dividing up the allowance?

[catsrus]

Hi All

am currently trying to work out if I can afford to foster (assuming I will have to give up work if I do this) and am just wondering how on earth you 'divide up' the allowance as it is all supposed to be for the child. I know there is an element for housing costs, food, clothes etc. but is there a suggested formula for what % you are supposed to take towards housing costs?

Well this is what I do firstly I

Take out our part

Then I buy what I need for the child clothing and toy wise

Buy my buss pass which I only need because I have to take fc to contact four times a week

Put savings in fc account

Put aside for weeks activities eg toddler group, mum and baby's cinema group

And I pay for food shopping out of it

That's about it usually I have nothing left over

And I the summer I never get to take my part out usually we end up putting our own money in

To be honest fostering is not somthing you should rely on you could be with out a placement for months or feel forced to take on a placement for the money

My view is with fostering you break even you won't make any money out of it but if dosent cost you much as the money just about covers it.

If we needed a seconed wage then personally I wouldn't foster

I am a SHAM so didn't need the extra income my oh wage covers our bills so if we don't have a placement its not a problem

thanks - I was just wondering if there was a recommended % that you are supposed to allocate to the different things?

I've been talking to Barnardo's and their system is £150 fee pw for the FC, then the allowance for the LAC, out of which you take all of the things you mention, including a portion for household costs / food etc. but just wondering how you calculate that! do you have to keep records of what gets spent on what? how do you decide what gets put aside in the savings account for example? I know of 3 children adopted by friends of mine who certainly didn't have a savings account that came with any of them - although one of the FCs was evidently saving for (and had) a face lift .

It's clear to me that, as you say, if you do this properly, it's not a way to make money, and I wouldn't want to, but I have to make sure that if I decide to do it I know exactly what i would be getting and what I was supposed to do with it!

As a general idea our LA allocate following from weekly allowance - 32% Food, 20% household costs, 15% clothing, 6% travel, 27% personal/social care.
I know this is a very rough guide but hope it helps.

That's really helpful Tulip many thanks! So basically it looks like just over half on 'household' costs and the rest for the very specific needs of the LAC.

Diane

My LA splits the allowance for us - the very basic they can get away with paying for both (We're one of the lowest paid LA in the country)! It's easy to give out guidelines saying % for this and % for that, but I find each child varies in how much they cost from week to week - sometimes I spend way more than their allowance on them (particularly at the beginning of a placement) and sometimes less. I find it tends to even itself out in the end.

Fostering is my only income and I have to be VERY strict with my finances. There's no way I could do it to get rich!!