Fostering agency and Local Authority won’t accommodate one journey via taxi

I thought children often went home from school in taxis if they were entitled to free transport? I've seen a couple of taxis picking up from our very small local primary so I'm surprised it's such an issue. Lots of kids also get the school minibus, why would a taxi be considered a worse option and not suitable for certain kids? I wouldn't have had any problem with ds being brought home in a DBS checked taxi if necessary - why would I? It's no wonder there's a shortage of foster carers.

It's really rare to do taxis to school for fostered dc (who aren't SEND) where I am. You'd be expected to cover your costs with the fostering fee paid. It is really expensive (think £200 per one trip a week or £10k pa). It has to go out to tender for local taxi companies. They might also need an escort if they're likely to get out of the car (some do). I only see it for court ordered situations or short term emergencies eg carer is in hospital.

Wow how did the partner get approved ??

did he fess up that he’s not yet ready and needs time to become accustomed???

don’t foster kids !
they don’t need this shit !

I’m going to copy here what I said on a thread about someone fostering for the first time:
You will need to have a lot of flexibility with work, the amount of appointments, meetings, time supporting the child, following up on making sure that the support is in place e.g. school have done everything they should have, birth family visitation and contact etc is demanding. Basically consider your role as emotional support human and personal assistant for that child 24/7 - it’s intense. Trying to work on top of that is hard. Most people I know who foster either don’t work or are freelance in creative work (painting, ceramics, writing) to fit around the child’s needs.

The fostering board might be a good place for you to read about other people’s experiences
www.mumsnet.com/talk/fostering

Sorry but if the children are young enough that they need accompanying to and from school then they need a parent to do that. Before/after school club is fine, but not taxis. If a non-foster child was too young to travel to a from school alone, the parent would have to use a properly registered childminder or after school club until they could pick them up. Why would foster children be any different?

How old is the child anyway?

I am also of the view that if you think that this is ok for the foster child then you need to raise your awareness of what the child is likely to need in terms of your time, care and support. They will likely need so much reassurance and encouragement around going to school, not to mention the chats with their teacher at the end of the day if they have had a difficult day (likely) and other school meetings. You will need to consider one of you at least having long term leave or sabbatical off work for “trying it out for a bit”.

You’re just never going to be selected to be the preferred foster carer when it goes to court or etc is my view. Both of you having job commitments doesn’t sound ideal - my old agency said one person had to be the full time carer.

An unaccompanied child in a taxi won’t get approved by anyone I’d say. Maybe after you’ve been fostering a while and you can have family members as your approved babysitter (they have to have enhanced DBS check) it might work.

Your partner needs more time to become accustomed to fostering? So wait until he’s ready before going on the agency’s books.

@Doingmybest12 it's pretty much banned in our authority. It's considered on a par with moving foster childrens's belongings in bin bags.

It's also really expensive for what you get and isn't a good use of limited resources. With a chaperone and the limited companies who offer the service the companies usually charge three times what a regular taxi would cost, and it's for a service that a local authority should reasonably expect to be provided by the foster carer within the fostering contract.
If it was the right thing for the child (like another poster said to keep a child at the same school while they live with a relative, to avoid them being moved to live with strangers) it would be considered, but unless there was a real need like that, it's far better to place the child in a foster home where they can drop them at school and meet them at pick up. It is a basic part of fostering really. The children need familiar faces and to know the carers are there for them.

I thought foster carers were supposed to have a support network around them they can turn to for things like this. Why can't they help in this circumstance?

It's not very child focused and, if it was a child of your own, would you really be calling the LA to get a taxi for them? Most people would call in a favour from their own support network in situations like this for their own child - why can't you do this for your foster child?

Nope, the social workers aren't the bad guys here.

@Happyapplesanspears there are specific services that provide this for SEN children, with drivers who apply for that role, chaperones, and usually a group of children all regularly doing the same journey together.

It's very different to a different driver turning up each time to collect a lone child. Especially a lone child who could be going through one of the most traumatic and life changing events possible, eg if they've just been removed from their parents. That's also before considering that theres no leeway in this plan, eg if dad is delayed, if after school club isn't on etc.

I don't know why so much shock from people who work in the business about children in taxis. It's not ideal and personally I think it's not right but when unavoidable children do go in taxis organised by the LA with an escort. All you can do is say this is what you'd need for so many weeks and then it's up to them if they agree or talk to you about another plan. It will depend on what other choices they have with other families.

It’s different a child with a secure attachment getting into a taxi e.g. some SEN children vs a recently fostered child who is getting used to a placement and probably has trauma. Surely you can see this, OP?

It’s the kind of thing that may be established over time, to allow a child to remain at the same school and live with a relative, or to allow the foster carer to supervise contact with another family member, but not from the get go.

We had DC collected from school and taken to contact by social work assistants, as we had other children on the house.

Fostering is all consuming.

Plenty of children get a taxi home from school including very vulnerable SEN children.

Would anyone be home to greet the child as a child taking a taxi needs to be handed
over to a parent/guardian.

Your partner needs to stop working if they are the main carer, this isn't try before you buy.

but just for now to give my partner time to become accustomed to fostering

It's not up to the LA / fostering agency / foster child to accommodate your partner's period of adjustment!

Would you put your own child in a taxi to get them home from school?

"We explained it wouldn’t be forever as me and my partner want to do the fostering full time eventually but just for now to give my partner time to become accustomed to fostering"

OP if your partner needs time to become accustomed to fostering, then that time needs to be taken BEFORE the child arrives. This screams 'reluctant foster parent with partner desperate to leap in when they're not ready'.

Putting a child in a taxi means surrendering care and responsibility for that child to a random taxi driver, if you can't see why that's dangerous and deeply unfair for the child and the driver, you shouldn't even be this far into the process.

It's one thing to make that decision for your own child when they're old enough. For a child in foster care? Who you don't even know?

This gives me grave concern that you have raced ahead into something you're truly unequipped to handle.

@KarmenPQZ whether or not after school club is ok is really dependant on the child. Some children love it, others are desperate to get out of school and struggle with a long day. It isn't really feasible for foster carers to rely on ASC unless they know the child and know it works for them, and the social worker is happy for it to be in the care plan.
When I was a social worker for children in care I wouldn't agree it if it was purely a childcare basis, unless it was unavoidable and on balance, eg if two foster children were in two different schools with the same pick up time and needed to be staggered.

Op it is common to wait for your first foster placement, but once you've started and your agency knows you can manage, the likelihood is you'll get lots more - the agency carers I know rarely have time between foster children. As much as LAs want to place in house there is a real shortage of carers, it's a national issue.

I would have thought After school club was ok. Not sure why people are raising concerns about its reliability. Surely school are responsible for the child until it finishes even if one teacher is off sick. They have a duty of care.

taxi is slightly different tho. How would child get dismissed from schooo. For us under year 5s need an adult to hand over from the teacher in the playground. Taxi driver presumably isn’t going to go into the playground to accept the child. Also what if there’s traffic and partner is late. Is the taxi driver supposed to just dump them in the doorstep. Or sit with them. Neither is really ok in my opinion

I worked in fostering for an LA. The agency have misled you, which isn't unusual for agencies as there is money in it for them. There is the expectation that one carer is always available. When I assessed someone through the LA it was always made clear that the expectation was one carer would give up work so they are always available for drop off, pick ups, contact and meetings. Meetings can be called at last minute for looked after children so there really does need to be a huge amount of flexibility. As an agency foster carer you would be receiving the children who are the most 'challenging' as LA's always try and place in house first so having a carer always available is likely to be even more important.

There are far too many points of failure in that sort of plan. Relying on the afterschool program not being canceled, however unlikely. The very likely scenario of a taxi not showing or being delayed. The trouble of finding a vetted taxi driver. The stress to a child from a rotating set of drivers as the same one may not always be available. Most importantly, the foster parent planning to meet the taxi at home just in time. This is a huge problem. What if the foster parent is delayed? What happens? A taxi driver should not be expected to take charge of a child.

you can’t go into something like this expecting all the pieces to work. You need to expect everything to go wrong, constantly. Parenting plans need to have redundancy built in.

Also family visits have to fit the child, and the end of family time is particularly emotional for a child - absolutely no way would a child go home from seeing family on their own in a taxi! The fact that you think that is suitable worries me. What if their parent didn't turn up, do they sit at the contact centre with staff for an hour then go home in a taxi because no one would be home otherwise?

Please think it through from the child's perspective - they are going through a lot, they can't be expected to fit in around your work patterns. They have to be the priority. Plenty of foster carers do work part time, but that part time work needs to fit around the child.

Children in foster care feel different anyway - imagine seeing your friends go home with their parents and you're waiting for a taxi. Taxis are notoriously unreliable or late, which isn't ok for children who might have had experiences of not being collected from school. Few taxi firms will do it because of the extra checks the drivers need, and those under a certain age needing to be chaperoned.
It wouldn't be allowed where I work unless it was exceptional circumstances, eg the only emergency placement available, and even then we'd be pulling in staff to help out as a favour to avoid it.

Taking children to and from school is a basic and important part of fostering. You need to look at referrals for children who go to school where you can manage this.

Foster carers forcing us to put children in taxis is rife. I wouldn’t do it to my own child, I detest doing it to our most vulnerable. Would you do it to your child? Would that be a solution you come to?