Boring question for the experts: should DLA diminish our adoption allowance?

[Moominmammaatsea]

Grrrr! If only I had the brain cells left (single adoptive parent to two complex needs children) to re-register in the super-secret-squirrel club that is now AdoptionUK (seriously, it's mega-hard to get on now), I know I would get the answer to this question in a nanosecond. I'm counting on the fact that there's some generous overlap between here & there & that some kind soul who's managed the secret AUK handshake to navigate their way over there may take pity on me & ask for help on my behalf!

Basically, I need to know if a claim for an adoption allowance (10 years post-placement, due to an unexpected and significant health issue (related directly to the child's in-utero experience) should be diminished by the said child's receipt of DLA?

Happy to provide additional information by PM.

I am by no means an expert but I don’t think so...

Adoption allowance is usually means tested based on income and expenditure. DLA is a benefit specifically for the child and should not be used as income.

We get high rate care and high rate mobility and have agreement for adoption allowance for the first two years (although our LO has life-long complex needs)

@SFCA

Thanks so much for your speedy reply. I KNEW I was right! Bloody trying-it-on, cheapskate local authority with a clueless 'interim' director of children's services. Yes, my elder daughter has complex needs also as she is now blind, following a sudden and unexpected loss of sight, due entirely to in-utero drug abuse.

I'm not sure there is a right or wrong answer. I get an adoption allowance, all my income is taken into account, including DLA, child benefit and tax credits, as well as my earned income.
The problem is adoption allowance is entirely discretionary, I have never been able to fathom out the formula the LA use to calculate mine, but they should be able to provide you with their scale of allowance and their calculation method or formula.
LA budgets are under a lot of pressure, allowances are very difficult to get, particularly so long after the adoption. I don't know how challengable the decision to take DLA into account is.

No it shouldn't affect adoption allowance though they will try to tell you it can be knocked off. Dla for children is NOT means tested . David Cameron claimed it for his son despite being a multi millionaire for heaven's sake ! They are trying it on.
Stand firm and yes agree 're Adop UK. I have given up on it entirely now !

@Ted27 Thanks for your reply - now you've made me doubt myself all over again! I hear you regarding the pressure on LA budgets, and the difficulty of securing an AA a decade or so after a placement/adoption order. BUT there's very little wriggle room for the LA in our case as it was clearly minuted in my matching panel minutes that if ever there were any future health concerns with my 'easy-to-place' baby, the LA was obligated to complete a financial assessment for an allowance. Thank you, wise panel chair!

@flapjackfairy I'm tough as old boots and I actually shed proper tears (of frustration) in my attempts to log back in to the AUK forums. Then I decided that life as an adopter is hard enough without an organisation that is ostensibly all about supporting adopters making it even harder for me! So I gave up, deleted the email about accessing the new forums and decided I will seek my support and advice (and share my experiences) elsewhere. Such a shame as it's like tumbleweed over there now and even though I was a sporadic poster (but prolific lurker) I miss the oldies who had so much wisdom, experience and expertise to offer those not quite as far along the bumpy road of the journey that is adoption.

I can’t see how they could say that DLA is classed as income when they make it very clear that money is for the child to use for expenses over and above those of a child of a similar age (e.g most children don’t need bamboo tummy and trachy pads or a specialist seat for Grandma’s house) and mist not be viewed as income!

I do understand that LAs budgets are tight but the needs of our children mean that they need a parent at home at all times. As I am a foster carer too I also understand just how much more the LA would have to pay out if the adoptive placement broke down as a result of insufficient support and the child became looked after again.

By the way, I'm not at all saying its right or fair, just that my son's DLA is taken into account.

Do you have their scale of payments?

@SFCA Can you please be my +1 when I invariably/inevitably have to take the LA to a tribunal?! 😁

This is the same authority I had to take to an independent panel to overturn its decision to refuse home to school transport for my care-experienced/registered blind/low-income/free school meals child who had passed the 11+ to a local Grammar school - because the said school was less than a mile from our home. Wouldn't you think that an authority (& it is my child's placing authority) would have a sense of pride in its corporate parenting responsibilities and help to make the life of a child who'd overcome such barriers to academic success a little easier?

Actually, that should say 'less than a mile too far', according to its policy.

@Ted27 Thanks for the tip-off re what I need to ask for - I'll crack on with researching that this morning.

@Ted27 sorry certainly wasn’t having a go in anyway! It just infuriates how much time and effort goes into fighting tooth and nail for every little thing my children need. I quite often joke that I don’t need a carer for my child, I want to care for them but I do need a PA as there is so much ‘admin’.

@Moominmammaatsea It is good to know we may come up against this when our 2 years is up and we have to reapply! One thing I do anyway is keep a record of exactly how LO’s DLA is spent. I literally spend on specialist kit, therapies or activities so I could definitely demonstrate it is not being used as income and is only required as my LOs have additional needs.

I have 2 complex needs child, 1 adopted and 1 long term foster child. I am worn out with fighting with my foster child's authority for every little thing. He is legally their child but they will not fund equipment. He is in a dangerous bed and needs a bed costing 5000. I have offered to pay some and them the rest but 2 yrs later we are still waiting despite the highest level risk assessments being in place, the lac reviewing officer tearing her hair our and an official complaint being carried out. In 12 years we have had one shower chair and a sling out of them ! They just decided that they don't want to pay for a bed now despite agreeing to it 2 years ago .
They are a law unto themselves and if we didn't love our boy we would tell them to try to find another placement which would be impossible due to his autism, incontinence, severe learning disabilities, tube feeding etc etc . They admit no one else would take him and I point out that it will cost them 5000 a week if it all falls apart and he needs residential care. But it falls on deaf ears.
Talk about tears of frustration ! They only care about one thing and that is balancing their budget ! It is frankly shocking that parents and carers lives are made harder by the very people who are supposed to help us !

@SFCA , not at all , I'm just trying to be realistic. The LA will say it committed to a financial assessment, which it has done.

I'm a civil servant in the DfE. I spend a large part of my day turning away individuals because they don't meet the statutory framework which I have to work to. It can be very frustrating when on many occasions I wish I could do something different and I just can't.
The real issue with Adoption Allowance is that it is not a statutory benefit, it's at the discretion of the LA, so they can make their own rules.
Most LAs are struggling to meet their statutory obligations let alone discretionary stuff.
I'm not defending it, it's unfair but I'm trying to be realistic.
I'm currently engaged in a battle with an LA and have been for over a year now, I can't disclose any details because its not about my son, but believe me I do share everyone's frustrations .

@flapjackfairy Is it sad that I'm not even shocked by how your foster son has been treated? Austerity has brutalised the children's social care system to such an extent that it seems that the service managers' main role is to stringently control the public purse strings.

Just a thought, is it worth you applying to the Buttle Trust or the Family Fund for a grant for the bed your boy needs? Or can you enlist the help of a campaigning association for the rights of disabled young people to apply pressure to the local authority to shame them into coughing up? If you're not bothered about sticking your head above the parapet, you could always tweet the chief executive of your local authority!

Wouldn't you think that an authority (& it is my child's placing authority) would have a sense of pride in its corporate parenting responsibilities

I guess though the local authority doesn’t have a corporate parenting role for you child once they are adopted, the whole point of adoption being that the child is no longer “looked after”. So they will treat your child like any other unless there is good reason not to. I’m not saying it’s ok, but they need to consider your child’s need as they do any other child because not to do so would be to discriminate against them (I know, I know).

It’s the less than wonderful world of having a care experienced but not “in care” child. In saying that I’m in the process of applying for DLA fit my daughter and will fight any suggestion that her adoption allowance us impacted by DLA being awarded. Where I am there a clear criteria outlining when an adoption allowance must legally be offered, subject to means testing and it’s different to the criteria for DLA, two completely separate funding streams with different eligibility.

I am blowed if I am backing down now! They were disgusted when they came out that my husband and I have to kneel on a hard floor to dress our child and said they needed to get a safe bed asap. Not just for our wellbeing obviously but most importantly for his as he is at risk of entrapment and injury as he is so strong now and the bed is a real risk to him He needs an up, down bed which contains him safely but can also be used with a hoist so quite specific. We have found a cheaper option than originally suggested but instead of being grateful they have decided it is nothing to do with them anyway. Our complaint means they have put us at the back of a v long waiting list for another assessment ( sigh ) to see if they can find a way forward !
We now have an independent advocate on the case as well as the reviewing officer and our sw along with the child's sw. Next step is complaint to inspecting body but tbh it doesn't matter what we do as they just ignore it all and any recommendations made by independent people. The sw says if we give notice on the placement they will panic and have to buckle but I don't trust them not to move him out of spite.
If anybody was telling me this I would think they were making it up but every word is true and it is not even the worst stunt they have pulled ! I despair at times .

Nor should you @flapjackfairy. That's disgraceful.
@moominmommaatsea
Have you been given an figure? You might find that the DLA is actually marginal.
My son gets middle rate so just over £300 a month. I'm absolutely certain that if our LA decided not to take in account that the AA wouldn't be increased by £300 because that would take him out of the scale. You really need the scale and the formula

@flapjackfairy we had ‘bedgate’ too!!!

In the end we were able to get a loan from Newlife for six months. Brilliant company, had exactly what we needed, installed within 72 hours and they helped us fight our case for a permanent solution too. Would definitely recommend approaching them but you will need an OT or physio ‘on side’ to explain the need.

@SFCA
I remember it well and I Pm ed you on Adoption UK at the time. I have often thought about you during the war of the beds ! It is indeed a v similar story to yours.
Hope you are all doing well and your young man is keeping well x

@jellycatspyjamas, yes, obviously, I'm in no doubt, more than a decade in, that I'm the parent of my child. It's not like I'm expecting the chief executive of my borough to be the screaming banshee at an ungodly hour of the morning to ensure my new Y7 actually cracks on to catch THE one school bus that leaves at precisely 7.15am. Although, I'll be honest and admit that parenting an adoptive preteen with a gob the size of the channel tunnel, and a nasty temper to boot, has sometimes (often) left me fantasising about handing her back and waltzing off into the sunset.

@ SFCA @flapjackfairy I'm left wondering if I 'knew ' you from the halcyon days of AUK and I'm intrigued to know how many emigres there are here from there...

I couldn't possibly comment on any prior association with AUK ..........

Has there been ANOTHER cr*p AUK forum change? Do they never learn?

Well i was Wizzywoo on there. I dont mind telling you that. I haven't posted anything on there that I haven't been willing to post here tbh.
And Ted I recognised you from a prior life a long time ago but obviously didn't comment ! There may be a few of us who went under different names on there.
The thing is no one can understand the forum well enough to check up on previous posts anyway so anonymity is preserved by that alone mostly 😁

Hello wizzywoo, I think I knew you on the Adopters Support forum (I was Tokoloshe...!)

Sorry to disrupt the thread... will stop now...