Two full time carers?

[willowrose30]

Hi all. My partner and i currently have 3 children in placement.They will probably be with us for a year (though no certainties of course) and we will continue to foster up to 3 children once they leave.
As you can imagine its a lot of work as they are all very young. My fiance works full time and does very long hours so i am mostly doing all the practical stuff alone.
We have been discussing the possibility of him becoming a full time carer too, perhaps with a part time job.
Are there any carers out there with experience of this. Both full time carers at home or given up work to become full time carer.
Its quite a big decision to make so any advice much appreciated.

Are you thinking of both of you becoming full-time carers because these children need more input than most other kids? Are they school-age?

Could you survive on the fostering pay?

They are all under 5. The eldest has very complex needs surrounding attention and expressing emotions etc.
At the moment we could live on the income we have but obviously there are no certainties in fostering so they could in theory go any time but we will continue to foster when they do move on.
My thinking is that we could live on the money and if we were both at home we would be able to give so much more in regards to time and one to one attention.
I was just wondering really how common it is for both carers to be at home full time.
I think maybe we could look at him getting a job closer to home/less hours.

We became full time after DH was made redundant , used his redundancy to buy larger house, enables us too take larger sibling group's , and long term placements with LA , Keeping children together, that was 25 years ago, never looked back. You do have too do a lot of homework, before you make this type of commitment. There are lots of services you can provide ,
as long term full time carer, also some LA's will help you in the service you may wish too offer, Short break's for the disables, rest bite care , mother and baby fostering.
Would as I say do your home work , sound out LA's, what is required can they help, training, and support and finance etc.
Good luck.

My dh is a teacher so is at home all the time the older children are home, and it works very well for us. Would a term time hours job or part time work be better? Otherwise how will you manage between placements?

Last year there were 4000 siblings parted in the UK Shortage of accommodation for them., New innovations are being tested, with partnerships, of Housing Associations, NHS and LA partnerships. , so would sound out your LA regards what I mentioned , Know of some FC's who have followed this pathway in areas of offering Medicare short breaks for the disabled,
accommodated in Housing Association property and supported with local business community.

I know several families where both partners are full time foster carers and have made long careers of doing this. It has worked very well for all of them.

Thank you for all your advice. It really is appreciated.
I think its just about weighing up our options. The money uncertainty between placements against how much easier it would be to have him home to help and how much better we can use our time for the little ones because at the moment i am stretched very thin. Would be lovely to give them all the attention and time they so crave and need.
We currently have a sibling group (3) and hope to continue fostering siblings in the future.

Big decisions ahead!