Questions, questions and more questions....

[carr98]

Hi there, i have read lots of the threads here and have looked at my la website, now i have a few questions that i would like to ask i hope you can help me- now my husband doesnt earn enough for us to live on just his wages so i need to work, currently i am a cm and work from home i am always full but could earn enough taking just 1 child daily to keep us going that would mean that i would be within my ofsted ratio if a quick placement was made i would of course ensure that cm parents knew this could happen, do you think this would be frowned upon - i am a qualified level 3 with 13 years childcareexperience- also i had concerns re the school drop off thing would this mean i would have to drive the children where ever they went to school even if it was miles away? Is ther a catchment that is considered acceptable eg 10 miles but what happens after this surely they cant expect you to drive 20-30 miles each way? Also the holiday thread jumped out at me i assumed that any foster child would come with us on holiday as part of the family if they leave before then so be it or if an extra one arrives then changes are made? Is fostering treaded very much like a job or is each child treated as a family member? I am confused! Also contact with birth parents is this different with each one or could it be every day? How much running around is there really? Sorry i want to get this right i am aware its not all roses and flowers :-)

[Cassimin]

Wow lots of questions!! Good on you for taking the time.
I am with IFA. I know of a childminder who had to leave her job in order to foster. Not sure about LA though.
Completely depends on wether you are willing to drive child to school. When you are contacted by social worker you are told the child's school you can then decide if you are able to do it. I had a school 19 miles away so nearly 80 miles per day.
All children are encouraged to go away with the family as far as I am aware. We have taken children in this country and abroad with no problems, but you must ask permission first. Social worker will apply for passport if needed.
But be aware if you book holiday and child leaves new child may not be granted permission or passport may not be easy to obtain so you may need to cancel.
All contact is different. Babies are usually very frequent, mostly daily.
With IFA you are required to ensure child is transported to and from contact. Again not sure about La.
In answer to your question, yes there is a lot if running around. Lots of meetings with school, doctors , social workers and reviews.
Fostering is a mixture of both having a new family member and a job.
You love and treat the child as you would your own but you cannot make any major decisions without permission.

[carr98]

We dont go abroad on holiday i have a fear of flying usually centre parcs or similar! So a passport wont be needed really - i guess i would just make sure i booked a big one -villa that is- wow thats a huge distance to travel and a lot of time in a car ! Do children always stay in the same school or could they change if it were a long term placement? Ohh so many things to think about, i am not in a hurry i need to save up enough to convert my loft before i can start applying it feels like a huge hurdle to jump before i can even get started !

[Candycoco]

As far as I am awake you are not allowed to childmind and foster at the same time. I have a friend who was a cm but now fosters but doesn't do both. To be honest, I don't see how you'd be able to cm as when you foster you're time isn't really your own. You have contact several times a week, day time if pre-schoolers or straight from school if school-aged child. I have had to do Saturday contacts in the past, and I'm currently working towards the children I have in placement returning home so this includes Saturday and Sunday contacts for the next month!

You will also have meetings/medicals to attend regularly and I have supervision with my SSW every month which takes 2 hours and is during the daytime mostly. You also have mandatory training to attend, I had 8 courses to do in my first year, plus the skills portfolio (can't remember what it's called!).

Although you have great experience working with children, which would be really valuable for fostering, I don't realistically think you could do both. With my LA, one person has to be home-based because of all these reasons, and it really isn't like having a new family member. It's so challenging and I think it'd be unfair to inflict that on a cm child as even little ones can present with very challenging behaviour/ need 1:1 and you couldn't risk them doing something to the cm child.

Do you think you could manage financially with a child in placement and no cm child?

[Candycoco]

Also meant to say, I'm doing school runs to a school only 4 miles away at the moment but with the traffic can take half an hour or more each way, then the days I have contact I feel like I'm just in my car all day going back and forth! Very frustrating but that's just the way it is.

[Twopots]

I have a child who is under two so don't do school runs but the amount of meetings, Medicals, social worker visits (both your sw and the child's sw), guardian visits, health visitor visits and all the training courses I'm expected to be on, plus contact 5 times a week I think it would be hard to juggle with another child, I'd speak to your LA and see what there view is though as I do know foster carers in our LA that work full time and foster x

[carr98]

Hummmm lots to think about - yes i think we would be ok with a placement but its the times without that would be a problem but perhaps i could do bamk work in between to help - i just want to be realistic about practicallities before i move forward thanks all :-) none of the above puts me off xx

[CateringCalamities]

We had to prove that we could manage financially when we had no placement, proof of income, wage slips and bank statements had to be shown. Sw made a call to our mortgage advisor to check no arrears etc.
Was advised someone had to be at home and available all the time. The school run we currently do is 200 miles + per week, and that is without appointments, contact and all the other running around!
It can be chaos, challenging and exhausting - Best thing as a family we ever did, as the good far outweighs the bad.

[millmz]

Hi, Not being funny but please don't foster for the money, this is not like a child minding job where you hand them back at the end of the day, some of these kids have severe problems and its not easy especially if you have other children all day. With my LA who i foster for i will not do school runs so they get transported and they have also provided transport to and from contact. These kids must be treated as one of the family and there are alot of meetings you have to attend so maybe think about how you would do all that. Sorry not meant to offend but some people go into fostering for the money and don't realise the problems the kids come with, they will nearly always have been abused or neglected in some way. They need time, patience and love.

[scarlet5tyger]

I think the biggest problem with fostering and childminding is that you never know what the child you take is going to be like. The child I have at the moment, plus my last three placements, could never have been cared for alongside children I was minding. Huge attachment problems mean this would have been absolutely out of the question - and I find this is becoming far more common. (Google attachment disorder and you'll very quickly see what I mean).

If you foster for your LA you could be driving several miles per day for school run, IFA could be much much more (I know someone who drives 30 miles each way, and I'm sure there are some who drive more).

I've done daily contact - which includes Sat. You could of course take a minded child along, bit I'm not sure parents would agree.