to think that being paid to foster is wrong

[nancydrewrockinaroundxmastree]

This is actually not a thread about a thread but rather about a poster I saw in the Post Office today which basically said "you could get paid up to £350 per week to foster". I was and then (as I do) wondered what the MN consensus would be.

Obviously it doesn't seem right that people should not have their expenses reimbursed and it would be terribly sad if good carers didn't foster for want of being able to afford to but surely offering that sort of money makes the transaction a financial rather than a nurturing one. It diesn't sit well with me.

So AIBU to think that paying people to foster rather than to cover their expenses attracts the wrong sort of people?

Nope- Foster carers are not able to claim any of the "child" benefits, nor are the children eligible for free school meals either.

Half of that is the Childs money. For clothes food etc. Here the specialist FC ( those who take v challenging teens/ children with SN) get approx £130 a week for 24/7 care + meetings, training, working with the child on their personal issues. V few FC I work with woth and if they do there is a v limited number of children that can be placed with them.

yadbu, My aunty fosters children and it is BLOODY hard work. They deserve every penny they get

Maybe only rich people should foster then

The alternative to foster care is a residential home and those cost a lot more than £350/week/child. Why not let those that come forward be reimbursed? Similarly we give people an allowance (not £350/week I'll grant you) for caring for elderly/disabled relatives. Is that wrong? Or do we think that only independently wealthy philanthropists should take on the role of carers for purely altruistic reasons....?

AFAIK, foster carers pay no tax on their foster income either and it doesn't affect their benefits in any way

But booyhohoho - we couldn't afford to live on just my DP's income. If I decided to quit my job and be a SAHM the state wouldn't give me money to stay at home would it? What tax credits and benefits do you mean?

I have had to give up my job in order to raise my Grandaughter.
The only alternative was for her to be fostered.
I wish I was given £350 a week.

this page gives the minimum allowance that a foster carer should be getting

The allowance is supposed to cover every need including heating, clothes, food, toys, travel to and from meetings/ contact, etc.

"I hold my hand up to foster carers. I could not do it. Devote every waking/sleeping hour to someone else's children? Worth their weight in gold.

So I think YABU.

And to all foster carers out there = thank you and god bless."

Well said agedknees

It must be an unbelievably stressful and difficult job.

There's a horrible attitude on mumnset recently, really horrible.

i meant ctc like you would get if the child was your own or adopted.

I have just interviewed a superb foster carer for Foster Care magazine. She knocks herself out, and manages that delicate balance between professional commitment - because she is, no mistake about it, a childcare professional doing a more than full-time job - with personal attachement, because she is also someone with the loving ferocity of the best kind of parent. She holds together a relationship between herself, the children she fosters (who are disabled btw) and their birth family, with good humour and yet realism. She was amazing. She was, yes, an atypically wonderful carer but boy oh boy she deserved to be on the highest wage going.

yabu

I think it's okay as long as it's treated like a high-pressure job, with the same kind of job interview process and thought behind selecting fosterers as you would for social workers and psychiatrists.

CTC isn't enough to pay the rent on though! Otherwise loads of parents wouldn't bother working.

They are also given holiday allowance, clothing allowance, Christmas allowance, and a birthday allowance.

no booyhoohoo- because you are not the child's legal guardians even though you are acting in loco parentis. The legal guardians are social services I believe.

I am pmsl at the idea that foster carers are raking in their money.

Do you foster OP?

Do you know anyone who fosters?

Do you know anyone who works with fostered children?

Do you have any idea how hard it is?

Do you have a clue how expensive it is?

No doubt you'll be offering to foster for free as soon as you have a minute.

£350 per week, so £50 per day - 24/7 = £2.08

YABVVVVU and you bloody well know it

I think clothing allowance is dependant on local authority and is usually for an emergency purchase of adequate clothing. The running costs of clothing a child are taken from the allowance.

I'm just waiting to see who the first poster to say

"i don't get paid for looking after my own child so why should foster carers get paid"

is gonna be