Single foster carer

[Bee42]

I'm single and would love to become a foster carer but I'm worried about the financial side and whether I could afford my mortgage and outgoings. Are there any single carers out there who could offer advice please, especially any who have continued to work part time while fostering? I live in NI so anyone with experience there?

A good friend of mine is a single foster carer. She works part time alongside it.

Do you mind if I ask what age she is approved for and whether the LA cover the costs of childcare if required on top of the allowance?

Hi, the LA will not cover childcare costs generally and it will also limit the children you can take as not all will cope with so many different people in their lives, and contact arrangements may make it impossible. It’s quite tricky to balance. I’ve tried working alongside fostering and it’s exhausting.

That's disappointing. I appreciate it's so much better to be there full time for the child(ren) but I don't understand how any single carers can survive on the allowance paid by LAs.

She only applied for school age children as she knew she'd need and want to continue working alongside. Her first was primary age so did holiday clubs etc outside term time and the second child is a teenager so is fine home alone although does still do clubs etc

I have the impression that very few foster carers do it without another job alongside, as in foster care full time. Her first lad had complex needs so he moved to a special carer who did it full time. From what she said those carers are not common place

So it must be doable for holiday cover

Most single carers have to claim universal credit. It’s appalling considering how hard it is, and increasingly professional - lots of complex meetings, paperwork, high level training etc.

Hi @Copperblack,

In the area in which I live, the council operate with both Supported Lodgings and a scheme called 'Rent-a-Room' (where the carer only has to provide a furnished room and meals for a 16+ young person). I am a 'Rent-a-Room' carer, with a view to becoming a Supported Lodgings provider in the future...I chose to do this (and would choose to become a SL provider in the future) because this enables me to work full-time whilst also providing care to a young person, and also there are often too few placements available for 16+ young people. As a single carer with a mortgage, I would find it extremely difficult not to work full-time, but fostering an older teenager means I can still provide care and work. I won't lie, it's pretty tough - while I am only obliged to provide room and board, I spend a lot of additional time on my FC - but at least I am still bringing in the wage I did pre-kid. Unless I took about 4 kids at once, I wouldn't be able to afford my living/running costs on a fostering wage alone.

All of the single carers I know have 2 or more children to care for.
I have one, we are approved for 3 but due to our child’s needs we cannot accept any more children. I have to work as does my partner but only very flexible part time and this was after the child had been with us for 5 years and things were very stable.
It was very hard for us to manage on the fostering allowance and my partners wage as we were also providing for our teenage birth children.
Mother and baby could be an option too.