council v private fostering

geoffky

I see money mentioned far too often for my liking when fostering is mentioned..
I do wonder if people often see it as a way out of their financial plight..

JuneBow

Many thanks for these replies.
I am interested because I am not sure whether one of the parties is doing it for the money. The other party is a close family member and I think that they will be the one who does most of the work. I suppose I am just worried.
I am quite interested in the comment by coinxoperated. Why are councils best for under 5s and private for over 5s?
It is also interesting to see that some people mention that private foster carers get more support. I am surprised by this, but obviously I know nothing.
Obviously this is one of the benefits of private fostering over council fostering.
I think that the comment by miamoo was what I was thinking also.
I had considered it myself sometime ago, but I work full time so this is not possible. Also my own children go to private school and I did not want the foster children feeling like second class citizens because I could not have afforded to put anymore through private school, and it did not seem fair. Also I am a born worryer, and I worry about my own family, so if I was given someone else's child I think I would be twice as bad. I would never have slept!
I had not considered the private/council think when I thought about it as I would not have been doing it for the money.
Many thanks once again for the insights.

NoAngel

geoffky wrote: »

I see money mentioned far too often for my liking when fostering is mentioned..
I do wonder if people often see it as a way out of their financial plight..

Well you are unlikely to be able to work whilst doing it, so money is essential to consider. My mum did it for a job when she took early retirement from nursing. Doesn't mean she didn't love the children very much and treat them very well, but she wouldn't have done it for free, and why should she? Who would?

megc_2

I work in a very busy local authority fostering team as a social worker. If money is the only reason for anybody doing fostering, they would be far better to do childminding or some other childcare occupation- they would earn more for doing far less. Most foster carers earn less than the tax/ NI threshold.
In relation to the question about indeendent agency v local authority, it all depends on what you want. Most local authorities have a great number of experienced foster carers who they know very well and are aware of their skills, abilities and caring experience. We know if a carer is likely to be able to meet the needs and cope with a particular child. Therefore we are able to predict the success or otherwise of a placement. We also know if a placement may be able to go long term, and we know the training and support that a carer has undertaken or that might be required. For this reason, we always prefer to place children with our own carers if we possibly can. However most local authorities (as do indepenedent agencies) have an abundance of carers who want to care for younger children, rather than older ones. In addition, placing children with agencies costs the authority far far more than to place with one of our carers, due to the additional fees charged by the agency for finding a placement.
Because of this, if you foster for a local authority, you are more likely to have a child in placement the majority of the time with very short periods, if any, in between. You will be less likely to have periods without a child and consequently no money. (Most authorities do not pay carers who do not have children in placement). You may receive a lower weekly fee, but on top of this you will usually receive clothing allowances, holiday payments, festival and birthday payments and other additional fees. Agency carers often do not receive these, as they are all lumped into one fee.
If you are thinking of fostering yourself, I'd recomend you contact your local authority and an independent agency and compare the information they give you about the ease of contacting them, the support and training available, the number of placements they feel able to offer, and the fees they pay as a last consideration. Yes, they are important, especially if you are considering giving up work to foster, but they are a token rather than a real living wage when the work you will do is taken into account.

Dunroamin

geoffky wrote: »

I see money mentioned far too often for my liking when fostering is mentioned..
I do wonder if people often see it as a way out of their financial plight..

Fostering is a responsible and challenging job - why shouldn't people who do it be paid appropriately?

Are you happy to do your job for pittance?

squirrelchops

In my opinion the private agencies are the ones who end up with the children that no local authority foster care will. In other words the children who have been through numerous local authority foster carers and end up having to be placed in private agency foster care.

Think about it - any local authority is going to want to pay the cheaper option of their own home grown foster carers so to have to pay for private care which is more expensive will not be a decision they take lightly. Obviously there is the situation when there are no LA places available but in that case be prepared for the LA to end the placement and to move the child back to their authority at the earliest opportunity.

There are huge expectations put on foster carers and I have met the most amazing carersbut I have also encountered foster carers who only do it for the money. I have met foster carers who wouldn't even take a child to an appointment in their own 'pride and joy' car - they would use the husband's works van! How is that promoting any sense of identity or belonging for that child knowing their foster 'parents' have this lack of sense of belonging for them too?

Mrs_Huggett

We took a boy in, he was with us for 6 1/2 years he was a friend of our middle DS, we went through terrible times with him, he was a talented musician (still is) I bent over backwards to help him, this was a private arrangement with us and his birth father, who agreed to give us £100 a month, (when he felt like it) and in time I sorted out the child benefit too, (one or two less fixes for his crack addled mum), in the end he sh*t on us from a great height. I am still some 18 months later still trying to get over it, and the sad fact is I stopped trying to help my own son (eldest - has mental health issues) because I felt could make a difference with this kid, what sort of parent does that make me eh? I had very little support from SS because they saw us as an ideal nuclear family, able to meet this childs needs because of our cultural mix, our age and the age of our Children, they never really looked into what made us or our foster son tick, and we have all ended up damaged from the experience. We have had no contact since he left at the age of 19 and I do miss him, and still worry about him.

skipsmum

My experience of fostering (12 years, hard to place children and teens) is that private agencies offer far more support than our council. By support I mean training, help with childcare when necessary (for example when I had an op), advice on urgent night calls, and also little things like providing a car seat or cot in the middle of the night. Also the council never ever paid us on time.
Financially, we have never made a profit from foster children. They can arrive in the night with nothing. They need all clothing, their own toys and books and bedding. School uniform, pe kit, stationary. Constant appointments and meetings. Long journeys to school, replacing broken things, sudden bizarre diets. Twice, a sudden rabbit hutch. Holidays, day trips. A bigger car so everyone can get in.
You do it for the kids, not the money!

keigcf

We are council foster carers of 5 years, we are supported and attend a lot of quality training. It is however a very demanding and tiring job, my life seems full of poop. Little ones are harder than your own children, and I can easily expect "presents" around from one of ours:). I do however love it,but it should not be seen as a financial quick fix, these are very vunerable children you are dealing with.

coinxoperated

JuneBow wrote: »

Many thanks for these replies.
I am interested because I am not sure whether one of the parties is doing it for the money. The other party is a close family member and I think that they will be the one who does most of the work. I suppose I am just worried.
I am quite interested in the comment by coinxoperated. Why are councils best for under 5s and private for over 5s?
It is also interesting to see that some people mention that private foster carers get more support. I am surprised by this, but obviously I know nothing.
Obviously this is one of the benefits of private fostering over council fostering.
I think that the comment by miamoo was what I was thinking also.
I had considered it myself sometime ago, but I work full time so this is not possible. Also my own children go to private school and I did not want the foster children feeling like second class citizens because I could not have afforded to put anymore through private school, and it did not seem fair. Also I am a born worryer, and I worry about my own family, so if I was given someone else's child I think I would be twice as bad. I would never have slept!
I had not considered the private/council think when I thought about it as I would not have been doing it for the money.
Many thanks once again for the insights.

Ok - let's just be clear on the structure of the la and a private agency.

A local authority will have their own foster carers who will have 'first dibs' on a child that needs to be fostered. As they are reducing budgets etc they are losing many carers due to lack of support / contact. Not all LA's, but many.

A private agency gets the children that the LA either can't place with their own carers due to lack of beds available, or due to extreme behaviours their foster carers either can't handle or they can't offer the support to enable the carers to learn.

A private agency work at keeping LA's happy and part of this is taking the hassle of foster carers that may need new supper off them. A local authority is there for the child, the agency is there for the carer.

Agencies are also in competition with each other. If you decide to go private, read Ofsted reports on the agency. For one that's established themselves. They should be able to tell you up front the rough ages of children being referred to them in your area. No agency would pay for you to undertake an assessment process if you just wanted to foster babies or were extremely restricted on the age of child they would take.

Please be honest with yourself. Don't say you will take teens if you really only want 5yr olds.

So much is unknown with foster children and although it can be a very rewarding role, it's can also be extremely intense and stressful.

You do need commitment as a foster carer and it is not something to go into blindly.

I am aware that most private agencies try to make you as aware of what you could be facing as much as possible, but it's impossible to cover every outcome.

Why not find a fostering agency near you, read their Ofsted report, and think about how you feel about the agency.

They should be quick at dealing with your enquiry and very honest about the process. Local authorities don't have Ofsted inspections as such, and that should be based upon how you generally feel your LA would suit you

I wish you the very best of luck. Becoming a fostering family can be hard, but extremely positive.