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Fostering

Here are some suggested organisations that offer expert advice on fostering.

Original poster

Free school meals for children in care

107 replies

scarlettsmummy2 · 01/09/2012 21:24

Hi, just a quick question- are children in foster care eligible for free school meals? My foster son has been getting them for the last two years but we have just been told this is stopping unless we have an income of less than 16k. We get paid less than that as carers however also have our own income too. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

OP posts:
NinePeedles · 03/09/2012 00:06

scarlett your view on this makes me both Sad and Angry . You don't work as a cleaner getting paid 9k. You are a foster carer, you receive an allowance to cover your young persons basic needs.
I am unsure why you seem to have such a big chip on your shoulder.

ToadsPornFrogsPawn · 03/09/2012 00:07

£9k? That must cover all the costs incurred in looking after a foster child, including his school dinner, even if he needs school uni or clothes. Would you rather receive less and get free meals?

Original poster
scarlettsmummy2 · 03/09/2012 00:10

I have enough money to pay for him to eat. Not an issue there. However, what we get paid is less than the cut off for free meals in the council area that we live in however we are apparently not eligible this year. The form looks at your total income and makes no provision for children in care. My point is that my salary is irrelevant as the foster allowance should be all they look at in assessing what the foster child should get.

OP posts:
Original poster
scarlettsmummy2 · 03/09/2012 00:12

Nine and toad- are either of you foster carers?

OP posts:
pumpkinsweetie · 03/09/2012 00:12

9k to foster a child Shock & you also have your dps wages? So that would mean you will be in benefit of working tax cred which would disqualify you from free dinners anyway whether you had a foster child or not. You cannot get free school meals for any children if you recieve working tax creds.
You must be earning less than £16,000 a year or be on jobseekers/income support/disability allowance and be in reciept of child tax creds with no working tax creds iyswim.

Bottom line is you get paid to look after him so you should pay for his meals. He should be treated the same as your birth childrenSad

CouthyMowWearingOrange · 03/09/2012 00:14

Why did you choose to become a Foster Carer?

Original poster
scarlettsmummy2 · 03/09/2012 00:14

Also, do you think foster carers should not be paid a fair salary in line with other care professions such as support workers etc?

OP posts:
NinePeedles · 03/09/2012 00:14

*scarlett

tethersend · 03/09/2012 00:16

Think of it this way- if the parent working as a cleaner and earning £9k pa (your fostering allowance) also had another job which paid over £7k pa (your other job/source of income), then the child would not be eligible for FSM. It wouldn't matter how many other children they had, or what the income from the second job was for.

As Laurie says, children in care are eligible for the Pupil Premium which is an amount of money (£600) received by the school which is ringfenced for them and them alone, to be used to enrich their education through extra curricular activities/tutoring/residential trips outside of the curriculum etc. Although this is not for school meals, you should ask how it is being used.

Does your foster son have an education worker/virtual teacher?

NinePeedles · 03/09/2012 00:17

scarlett yes, I am a foster carer.
Are you really telling me that 9k is not enough to buy your foster son lunches? Especially when you and your husband both work?

FelicitywasSarca · 03/09/2012 00:17

Scarlett you are getting a rough time here because you are confusing the purpose of the allowance.

It is supposed to be for the costs incurred by fostering- inc. school meals!

Yes, if you didn't foster and earned 9k your dc would be eligible for meals. This is because that 9k would have to feed, clothe and house the whole family.

The 9k you receive is only meant to feed clothe and house the foster child. (and 9k is more than enough for that)

pumpkinsweetie · 03/09/2012 00:18

Im very sad that the whole emphasise on you fostering is about what money you can get. Surely that isn't what you went into fostering for?

The money is there to help you look after your foster child, and im sure you get child tax, working tax, child benefit etc for him to so once you add those on you are recieving a basic wage to look after a child full time?

You are there to provide a safe family environment to your foster child not simply to gain money. I hope im wrong about the way you are coming across?

Original poster
scarlettsmummy2 · 03/09/2012 00:22

This is a very emotive issue as I think people do see fostering as different from other caring professions for some reason. I honestly believe that you could not foster just for the money- it is 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You are expected to treat the foster child as your own, which you do, but other people rarely do. It is extremely hard going so I am seriously annoyed at posters questioning my motives in fostering. My point about free meals is simply this- if 9k is not enough for anyone else to feed their child, why is it enough for a foster carer? And in Addition, why tell potential foster carers that they can not work if the choose to foster?

OP posts:
LaurieFairyCake · 03/09/2012 00:22

There's too many points being confused here.

Some local authorities are really difficult about foster carers working which then suggests that the allowance would be enough to cover all expenses - its not enough, in fact the threshold is below what you would get free school meals for if it was your sole income.

Hope that makes sense.

I disagree with scarlet though as I don't think children in care should get free school meals. Instead I think carers should be paid properly or the local authorities must be more flexible with regards to working.

I'm a carer, I'm 40 with very little pension - the LA appeared very amenable to my work at the beginning and gradually got more and more controlling over the years. So that I'm now left with a teenager (whom I love of course) who I still have to be home for by 3 - it's no coincidence that they started to object once she was attached and settled in - they have me over a barrel - of course I'm not going to say let me work full time or find her another placement Hmm

The reality is that if they continue I will have lost 15 years of employment and will have earned practically nothing in that time.

tethersend · 03/09/2012 00:23

"My point is that my salary is irrelevant as the foster allowance should be all they look at in assessing what the foster child should get."

Actually, I think there is a point here. Whether or not a child in foster care receives FSM should not necessarily depend on the foster parents' income; technically, the LA is the 'parent', and technically it is this income which should be assessed.

The fact that FSM can be a stigma is a separate issue.

Unfortunately, some foster carers do treat their foster children differently to their own children (I knew of one FP with separate fridges for the FC Sad), and so this is an emotive subject.

Avoiding FCs who are 'in it for the money' is one of the reasons cited by LAs for not paying a salary equivalent to other care professions. I'm not sure I agree with it, but I can see the logic.

LaurieFairyCake · 03/09/2012 00:25

Pumpkin - foster carers do not get child benefit, child tax credit for children they foster.

Bintang · 03/09/2012 00:27

Why are your allowances only adding up to 9k? That sounds awfully low- do you have him only part of the time? That 9k is non-taxable income though, isn't it?

Some children in care do get FSM, but IME it is only those still resident with their parents, whose income is low, that are eligible- usually the fostering allowance takes the household over the threshold for FSM.

FelicitywasSarca · 03/09/2012 00:29

My point about free meals is simply this- if 9k is not enough for anyone else to feed their child, why is it enough for a foster carer

I answered this upthread.

It is enough to feed a child, not enough to feed a family. A wage is designed to feed your family, a fostering allowance is not.

Original poster
scarlettsmummy2 · 03/09/2012 00:29

Pumpkin- I do not get ANY of those benefits listed for my foster son, or for my family. As I said several times I can afford the meals. However the fostering allowance is meant to be enough for me not to work- it isn't.

OP posts:
pumpkinsweetie · 03/09/2012 00:31

You are recieving 9k for one child, surely £750 a month is enough to feed and clothe one child ?

LaurieFairyCake · 03/09/2012 00:31

It's not meant to be enough not to work (that would be insane where I live) - instead its enough for the needs of the child and you are expected to sort yourself out as best you can.

Which of course we're all trying to do.

NinePeedles · 03/09/2012 00:31

Fostering allowance is not a meal ticket for you.
It is to cover the child's expenses. The child's.

Original poster
scarlettsmummy2 · 03/09/2012 00:34

And can I also point out that because we do both work, myself almost full time,u foster son has a very nice lifestyle and we fund way more than the allowance allows for. I therefore don't think him, or any child in care getting free school meals is that much of an ask.

OP posts:
LaurieFairyCake · 03/09/2012 00:35

Yes, Nine - the child's expenses are covered.

Plus the local authority gets 580 hours care from me for free every month. Grin

NinePeedles · 03/09/2012 00:36

Free school meals are a benefit for families in need.
Yours evidently is not, so why should you have them?