Very Unusual Situation

HugoSP

Wonder if anyone could help please?

A friend of a friend lost her life very suddenly, leaving 2 young children to be cared for by her parents (their grandparents)

The children have moved into their grandparents' home and the grandparents now have the responsibility to look after them. It is expected that they will be awarded full custody of the kids.

Their father is unable to look after them.

I am told that Social Services have advised the grandparents that they need to use what little they have saved for their retirement to feed, cloth and meet the needs of the children. Whilst they would want to see that the kids had everything that they need. This is going to drive them to poverty in their retirement.

My friend has been running around ragged to see what financial help there is out there for the grandparents.

Could anyone suggest sources of financial help out there for situations such as this please?

Tiddlywinks

Did your friend have a will, an estate of any kind? Were provisions made for the children? Life insurance etc?

Can the father help out financially?

DanE2010

If the Local Authority isnt making any payment for them then id imagine they would be entitled to claim tax credits for the children and child benefit as they are now responsible for them, worth looking into

real1314

HugoSP wrote: »

Wonder if anyone could help please?

A friend of a friend lost her life very suddenly, leaving 2 young children to be cared for by her parents (their grandparents)

The children have moved into their grandparents' home and the grandparents now have the responsibility to look after them. It is expected that they will be awarded full custody of the kids.

Their father is unable to look after them.

I am told that Social Services have advised the grandparents that they need to use what little they have saved for their retirement to feed, cloth and meet the needs of the children. Whilst they would want to see that the kids had everything that they need. This is going to drive them to poverty in their retirement.

My friend has been running around ragged to see what financial help there is out there for the grandparents.

Could anyone suggest sources of financial help out there for situations such as this please?

1. Child Benefit (Actually likely to be Guardians Allowance, but it's the same thing really)
2. Child Tax Credit

Both are paid by HMRC

RAS

Hi

Read this http://www.fostering.net/news/2010/landmark-ruling-special-guardianship-allowances

gratefulforhelp_2

Have they claimed for child benefit? And also, even if the father is unable to care for them, is he able to pay child support?

CFC

As Dan says, they will be entitled to the benefits that any parents are entitled to. The father will still need to contribute to their maintainance I believe, the CSA will help with this.
The Grandparents Association may help
http://www.grandparents-association.org.uk
or this specialist organisation
http://www.grandparentsasparents.org.uk/

It seems as if the question of money depends on which council you fall in.

QUOTE
The most important thing to avoid is getting a Residence Order before resolving whether the LA have any duties in respect of the child being cared for. An RO gives the holder Parental Responsibility – it stops a child being a looked after child. You can’t therefore get Fostering Allowances. You may get Residence a llowance but this is means tested and often less than Fostering Allowance.
If the child had been in care then the Local authorities should pay a proper allowance to the carer.If you just take the child on then it is not classed as a looked after child, so you can only get whatever benefits you are entitled to and maybe RO allowance.

HugoSP

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

Did your friend have a will, an estate of any kind? Were provisions made for the children? Life insurance etc?

Can the father help out financially?

2 very good questions there. Unfortunately neither are easy to answer at the moment.

In answer to your first - I know very little. There may be somthing left in the estate, but it will be some time before it is known how much or that efforts can be made to realise it.

In answer to your 2nd question - No he can't.

Sorry if my answers seem blunt, but that is all I can say.

HugoSP

CFC wrote: »

As Dan says, they will be entitled to the benefits that any parents are entitled to. As the grandparents are related to the child, I believe there will be no 'foster' allowance or similar. The father will still need to contribute to their maintainance I believe, the CSA will help with this.

I can tell you that this will definitely NOT happen. Take it from me - Father is out of the loop - end of.

The link someone else puts up seems to explain the foster allowance situation.

http://www.fostering.net/news/2010/landmark-ruling-special-guardianship-allowances

AnxiousMum

The father SHOULD be paying child support - a call to the CSA will get that rolling - well, as long as he's not in jail or something I guess! But even if he is on benefits, he should still be contributing what is deemed necessary off of his benefits payments. It's not a matter of 'he can't afford it', he has children, he needs to help support them financially. Just noticed your last post - definitely getting the impression he must be in jail or something!

Get the grandparents to apply for child tax credits and family benefits for the children.

Just another reminder that we should all have life insurance policies to ensure that our children are provided for in such an event!

RAS

Hi

With respect to the father; it may be he is out of the loop as far as contact is concerned, but legally, contact and money are never tied together. Even if he never sees the children, by law he is expected to provide for them, assuming he is not in the nick etc.