quick background - we were approved for fostering Feb 2011, thro' private agency. We have had one emergency placement: two sisters aged 12 and 9, one with severe learning disabilities (we quickly discovered 'moderate' is euphemism for 'severe'), who arrived late on a Friday night. An exhausting, hilarious, rewarding week later, our two delightful girls were moved on to another foster family nearer their home area (we were 1 1/2 hours away) and we will never know what's become of them. Since then, we have been waiting for a phone call to say our agency has another child that would be well-matched for us.
Our agency charges the Local Authority £1,000 per child per week - on the face of it, it's a lot more than in-house fostering provision, although the local authorities carry the resourcing cost for large teams of social workers, HR/management costs, government pensions etc etc). Needless to say we see barely 1/4 of that as our income. Also, inevitably, the referrals in the age group we are approved for (0 - 12 years, max 2 siblings) are more readily placed with local authorities as they are 'easier' to find families for.
Is our agency expensive on the scale of private fostering agencies? Should we cut loose and go through all that approval palava again to go with a local authority?
The danger in going with a local authority is that we are simply 'busy fools' - children placed with us but we will be on v. modest pay. Yes, its hugely rewarding and priceless in one sense - but as a family, we need the income.
Your thoughts appreciated.
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dilemma - cut loose from private fostering agency and go with local authority... or shelve fostering to return to 'proper' job
12 replies
rootytoot · 27/04/2011 11:25
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