Free school meals for children in care

[scarlettsmummy2]

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!

"The schools are allocated an extra 600-1000 for a pupil in care - however, the child doesn't directly get something for it at all times - children in care generally cost schools more - for example the school has to send a rep to review meetings and have personal education meetings with professionals."

Laurie, are you referring to the Pupil Premium? It's a fixed amount of £600 (from Sept), and must be spent on the child. The school cannot use it to meet its own costs in the way you describe. If your school is using it in such a way, remind them that they are not allowed to do so. Many schools don't understand this.

OP, you are missing the point completely.

You are given an allowance for your foster child. £9k per year. You are saying that if someone was to earn £9k per year as a cleaner, they would not have to pay for school dinners. YABU for the following reasons:

1. Someone working for £9k per year at minimum wage is working around 28 hours per week, which would make them eligible for Working Tax Credit, and therefore ineligible for FSM.

1. Eligibility is considered as a family unit. Therefore, their partner's wage would be taken into account, just as yours is. If you swapped role to Cleaner, you'd be in the same situation.

1. The LA give you an allowance to provide for your FC. This includes any expenses such as lunches.

HTH

This post has completely shocked me! I'm a foster carer and it was very much sold to me as a career by my local authority. I'm a single carer who fosters very young children and had to give up my job to pass panel.

My local authority pays me less than £9000 per year for this.

Out of that £9000 not only do I have to feed, clothe, buy toys, pay for activities, buy equipment (new baby equipment for each child is not cheap!), pay for petrol for 5 x 20 mile trips to contact centre each week etc; I also have to pay a mortgage and all my utility bills.

I have never been so broke in my life but absolutely love my job and the children I foster and I am sure Scarlettsmummy (no relation!) does too. This argument shouldn't need to keep occurring because foster carers should be paid a professional wage for the professional job we do.

The last thing I expected to read was criticism like this on this board from other foster carers! The job is hard enough, and has little enough support, already!

Scarlet5tyger I totally agree. The spiteful remarks to a simple question have totally shocked me.

I am in the same position as you. Our LA, and many more, advertise for single carers. How on earth are you expected to live if you don't think about money? It doesn't make you any less of a carer, well certainly not me anyway.

It is horrible saying things like Why did you choose to become a Foster Carer? when replying especially when the op had said the boy is happy and settled with her.

Receiving tax credits does not automatically enable you to claim free school meals. Afaik you only get free meals if you are on jsa or income support benefits, ie are out of work

Surely it is different to being a "professional carer" though as you are doing this in your home environment and are able to care for your own home and family at the same time. A carer does not generally take their charge home and fit them in with their own homelife so is 100% working (as opposed to cooking family tea, giving lifts to activities, etc) and may well have other expenses e.g. childcare to come out of their pay which a FC does not incur.

Some friends of ours foster, have done for many years, and although we have not discussed figures they have always openly stated they do very well out of it financially.

Fostering agencies Viper do pay well but it is much less with the LA.

A carer does not generally take their charge home and fit them in with their own homelife so is 100% working (as opposed to cooking family tea, giving lifts to activities, etc) and may well have other expenses e.g. childcare to come out of their pay which a FC does not incur.

That same carer also doesn't incur the expense of redecorating most of their house when an angry child rips out the fixtures and fittings in a fit of rage at their parent not attending contact. They do not have to worry about a damaged child attacking their own children. They do not have to encourage members of their extended family to make the angry child a loved and wanted member of their family group and then grieve for that child when they move on. They do not have to spend 4 months living in the semi-darkness weaning a 3 lb baby off Heroin as I've just done. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Foster care is about so much than "cooking family tea and giving lifts to activities".

But when you take on fostering, you are told the conditions, and you agree to them.

I admire you who foster. I truly do. But if you want a 'career' out of it, if you want a 'wage' rather than an allowance, then go with the agencies, who place the children that the LA fosterers won't take. Don't accept the role then expect a medal for it.

Some of us who care for our own children who have SN do just as much as you do, but we get £58 per week as an 'allowance'. Does that mean that we should get free meals for our children?

Thanks bonnie. I have no idea which basis they foster on so that may explain it.

I am pretty sure none of us who foster wants medals.
Nor would we argue that we should be properly recompensed.
The outrage arose because the OP thinks her foster child should get free school meals despite her getting an allowance to cover this, and both her and her DP working.

I'm not expecting a medal, but nor am I expecting to read someone getting as much flak as the OP did.

And if caring for your own children with SN means you are unable to work then yes, I fully believe your child should be entitled to free school meals.

Thanks scarlet- I also am shocked at the responses. I spoke to my social worker today and she was completely supportive- especially as I have yet to claim a single expense this year, despite driving 40 miles a fortnight to contact, paying weekly bus fairs, taking my foster son on holiday four times already this year plus paying for a weeks residential camp at several hundred pounds and driving 400 miles to take him to it! I therefore think it is grossly unfair to say he is being used as a source of income to support me!!

Ignore the responses you don't like. You were just wondering in your first post not asking if you were being unreasonable

Exactly! And bearing in mind he did get free meals the previous two years you can't really blame me questioning why this would have changed!!

OP Can I ask what area you live in please if you do not mind :)

Scotland.

O right I see. :)

I was just wondering , there are many cuts coming in it is a shame.
Im in the North West and have been qualified for 6 years now as a social worker and the cuts are very sharp for the next few years.
As you are in Scotland they are different though . However you can always appeal if you need to. :)

I am not going to appeal or anything- we can afford it. It is annoying as that is money that we could have spent on other things for him but hey ho.

Scarlettsmummy2 I want to wade in and offer you my support. How dare people question your morals and your reasons for fostering. You originally asked for a spot of advice and you have been slated for it. I can't believe what I am reading.

My foster child came from her birth family having had free school dinners for the previous two years. It was the only decent meal she ever got. I was surprised when they were stopped when she came to us. She went onto packed lunches because my own daughter was on packed lunches. We couldn't afford to pay nearly £60 per month for a school dinner for my daughter when she was getting a home cooked meal each evening anyway, it just wasn't necessary. Yes, we treat our FD as our own which was why she moved to packed lunches - it was nothing to do with the money.

The 'allowance' we receive each week, I believe isn't just to 'pay' for stuff. It is also for the guidance we give, the love, the kindness, cleaning up her vomit and diarrohea, getting rid of her nits and worms, taxi'ing her around, rubbing her head when she has a headache, cuddling her when she needs to be cuddled, telling her off, monitoring her every move, going to meetings, making endless phone calls, keeping my diary up to date, teaching her to cook, clean and to be nice, teaching her how to shower, making sure she sees her brothers, having her brothers over, giving her medicine, taking her to hospital, visiting her, arguing with her. My job is 24/7, but the bottom line is - she is not my child. No I don't do it for the money, although I do get a good allowance, more than I think is wise to stop other people doing it for the money. I don't have a separate cupboard full of Tesco Value stuff for her ( I know of someone who does), I take her on holiday with us when I could put her in respite (lots of carers I know do), I buy her clothes from New Look or wherever she wants them from ( I know carers who buy charity stuff).

I am a good foster carer, and I'm worth every penny.

Gone now to bed - night night, I'll come back tomorrow for my slating

Thanks gym bob! Your post sums up my thoughts and experiences exactly! I felt so awful after reading some of the previous comments that completely misinterpreted my intentions in fostering. Thanks again.

I also had actually forgotten about the horrendous time we had getting rid of hair lice it took weeks. And my baby then got them too and her wee head had to be treated with the horrible chemicals as we just couldn't get rid of them all. But no one tells you of these things, and then god forbid you would actually expect to be seen as an equal to other care works and paid accordingly.

Good posts from Gymbob and Scarlet5

"god forbid you would actually expect to be seen as an equal to other care works and paid accordingly."

But your original question was nothing to do with pay. It was a question about whether your foster child should get free meals. You were told that they shouldn't, because you as a family are entitled to working tax credits, or earn too much.

The £9000 allowance is inclusive of meals. If your FC was at home, you would expect to provide a meal. At school, you have a choice of providing the meal (packed lunch) or paying for the school to do so.

If your question is "Should I be paid a wage as well as the allowance for my foster child's upkeep" then the answer is "Yes" in my opinion.

Your question is 'should he get free meals just because he/she is a foster child'? and my answer to that is 'No'.

You went on to compare the allowance to any other care job, saying that a carer would get free meals for their child. We were pointing out that a carer with another earner in the family would not get FSM for their children.

Late to the party again so apologies! I heard rumours that if the birth family of your foster child is on benefits (the birth family member who holds PR) then the foster carers (who do not have PR) may claim for free school meals no matter what the fostering family income may be.
A strange loophole but one that exists if the rumours are true! You will need to get the child's SW to look into it.
Point taken about being treated the same as any other kid. I am not happy with the idea of creating stigma for these vulerable children in care. I do hope if you go for it then it is done discreetly by the school.