BBC show on council housing now - 21:00 4th May

neverdespairgirl

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

And where will all these "decent hard working families" come from? We have a problem with finding adopters/foster carers already. Are you sure that you want to saddle us with the MASSIVE extra burdon of thousands of children in the care system?

I agree wtih you about the idea of taking lots more children into care being a Bad Idea.

The reality with adoption / fostering is that healthy babies, especially healthy white babies, are like gold dust.

the children who linger in the care system are older, disabled, ethnic minorities and boys. the more of those factors a child has, the harder it is to place the child for adoption. So a 10 year old disabled black boy is far more likely to be in care than an 18 month old white girl.

IveSeenTheLight

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

So a 10 year old disabled black boy is far more likely to be in care than an 18 month old white girl.

Just to flip this....

Is a 10 year old disabled white girl far more likely to be in care than an 18 month old black boy?

neverdespairgirl

I'm afraid I don't know the relative importance of the criteria, just that they are relevant.

wymondham

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I agree wtih you about the idea of taking lots more children into care being a Bad Idea.

The reality with adoption / fostering is that healthy babies, especially healthy white babies, are like gold dust.

the children who linger in the care system are older, disabled, ethnic minorities and boys. the more of those factors a child has, the harder it is to place the child for adoption. So a 10 year old disabled black boy is far more likely to be in care than an 18 month old white girl.

I know this is a tad off topic, but something came up a while ago I had no idea of. My sister was looking at Fostering and got quite a long way into the process... one big issue that stopped her was insurance... home insurance. Apparently insurance companies rack up the premiums as its quite common to make tens of claims in a year with some children (one example was for 6 broken TV's in a six month period!)..... something i never even considered!!

Wee_Willy_Harris

RenovationMan wrote: »

We are going through the process of adopting, you would not believe how many forms, social worker visits and training courses you have to go on. The whole process could take anything up to a year.

We are not bothered about age, colour or ability. We will work with the local authority to ensure that the child is a good fit with our two other kids and our lifestyle (and obviously that we fit in with the needs/requirements of the child).

I admire both your intent and your determination.

However, you are taking parental charge of someone elses child. I would expect that process to be as thorough as possible for the sake of all parties concerned. A year to conceive a child isn't unusual, so I would say a year for adoption approval seems quite reasonable.

I wish you very good luck.

Wee_Willy_Harris

wymondham wrote: »

I know this is a tad off topic, but something came up a while ago I had no idea of. My sister was looking at Fostering and got quite a long way into the process... one big issue that stopped her was insurance... home insurance. Apparently insurance companies rack up the premiums as its quite common to make tens of claims in a year with some children (one example was for 6 broken TV's in a six month period!)..... something i never even considered!!

It's one of the reasons that local authorities struggle to source foster carers for children, and one reason why the financial packages available may appear, to some, to be so generous.

sjaypink

Jimmy_31 wrote: »

It doesnt really matter what association or department the money they get comes from does it, the point is the councils or whoever are wasting money by constantly looking after people who can look after themselves but choose not to.

It does matter because earlier in this thread you insisted that all council tenants are unemployed, and their reward for choosing not to work is to get a houseful of new furniture every 3 years as part of their tenancy....

...We then moved to white goods only...
...Then to maybe a cooker if the parents were unable to feed their children...
....which would have nothing to do with the council or the HA as a landlord, and so no relevance at all to a social housing discussion...

You also stated that you and your work mates tell everyone about all this new shiny furniture every few years, and these people are amazed that it goes on! Well, I'm not surprised, as it isn't true!

I KNOW there are many, many problems with social housing, and with the lifestyle of SOME living within. It just really pees me off when someone spots a Brighthouse delivery on a council estate, reads one of the daily mail hate articles, hears the likes of yourself and your mates down the pub and the ignorance is fed and fuelled even more :cool:

Gorgeous_George

Two similar houses with similar numbers of occupants can cost vastly different sums to provide. The difference should be funded by the the high maintenance value occupants.

Maybe an eBay-style scoring system for social housing tenants linked to rental costs/more housing choices could provide an incentive for tenants to pay their rent on time and to lok after their homes.

GG

Wee_Willy_Harris

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

Two similar houses with similar numbers of occupants can cost vastly different sums to provide. The difference should be funded by the the high maintenance value occupants.

Maybe an eBay-style scoring system for social housing tenants linked to rental costs/more housing choices could provide an incentive for tenants to pay their rent on time and to lok after their homes.

GG

Do you not think that the threat of eviction is incentive enough?

ManicMum

I don't know if this has been mentioned here as do not have the time to read 300 odd posts, but I have been thinking about this post as read it in its earlier stages.

Although I am sick of scroungers and people lounging about on benefits, what about those at the other end of the social scale who are defrauding the system too?

I bet more money is lost in this country through tax evasion and avoidance and criminal activities by the rich. How many people are registered in Monaco or Bermuda or god knows where to avoid paying into the coffers? Why do we have a go at those with a Croydon facelift, cheap gold earrings and the shell suit when fellow crims are prancing around in their Laboutin heels and Savill Row suits and getting away with it?

Let's crack down on both ends of the social scale which are haemorrhaging this country's finances.