Fostering - one 3 week placement in 8 months

[Tastig]

It took almost a year to become approved foster carers, due to our children, we can only have one child 2-7 yrs old

I was told to give up work, which I did in June after becoming approved

We were only offered unsuitable children - ie 16 yr old boys until we finally got our first placement in December - which was very successful but he went to a family member after 3 weeks.

It's now been another 4 weeks with no news

I thought we got a holding fee after we'd had our first placement until we got our next one but it seems I misunderstood.

So after many courses and only 3 weeks pay - much spent on the child - in 8 months I'm thinking of giving up

I have spoken to neighbouring LA and By The Bridge but they all say we'd have to re qualify which would take at least 8 months and frankly we aren't willing to do all that again.

This is a tricky one! There is a national shortage of foster carers, yet you have not had a child placed. Mainly, this is due to the age range that you have stated. It is quite narrow and placing this age group and matching with your own children is probably why you have not been fostering.

You have a few options. You could go to a LA who tend to be a bit more flexible with younger children. If you are with an IFA, I suspect you will come up against the same issue if you change to another. I am a manager of an IFA and we equally have some carers who are so specific, we cannot place. It is a waste of our resources as well as their time and all the effort they put in.

Without knowing the age of your children, perhaps you can re-consider the age range you are thinking about. What about respite care to support other carers to get experience?

Hope that helps,

J

Hi,

Our youngest is 9, we are with the LA and it is their rules which state the oldest child we can foster must be at least 2 yrs younger than our youngest hence 7.

Which suits us as that makes sense.

With two children we imposed the above 2 requirement, as we felt any younger would affect their way of life too much

Obviously all this was made clear to the LA from the start.

Whilst I understand they cannot predict their exact requirements it seems that the lack of places is for teenagers for whom we were never going to be suitable

I'd add there is NO matching - we've been called regarding teenage boys who can't be fostered with other children in the house !

I foster for an IFA, but have 2 friends who foster with the same LA. Both of those friends have had a spare bedroom since early December when they both had placements moved on (siblings who wanted a placement together). They both want similar age children to you Tastig, 5-9 years and 4-10 years. They are being told exactly the same, there are no placements in their preferred age range. They too have been approached for teenagers.

One of them has recently approached 3 IFAs and come up against the same advice, take it from the beginning with them which will take about 6 months, which she doesn't want to do. She's now looking at going back to work, she doesn't want to make that move, but money is now running short and the decision is tearing her up.

I have to say that respite care, as suggested by Jacob, is a great idea and may really suit you; you know what children you're getting in advance and any issues they have, placements last for a predicted length of time that you can work your family life around, you'll always be in high demand as foster carers always need breaks, you'll get lots of experience in a short amount of time and you can always take a longer placement when one comes up.

Good luck with your own decision. You'll have to decide what's right for you and your family.

We have said we'll consider respite care - again we have only been offered unsuitable children - ie teenage siblings - we only have one room.

Have you talked to other foster carers where you live? If this is just a reflection of the profile of kids coming into care in your area, then there's not much you can do. But if other foster carers are having kids placed with them in the age range you're looking for, then you could look at why.

Could you consider being flexible with your criteria? We're about to adopt our new DS, who'll be 6 months old. His FC has two older kids and always fosters babies. She just pops them in the sling and brings them to football practice or whatever.

I think it’s a demand and supply issue.

If it’s a single child they are more likely to need fostering under 2.

In your age range it is more likely to be sibling groups.

It is almost impossible to get FC for teens which is probably why they are asking.