Have we chosen a bad agency or am I expecting too much?

[Moomumm]

We started the process of applying to foster in March and after speaking to the LA and 2 agencies went with one agency who said the process would be complete by end of June and they didn’t see any problems. 4 months on and little progress has been made- their admin is awful, they have forgotten to send off various checks, mislaid referee letters, forgot to send us the medical forms, take weeks to progress simple matters. Worse though is that out of 7 arranged appointments to do our assessment they have cancelled/ postponed 6- the last 3 have been cancelled. We appreciate that the social worker has emergencies to deal with and that emergency placement problems take priority but we have had to take time off work 3 times in the last 10 days for no reason. We have lost all faith in the agencies ability to manage their workload. Shall we give them another chance or start again with another agency? We have the facilities to foster a large sibling group and I was planning on giving up work.

Try another agency but also consider if any red flags may have come back from your references. They are either very disorganised or trying to slow down the process whilst they decide what to do.

Thanks blackcat, but wouldn’t they just tell us there was a problem?

I think they tempted you in with an unbelievably tight window for approval. I think it took us over a year. Can you speak to people who actually foster for them to see what life is like on the other side?

Theworldcouldbemymollusc- that’s a good idea but not sure how i can contact them. There was a family day on Saturday but I couldn’t make it due to a prior commitment with my own daughter. It’s such a shame- i like the social workers but I just dont think they are coping with their workload, let alone then helping us with any placements.

I would stick with the local authority unless there’s a good reason to go elsewhere (apart from money)
Generally the LA will only go to agencies where the kids are very complex and difficult to place.

And it doesn’t bode well for how supportive they would be once you have a child placed with you

They sound terrible. Agencies aren't regulated in the same way that the LA are (apart from the normal statutory things). Some agencies are great, some awful. I'd also go with the LA, they are more accountable if the little things go wrong. If your agency is this disorganised, it sounds like lots of little things could go wrong!

In my experience agencies use an extrnal freelance social worker to do their form f assessments so that workload does not affect things in this way. My start to finish was 4 months so this is certainly possible, 6 months more usual. I would read them the riot act and give them one last chnace to get new appointments organised which have to be kept to or you are off elsewhere.

I often see comments that LA's only place difficult children with agencies etc. This is completely untrue. LAs will always make placements with their in-house foster carers first if at all possible due to the HUGE cost savings. However invariably they do not have enough in house people to cope with the population of children who need homes. This is particularly the case with larger sibling groups.

IThe two sibling groups I have had (from two different LAs) were completely "vanilla" ie no medical or behavioural problems at all. The srvice and support we receive from our agency is excellent and the case load of our agency social worker is a fraction of that of the caseload of a LA social worker so they have more time for you.

LA foster carers can be sure of having 100% occupancy but in return receive far less remuneration.

If you can take larger sibling groups you can be fairly certain of being full-up most of the time anyway and the greater remuneration means that even if you have some void periods your annual income will probably still be greater

Financial considerations can be something of a taboo subject when talking about fostering but given the choice of providing a good home and care for less money or more i will take the extra money.

I have just discovered that the agency I am with is a relatively poor payer and I can take home and extra £650 - £1000 per month with other agencies without taking on more "complex" children. Of course I am going to explore that.

The worry for you is that if your agency are so inefficient on the admin side that it may cause LA's to be reluctant to place children with them. Speak to someone senior at the Agency and be open and honest with them.

Good luck. There are lots of sibling groups waiting for homes. It is really heartbreaking when the case notes read "home sought for three brothers or if not possible (eg) the 7 year old can be separated from his brothers".

Thanks f0stercarer. I had a message off the SW last night that she would contact me today to re-arrange, she hasn’t.
In the last 2 months she has kept 2 appointments and cancelled 7.
She had said she was trying to set a panel date for mid August but no one has ever confirmed that, we are about to go on holiday, time has run out for all the work now to be done in time for that panel meeting even if it was ever set.
I think I will give them until Monday to schedule new appointments and then come to the realisation it just isn’t going to happen, very very upsetting and frustrating for us.
I will start again, this time with a larger and better organised agency and write off the last 4 months.

I’m with a large agency and I am quite pleased with the service we receive.
I too have found that I could get a lot more money with another agency and also with my local authority.
I think LA and agencies pay around the same now. The only difference is if you have more than one child placed.
I have been with my agency for 8 years and they have been taken over many times, bringing new rules, more paperwork changing SWs etc.
If I were to apply again I would probably go with the LA.

Thanks Cassimin. My first meeting was with the LA before I went down the agency route. They didn’t impress me at all, a very young immature, almost “silly” SW - I was probably just unlucky. In my area the LA PAY £96 a week. I am lucky that I am financially comfortable however to foster I would need to drastically reduce my workload and therefore income, I would need to change my car. I don’t want to make a profit as such but don’t want to use up all my savings either- I have 4 birth children to put through Uni, start their own households etc and need to make sure there is no negative impact on their financial future- I couldn’t foster for £96 a week without rapidly getting through my savings.

Are you sure it's just £96 per week or is that just the child's allowance?

The £96 is the “payment” the child allowances- which I would ensure was all spent on the child-are about £150.
If I went with the LA I would have to use savings/ investments. I just expect to be able to almost break even otherwise it isn’t sustainable which is no good for anyone.

That’s not much at all.
My child’s LA pay a total of £440
Plus extra at birthday, Christmas and holidays.
The child’s money must be spent on them but that is to cover food, electric, clothes, clubs etc.
People think that’s a good wage but when you take into account it’s 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, no holidays, no sickness it really isn’t a lot.
I’ve got 5 meeting this week to attend to do with my child, also contact to do I’ve had to cancel a hospital appointment for myself as it’s the only time all the people involved in my child can get together.
It really is much harder than I thought it would be.

I don’t understand why some LA pay low amounts- it’s inevitable people will then use agencies.
Gosh- that’s devotion and a lot of work.
Do you enjoy it/ get satisfaction from it?

Our child is with us long term so there’s no way I could give up on him now. He’s very much ours and with us forever.
However I would not take another child in and if one of my friends or family asked if they should do it I wouldn’t advise them too.
Not that they would as they see how much it has affected our lives.
It is very rewarding to see how far we have come but we realise there is still a far way to go.

I believe there is a protocol in place whereby if you are currently fostering and moved agency /la then that placement would move with you

It’s only been 3 months since you started the process

I imagine there’s an element of seeing how committed you are to the process?

Cassimin your child sounds very lucky. Do you have any birth children?

Theworldcouldbemymollusc, yes, I am aware however if we stuck with the agency until we got a placement and then changed there would be a change in the people the child/ren has to relate/talk to and i would want to avoid that.

Amibeingdaft81, it’s 4 full months, but i agree, in the grand scheme of things not long. I did wonder if we were being tested however all the delays and cancellations are achieving is to make us realise how committed to this we are but with a different agency.

Actually received a letter off the agency today, something we have been chasing up for a few weeks and they claim to have done, letter dated 8 weeks ago but posted 3 days ago.

Yes I have 3 birth children.
The youngest was 13 when we started fostering, the oldest was 23 so they were all old enough to care for themselves.
They have all been a great help and now they are older I rely on them a lot.
From our first enquiry into fostering it took 5 months until we went to panel. Then it was about 2 weeks until we got our first child.
You can change from agency to agency or to LA. I was looking into it. I didn’t feel I or my child were getting a lot of support emotionally or financially from my agency.
As soon as I brought it up to my SW and told her that I intended moving she set up meetings with her managers and with LA to talk things through. I think you need to be quite forceful to get things moving.
I would let the agency know that you are not happy with the way things are moving and ask them for regular updates. If they are not forthcoming with this I would think about contacting another agency.
Just make sure that you have all the correct financial info about your LA as my child’s LA and my LA both pay around the same, over £400 per week. They both give extra incentives such as festival payments, birthday payments, respite payments, holiday payments.
This can all mount up.

Cassimin I have emailed the agency, lets see what they say.
Trust me, the info about my LA payments is correct- you can get an increase as you become more experienced but from memory the max payment for the most experienced with a child with special needs was about £160- excluding allowances for the child.
Your LA are clearly a lot more switched on!

I’m with Compass, have been for 3 years. They are very reliable and supportive.

Hi, check out UK Fostering website
ukfostering.org.uk/

@Moigles why are you digging up old fostering threads (this and others) to point people to this website? I would expect most people who have started the fostering process are familiar with the website and you're not adding any advice to their specific issues.