Can you claim anything when fostering/adopting?

[Nikaleeona]

well its a long story but basically it may come to it that our baby has to be fostered when its born at the end of june and possibly adopted. Ideally we would like this to be kept in the family so would like my sister in law to have it. Does anyone know if there is anything they could claim? Would she be entitled to maternity leave or anything? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks

Nik, you must be in the middle of quite some situation.....

I think there are allowances she might be entitled to. If the child is placed with her (fostering) it would be I guess on a 'friends and family' basis and I believe there is an allowance payable just like there would be to other foster carers. If it would have a big financial impact eg loss of her income, then she needs to be clear from day one with social services about this and they would I am sure apply for as much as they could for her allowance-wise.

Depending on the employer she may well be able to take 'adoption leave' which is or should be similar to maternity leave, I think. She could contact a union to get more advice on this. Also of course she would be entitled to child benefit and depending on her circumstances, child tax credit.

Can I just say I hope you are getting some help with dealing with this situation for yourself?

Thanks for your support. My parents are currently fostering my DD and the money they get is something ridiculous which theres no way my sister in law would be able to live on that.
Im survivng as best possible, got solicitors but theres not much they can do when they dont get told much

Nik, try and contact an organisation called Families in Care. They are there to support birth families and will have all the info you need. They can accompany you and your sister to meetings etc.

I'm so sorry I don't have an address or phone number for them.

is motherinferier about, she might have some info re addresses

Thank you. I'll try and search for them and try and get in contact with them to see whats can be done and stuff

Your SIL can get adoption leave from her employer. she would also get child benefit if she adopted your baby. she woudln't get a fostering or adoption allowance for a young baby - no one does, not just relatives

if you want her to be approved to adopt your baby then she needs to start right away. it takes a long time

if you are voluntarily placing your baby for adoption then they should at least consider your SIL. If your baby is to be removed from your care then I think you shoudl be prepared for the probabilty that SS may not allow this.

Please get some counselling for yourslef in all this

Kristina, I'm a bit puzzled by your statement "no-one gets an allowance for a young baby"
I foster newborns and I and my friends get a fostering allowance.

I thought fostering allowances were standard - essentialy "expenses" for providing the service to the local authority. It might be different if it's "unofficial" fostering by family members. but stand to be corrected.

Adoption is more of a permanent thing than fostering so there is adoption leave/pay nearly exactly the same as maternity leave/pay when you leave work. Some areas provide a top-up adoption allowance but this is means tested and usually reserved for hard-to-place children - would be unusual for a single healthy baby. But then you can claim tax credit etc just as for birth children.

It's also worth contacting Adoption UK they are experts in all matters of fostering and adoption and have a good helpline & website.

Nik you are being very brave I hope your little ones are able to stay in their (extended) birth family.

Adoption pay is £108 per week for 6 months. No 90% of salary for the first 6 weeks. Some employers may have more generous allowances but not many.

If the baby was privately fostered with your SIL I believe that she would not get any allowances (but perhaps someone else can confirm that) other than child benefit and any other benefit she would be entitled to in her own right eg child tax credit etc.

Nothing for adoption unless you adopt a difficult to place child when they sometimes attract an allowance.

flower - as sue says you dont get a allowance for private fostering. just whatever the birth parent pays you.

perhaps i have misunderstood - I thought that nikaleeona's baby was to be adopted and she wanted the child to be placed for adoption with her SIL. that woudl mean that her SIL woudl have to be approved by the adoption panel for a named placement . i knwo that if this happens she will be technically fostering that child until the adoption order is granted, but AFAIW she wouldn't be paid as a foster carer. Indeed, to be granted an adoption order she would need to show that she was able to suport the child throughout its life.

My understanding is that agencies are very wary of paying relatives to foster for obvious reasons

I think it is differant in some areas but you do get an allowance for fostering babies. You also get an allowance after adoption this is usually means tested.

Dolphin this is a very old thread! However (and I know many adopters) getting an allowance after adopting is very rare - the legislation is very technical but in essence and allowance may be granted is the adoption is not practical any other way (eg large sibling group) or if the childs special needs would mean a significant outlay.

I don;t think that private fostering which I guess the OP would be talking about attracts any allowances other than the usually ones eg child benefit.

It may be differant in areas kewcumber. All I know is the majority of adopters I know do get a means tested allowance. I have moved several children on to adoption from foster care. Also I believe if a child is cared for by family, the family will have to be approved as carers and will then be paid the same rate as other local foster carers. Thats how it is in my area anyway. I realise this is an old post I just pop in here as adoption interests me. I'm surprised it isn't used more.

I think if people have a very specific adoption issue they tend to post on the adoption specific forum - I think we are very aware that the adoption section here is able to be read by anyone generally on MN (of course thats true of any forum but less likely on an adoption specific one).

Adoption allowances are uncommon round here and in theory the rules are national ones but I understand that if your local SS will agree that you are eligible then I think you will get it.

It is possible (indeed more common than you'd think - estimated to be about 10,000 children) to privately foster without being approved (Victoria Climbie!?) but the rules were changed after the Climbie case to mean that all privately fostered children have to be visited by SS at least every 6 weeks as they are considered to be high risk (though not as high as to be on the at risk register). However this relies on the family actually registering the child with SS as they are supposed to.

You sound as if you know your stuff kewcumber. I'm new to MN I didn't know there was an specific adoption forum how do I get there (sorry if I'm being a bit dense here).
Nik if you come back good luck with your baby.I hope things work out for you.

I am a kinship fosterer/adopter.

I know this is an old thread but cant resist posting

Private fostercare rules have changed but the do not apply to close relatives. There is no obligation to inform ss if you are a sister, aunt etc.

The Mumby judgement states that kinship carers are legally entitled to the same foster payments as professional foster carers. This rarely happens because ss do not inform kinship carers of their rights.

Often children are placed with family carers at short notice before they are fully informed. After placement they are told that they took the child on as a voluntary placement and they are therefore not entitled to any financial or practical help. This happens even if the child has a care order attached.

Kinship carers are assessed on a special basis at first but then have to go through the same checks as non family carers. It took us two years to adopt our son. We went through exactly the same process as everyone else.

SS should make special allowances for kinship carers because they come into their caring role in a different way from others. They do not have the opportunity to plan or save to take on an extra child. They also have to have dealings with aggressive birth parents. A family placement should not be turned down on the basis of lack of finances, it the placement is seen as in the best interests of the child it should be supported by the LA.

Research shows that children tend to do better when kept within the family. This is not to belittle what fostercarers do by any means. Of course not all family members are suitable to care for relative's children either.

www.frg.org.uk is an excellent source of information for kinship carers.

sorry dolphin I wasn;t clear enough - I mean specific adoption forums like Adoption UK or some of the Yahoo groups like Adoption Parenting which discusses adoption related issues only. Not impossible to join if you are not an adopters but as a moderator on one board who approves applications, it isn;t generally difficult to spot people who know nothing about adoption.

Chegirl - iinteresting I had no idea the rules on close kinship fostering had chances.

Dolphin I know a bit about it as I adopte3d from overseas and in some cases, we are treated as private foster carers until teh UK adoption is completeed despite having been approved in the UK and the match having been approved by SS. Bizarre and irritating but fact of life. I had 6 weekly visits from SS for nearly 3 years

I only know this because a friend was caring for her nephew. I knew that there were new laws around informing SS re caring for a child privately.

I was a bit concerned because of the line of work we are in and I didnt want her to get into trouble. She asked me to look into it. When I did it appeared that she had no obligation as an aunt to inform anyone.

Ironically it may have been much better for her if she had because she was having a lot of issues with nephew and couldve done with some ss intervention.

Just to clarify - Victoria Climbe's aunt was not a real aunt. I did a bit on women's hour re kinship care. I wasnt in the studio so my bit was prerecorded. I was v. pissed off to have someone from SS start going on about Victoria Climbe's case as if it was on a par with kinship care . Bloody cheek.

oh I see thanks kewcumber. Chegirl,It does seem that the rules re kinship care are a little confusing. I really thought that anyone even close family had a duty to inform ss if they were caring for a child. As a foster carer I am aware of many families caring for other family members. They do get the same money and support that foster carers get as long as they work with ss.
Kewcumber 3 from overseas that is so lovely. We adopted a child we had fostered from birth and despite having been through intensive checks to become foster carers we still had to go through the whole adoption process. Even though the child had lived happily with us for 2 years before process began 2 people wanted to move her from us to be adopted elsewhere (these people didn't know us or the child prior to our application to adopt). Luckily the courts saw sense but it's all so mad.

ah the 3 was a typo! I have only the 1 - though he is indeed very lovely