"Foster" advice needed urgently sought

love_lifer

you arent a family and friends carer- this only applies to looked after children who go to live in the community. foster carers go thru a long rigoruous training and are paid accordingly. if you fancy this then apply and go for it, but in the short term you are helping out in an extremely complex situation, which is what i hope all of us would do

play2day

Private foster care is an agreement entered into by a childs birth family and yourself directly. As your young girl was placed by social services you are informally friends and family foster carers.
Should you wish to continue in this role you will need to be CRB checked and undergo a full and thorough assessment. The results from this will then be presented to a panel who will look at your suitability for approval as friends and family foster cares and recommend accordingly. The agency decision maker will then decide whether to approve you or not.

Training will be offered and encouraged.

Financial support is available from social services for you. Do not take no for an answer. They can organise it. In the intrim period they can give you vouchers for shopping etc to help with your expences. Any allowances will be backdated.
Because the child is now in a safe position she is no longer the top priority.

Remember, he who shouts loudest gets most!

orlwaysbroke

You're probably right love lifer, but I'm still stuck in a rubbish situation - and upon reading up on the status of private foster carers, it probably won't improve much.

I have many concerns, and one of them is the impact upon my children due to the fact that I am stretching our budget to cover another person's needs. It seems that the teenager's birth mother won't have to pay, local authority won't have to pay, so guess who pays ...

suzysue_2

I sympathise with you and the girl currently in your care.
I'm afraid I don't have any advice for you.
Social services may well drag their feet on this one:

A friend of mine lived next door to a children's home, the children's home was relocated.
One night around midnight, social services knocked on his door, asked could X(she) stay there for a few days as she had nowhere else to go and had asked to be taken to him (my friend). Social services did not return for a further 6 weeks despite numerous phone calls daily, he told them she was self abusing and he didn't know how to handle it, they did not come. She stayed for 8months in total, he had very little support throughout.

thesaint

You will be extremely lucky to get any allowance for the child, especially if she hasn't been removed from her home. I would hazard a guess she is on a section 20(voluntarrily accomodated) basically you are low priority.

Get the time that the Team manager will be available, don't ask for them to call you back, they won't. Call back at the time stated and ask again. Eventually they will see you mean business.

orlwaysbroke

Cheers play2day - my typing's not all that swift!

So - because the child was delivered by social services as a result of their involvement it is unlikely that we'd be viewed as private foster carers.

Our main concern is that she doesn't get bounced from pillar to post, with a succession of short term placements while waiting for a permanent 'home'.

But at the same time we both work fulltime, and neither of us can commit to being a full time carer due to financial constraints.

?!?!?!?!!?

orlwaysbroke

Having looked at my op I didn't make it clear that the local authority removed her from her home, then called us to see if we could accomodate short term - as she was my daughter's friend.

Bossyboots

No, you are not private carers. You are indeed classed as "friends and family" carers. I couldn't recall that phrase earlier.

As stated, you should be getting an allowance but I have to admit my local social services department don't offer it, you have to ask.

orlwaysbroke

Cheers for everyone's words of wisdom and support.

A family support worker is due to meet with us tomorrow afternoon, hence my request for urgent info - I don't want to walk in without a little knowledge.

thesaint

Although the local authority may have 'removed' her, you will probably find that it is a voluntary arrangement. It is a small point, but an important one.
It is a very difficult explanation to explain, hopefully the support worker will be able to give you the information you need.

My guess is that they will gauge that you will keep her because you don't want to see her with starangers and make you a lot of promises that won't be put in writing. Beware.