Finances when going for approval.

[6OfUsAndCounting]

What are they looking for when they assess your finances during approval?

Our financial situation is ok I think, but I'm worried that the SW might disagree.

I am a SAHM, my DH earns enough to cover all of our outgoings and then he gets an annual bonus from work which we usually set aside for a summer holiday and to pay for Christmas. We don't have any debts apart from our mortgage and a car which is being paid off over 5 yrs. We normally have a couple of hundred in savings aside from the bonus.

Do you think this is ok? My aunt and uncle went for fostering a few years ago and were turned down based on their finances. We aren't planning on going for it until the Spring, so I have time to try and change things if need be.

They are looking to check that you will not be reliant on the fostering allowance as an income.
They need to know that you haven’t got or have had any financial problems as this could lead to disruption in the fostering placement.
As sometimes you can have months between children leaving and another arriving you need to show that you can cope financially if there is no child there.
We had to produce years of bank statements when we applied.

my experience was very different from Cassimin. We didnt have to produce any bank statements or similar. There was minimal interest other than credit check.

The best policy is to ask them what their criteria are.