child, they hadnt been told by SS he was placed in care for abusing a siblin.
an old boyfriend of mine's sister was removed from a foster home for throwing another foster child down the stairs, lucky he only broke his leg, it was stated in her records that she should not be placed with younger children due to her social issues.
All kids that are in the care system will have issues of some form or another, but kids are amazing and cope better then adults with change,

Glamazon

richardw wrote: »

What is the worst a foster child can do to disrupt the family?

Wow where shall I start?
Lie
Steal
Be a little sh1te
Split a family up

Very negative I know but my Mum is a foster carer and has been for 15 years - was the reason I left home at 11 to live with my Dad. The foster kids wanted my parents to themselves and were treated as part of the family which they exploited to the maximum, they lied about me, got me in trouble and eventually I rebelled.

My mum has had kids that steal from her, run away so she has the police round at all hours, be disruptive to the rest of the family, hit other family members who can't hit back cos then Social Services would investigate it!

Don't get me wrong she has had some good kids but I think people need to be aware of the bad things that can happen.

My Mum was supposed to visit me a few weeks ago but because she couldn't get respite for the 2 foster kids and she couldn't afford a hotel she couldn't come - I only had room for 4 people (Mum, Step-Dad, bro and sis). I hope she can come up when I have my baby in September but there are no guarantees!

Whilst it is 24/7 you do get respite weeks where you can go on holiday without the foster kids and sometimes they might go and stay with a relative for a week or so. My Mum used to go to her villa in Spain for 6 weeks (summer school hols) and any foster kids that had been with her for a few months that weren't too much trouble got the opportunity to go. How many kids NOT in foster care can say that get to do that?

consultant31

richardw wrote: »

What is the worst a foster child can do to disrupt the family?

There have been instances where the foster child has abused the natural child of the foster family. Many children who are in care have been abused themselves and know no better!

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

fitzilian19 wrote: »

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

All our placements have had contact at a local contact centre.
The centre send someone out to pick up the child(ren), they then supervise the contact and bring the child(ren) back.
We have had issues with late pick-ups, but that's another story.

Central Bedfordshire allocate a one off payment for taking a child on holiday.
Their weekly payments are slightly above the rates listed earlier, but we certainly don't see it as an income.

Oldernotwiser

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?

We claimed extra money every year for taking our foster son on holiday.

Salaries for foster carers are more common for people taking on the most challenging young people.

richardw

tori.k wrote: »

you cant be sure that you will get the full history from SS, a few months ago a story hit the paper where a carer's child was abused by a older foster child, they hadnt been told by SS he was placed in care for abusing a sibling.

So microwaving the goldfish is a minor offence.

tori.k

richardw wrote: »

So microwaving the goldfish is a minor offence.

:rolleyes: first sign of a serial killer i belive...or could they have been trying to cook fish and chips...

purple12

Phantom_Flan_Flinger wrote: »

All our placements have had contact at a local contact centre.
The centre send someone out to pick up the child(ren), they then supervise the contact and bring the child(ren) back.
We have had issues with late pick-ups, but that's another story.

Central Bedfordshire allocate a one off payment for taking a child on holiday.
Their weekly payments are slightly above the rates listed earlier, but we certainly don't see it as an income.

We've been expected to take the child(ren) to and from the contact centre - which has led to some difficult situations with us travelling home on the same bus as parent etc etc or arriving at almost the same time and child (obviously) running towards parent at a fair speed..
I assumed this was the standard procedure. Interesting to see how it works in different places!