kinship fostering - allowance and social housing?

JoJoB

I'm just wondering about my friend's situation which seems incredibly unfair. Any advice appreciated!

My friend lives in a small 2 bed council house with her partner and 3 kids. Things are very crowded and she has been trying to get moved for some time with no success. The council operate a banding system and she is in band B, every couple of weeks they are allowed to bid on a council property but band A people always get it.

4 weeks ago they took in a young family member as his mother was deemed currently unfit by social services to care for him. They are hoping to reunite the child with mother soon, but tbh it's looking unlikely do to mother's problems. Even though they are very crowded they really do not want this child to end up in the care system.

So now they are 4 children in a 2 bed house, 2 kids in one bedroom, 2 kids and mum in the other, dad sleeping on the sofa. Council are refusing to move them up to band A to help get moved quicker as "overcrowding is not a priority". Then changed goalposts and asked her to provide proof of child benefit. She hasn't got this as SS told her to arrange it privately with the mother as to transfer child ben might upset her. So far my friend has seen £20 from the mother.

So my friend is living in terrible conditions and struggling financially because she is doing everything in her power to help this child. Her husband may be starting work soon which will help but has been out of work a few months due to being in the building trade so they are really finding it difficult to make ends meet. Shouldn't there be a case for an allowance of sorts or a council house move to ease the pressure? Anyone know how she can fight for this?

cte1111

It might be worth her contacting her local councillor, as they would be able to help chase it up with the housing department. I think it can be a bit of a long process though.

shimmershelly

If the child is "looked after" by social services and they asked your friend to take him in then she should be entitled to a kinship allowance. Good luck to her in getting it though, I've been doing this for 18 weeks and still haven't had a penny. If it is a private arrangement with the child's mother then there isn't any entitlement.
Why should they get a council house though, no one is helping me buy another house because I'm kinship caring. We struggle by because we know we are helping the child and it's not forever. Plus when SS first place a child they check to see if there is enought room, if they deemed there would have been overcrowding the child would have gone to foster carers.

Edit: tell her to put in the claim for child benefit asap, the mother can have it for up to 8 weeks without the kids living with her but a rival claim still needs to be made.

tori.k

LA are a law unto themselves, i am surprised that they allowed this arrangement at all, the rules are alot different with kinship care then fostering, but i still had a social worker check over my house (we are not kinship caring but putting a RO in place same thing really both = no help) seems very wrong that she has been placed in this situation,
some LA pay a kinship care allowance but not many a special guardianship order will be a better option if the child cannot go back to mum

shimmershelly

Tori all LA's pay kinship allowances, they have to if they have placed a "looked after" child. It's the difference with the child being "looked after" or placed by private arrangement that determines it, not the LA. They have to, by law, provide a comparable amount to what they would pay a foster carer. Getting it is like getting blood out of a stone though, because they won't pay it if they can get away with it.
Have a look at the family rights group, they have lots of info for kinship carers.
http://www.frg.org.uk/

tori.k

thanks for that Shimmershelly will look into it, as i was ill imformed that it down to each LA if they pay it or not,

JoJoB

Thanks for the replies. The child has been placed with her by social services and she is in weekly contact with ss for meetings etc. SS basically told my friend if she did not take the child then he would be put into care. So it seems the boundary between whether this is social services placement or a private arrangement is a bit blurred. Looks like a bit of both to me.

SS have overlooked the fact that the house is very crowded and not enough beds to go round, simply because it is so important for the child to stay with family because of behavioural issues etc. I understand that it is a temporary arrangement but these arrangements can go on for a long time (and the mum in this case looks no where near getting back to normality enough to look after her kid). So I think it very unfair that the council won't move them from a 2 bed to a 3 bed house. But then I suppose that's just how things are and kind people have to suffer for doing the right thing these days it would seem.

Savvy_Sue

it may be worth presenting any additional evidence to be added to their application for council housing, including that relating to the 'new' child, BUT as long as they are saying it's only short-term, why would the council change their priority? Really they're going to have to bite the bullet and say the child will be staying for the foreseeable future for that to 'count'.

Otherwise moving a relative's child in for 3 months would look like a sure-fire way of getting your Band changed.

When they say overcrowding isn't a priority, what they mean (I think) is that there is no obligation to move people out of an overcrowded situation. Where overcrowding is considered is when looking at what you're moving into. for example they wouldn't move such a family into another 2 bed house, even if the family thought it would be ideal / better because of size, location etc. Because that would just perpetuate the overcrowding in the 'new' house.