Talk to me about fostering

[dolcegusto]

Me and dh have been thinking about fostering and have made a couple of initial enquiries.

We're thinking maybe younger children for short or long term or respite care.

What are the pros and cons? Is it better to go through a local authority or an agency? Is it harder to get placements (is that the right term?) if you only want younger children? Do you get really attached to the children and is it awful when they leave?

We have 2 dds age 4 and 2, how will it affect them?

Any advice very welcome.

hi fostermumtomany.

Yes I understand what you are saying. This is the reason that LA foster carers do not have to pay tax. They are paid a wage plus a seperate allowance for the child, therfore their wage appears too small to pay tax on.

Agency foster carers get paid a monthly lump sum. The child allowance is not paid seperately. Obviously all the child's clothing, food, equipment etc is paid out of this sum.

The "wage" an Agency carer recieves looks more on paper that an LA carer because there is no seperation of child allowance and carer fee.

This is from hmrc's website..

You must include your income from foster caring in your declaration of income. Your foster caring income for tax credit purposes is the same as your taxable profit from fostering. So if your total foster care receipts are less than your qualifying amount, your profit from foster caring for both tax and tax credit will be nil.

I think we are all pretty much saying the same thing.. working for a LA, we are not classed as receiving an 'income' because of being below the qualifying amount.

I'm am at the differences in LA. Fostering is something I fully intend to do in the future. ATM am in 2 bed HA flat so do not have the room.

I do however have a sterilizer that was given to me for my cousin (v prem baby) but didn't need as someone else got one. I would be willing to send it to someone who needs it. PM your adress and I'll send it..

fostermum I have just read your whole post with an open mouth

You should name and shame your la so that no potential foster carers go anywhere near the bloody lot of them!

You are a wonderful nurturing and caring foster carer and any child in your home would be a lucky child indeed but these bloody sw's are taking advantage of you beyond belief!

Now whilst we don't go into foster caring for the money (chance would be a fine thing!) we should have all costs and expenses related to the child covered by social services.

I actually am going to sign off now as I can feel a rant coming on and I do not want to embarass myself.

Best wishes to you and your family.xx :)

Absolutely agree Minnerva. OP if you do not get any satisfaction from the sw. go to team manager, if still disatisfied, ask for copy of complaints procedure ans go through that. Your complaint will be investigated by an independent person but employed by the LA - a stage 3 complaint can be heard by members of the Social Services Committee (the politicians) and believe me if they think you have been treated unfairly, head will roll.

Why don't you call a meeting of all foster carers and you could make a joint formal complaint in writing (this is better than wasting your time hanging around for team managers). I have been a fostering sw. and tm mgr of a fostering team for a LA for a total of 25 years (now retired) and never ever heard anything like this.

It is true that all LAs have different procedures and policies, but not paying a fee is preposterous - as is not giving an initial clothing allowance, mileage claims etc. DON'T STAND FOR IT - they are exploiting you. Go through the complaints procedure. Let us know how you get on.

My LA got HMRC to come and talk to us twice last year and I highly recommend going. I was so confused before I went but the lady who did the talk went through everything really simply and gave us a form to take home which was like a basic calculator. She even sat with us individually if we had more complicated cases. Off the top of my head, every foster carer is allowed to receive £10,000 tax free. ON TOP of this you can also receive £200 per week, per child you foster, without having to pay tax.

She stressed that we MUST register as self employed, even though we're highly unlikely to pay tax and probably won't ever have to complete a tax return. Saying that, I got a reminder through the post the other day that the closing date for on-line self assessment is Jan 31st. I'm going to ring them tomorrow to check they don't mean for me to complete an online assessment (as she said we would only have to fill in a form if it was sent to us through the post).

It's great to see a retired team manager agreeing that a formal complaint should be made about allowances etc but in my experience, any complaint, even a small one results in no placements.
It's bad enough when a placement ends but to not have the void filled by another child is devastating.
I have heard so many carers saying they woud do it for free as long as they had a placement. They are told that none are available while hearing on the grapevine that placements are going to independant carers.
I would say that the advantage of registering with an IFA is that the support needed to raise a complaint against social workers for the LA is more independant. They are working for the foster carers not covering for colleagues.

Fostering - Wow! Well said!

My IFA is ultimately looking at the best interest of the child, even if it does not fit in with the desired outcome for LA.

But ultimately the LA has the final word, even though the child's social worker wouldn't recognise the child if they saw him/her in the street.

As far as making a complaint goes I agree with what you have said in total. Foster carers must be seen to be working with LA - even if they disagree with decisions made. Failure to do so results in LA's doing their utmost to de-register the foster carer - on the grounds that they cannot work with LA.

I have attempted to "work with" 3 LA's. I have found they do not act in the child's best interest, thus putting the LA or parents interest before the child's.

I have lodged several formal complaints - all were upheld.
Consequently I have had no alternative than to become a carer with IFA - who have been through my LA foster care files with a fine tooth comb during the assesment process. They have agreeed wholeheartedly that the decisions made by LA were not in the children's best interests.

Strangely enough I am now having placements from the very LA's that I complained about.

The support I receive from IFA is second to none. Subsequently the children I foster benefit from this support also.

Fostering for an LA means that the foster carer is fighting a battle on their own. It makes a huge difference when you have the support of an IFA socail worker. Bearing in mind the better LA social workers are working for IFA's also, because they have also given up on LA "Children's disServices".

To iron out all the pay descrepancies surely the way forward is a national register and standard allowances. This would save time for social workers registering carers as they move about the country of from agency to agency. The CWDC file carers have to complete should have made this possible.