Fostering Finances

[baby0684]

Hi, Im just what state your finances have to be in to foster a child.

I do have a car loan, and a 0% creditcard and a couple of catalogue credit accounts.
They add upto about £3,000.
I always make my payments, and I am not been chased by any debtors.

Would having this be a barrier to fostering?

The big question is can you afford to support yourself without fostering allowance.
I would never recommend anyone gives up paid employment now as there can be long gaps between placements!

Are you going to give up a job. Could you pay these bills independently of fostering. All your finances will be checked. Its a good idea to show you are good at managing your finances. Do a financial sheet showing plus and minus. This will all be checked by an assessor anyway. Be proactive and show you are sorting out you finances in preparation to foster.

Hi,
Could you still afford to pay for those things with no child in place? When we went through the assessment our assessing sw told us not to rely on the fostering allowance and we had to prove that we could pay these without a child in place. We had to show bank statements, loan agreements and they rang our mortgage provider to check the information we had given was correct. A lot of focus was put on the finance side tbh and I am glad it was. In our first year we only got "boarding out" for the children in place and every single penny plus some was spent on them, nothing left over to put to one side for other things. Just be sure you can cope financially, the way things are at the minute there are lots of carers with no children in place and they are struggling financially.
Hope I not scared you off, it wasn't intenitional.
Good luck