Panel only approved me for respite

[Carrie8079]

I have just been through the 8 month process to become a foster carer.
i had panel today and although I only went in for short or long term fostering they only approved me for respite care.
Sadly having a full time and part time job this is not something I can do, I just cannot make that work. I was going to give up full time employment to become a full time foster carer and the part time job can be done in the evenings from home, at the moment the part time job is being done at weekends.
what are my options going forward? Do I just give up or accept it and transfer?

I can understand you must be upset (possibly furious !)It is unusual for a panel not to go with the social worker recommendation and if this was the case I would await a debrief meeting with your assessing social worker. Get a copy of your Form F and you could always run this past another fostering agency/LA. They will want to know what reason panel gave for limiting to respite. Bythe way there is huge demand for respite and you could probably get fully booked up. Where is the country are you ? was it agency or LA ?

It was an agency and ASW had recommended me we had a chat about it in the car on the way back she told me I hadn’t failed (feels like it) and not to make hasty decisions but I can’t make the respite work, two jobs so no time. am in the UK. Was angry but just feel a bit fed up now as it was a long process January to August just feels all for nothing. Thank you for your reply x

Respite can be more like a side gig while you get experience. You have a DC for a weekend a month, or two evenings a week, or similar. So you don't need to give up work.

After a while, you could apply to be swapped to full time. Or you may end up becoming a full time carer to a child you've done respite for. I've seen that happening.

There was a preference at one time for people not to be financially dependent on fostering. It makes you and the DC very vulnerable- you can't afford to call time if things aren't going well.

There's nothing to stop you doing respite every weekend- or cover holidays for lots of carers. You can be very busy doing respite.

Short break care (I hate the word respite) is an incredibly good way in - you get loads of experience, develop skills and can check fostering is definitely the right thing for you. Decent short break carers make a huge difference.

I was a short break foster carer for almost ten years, before adopting DD and I loved it. I worked full time and had children at the weekends.

Try to remember social workers are looking for people to care for the specific children they need placements for - they aren’t there to meet our expectations and needs (as lovely as that would be)

Play the game, do short breaks for a bit, show them how good you are and then in the future, it would be easy to be re-approved as full time. It would be a huge shame to waste all the assessment and preparation you’ve done.

Not at all good of them to put this on you after panel though!!

That’s the problem that I have.

i have 2 jobs one full time Monday to Friday the other part time at weekends.

i needed to be approved so that I could give up the full time job and continue the part time one from home Monday to Friday in the evenings.

currently I cannot afford to give up either job so I can’t fit respite in. The panel were well aware of my job commitments. Respite was not written on my form F as an option, it’s still an amazing thing to be approved for but I just cannot make it work so feel I have no alternative but to withdraw and forget the whole thing.

Can you give up the part time job at weekends and move to respite care at weekends?

Maybe the problem is wanting to work in the evenings.
many children come into our care with lots of problems and they require our full attention.
My fson attends lots of clubs and therapies in the evenings and I’m the one who ferries him there, stays with him and brings him back.
Sometimes you could be expected to take the child to contact with their family after school.
I know that there is no way I would have the time or the energy to work in the evening while providing good all round care for him.

I did mean after the child had gone to bed. It’s a family run business so can be a little flexible on when I work but I can’t give it up as no replacement for me.
I think I’m just a little shocked at the moment, the office felt I should be excited about panel not nervous because I had a good form F and SSW said she had also read it and there was nothing there to cause any concern.

I thought there was a shortage of Foster carers? They are certainly always asking for them here in the North West. I have adopted under very similar circumstances. I gave up my full time job to adopt and just worked part time from home for the family firm, invoicing customers in the evenings when my ds was in bed. I also later looked into fostering and both the local authority and private agencies were practically falling all over themselves to sign me up. How awful for you that you have gone through all the assessment process and they have done this to you, basically wasted your time. Can you contact a different agency and ask if they could offer full time Fostering, maybe without you having to go through the full assessment process again?

Could you do your weekend job in the evenings, while you do support care occasional weekends? If it doesn't work, you can say no.

If you don't try, you'll never get to show them you can do it.

I would say, get used to being incredibly frustrated by working with SS. We had the odd awful decision and situation. It stopped us fostering in the end. Just one insensitively handled situation too many.

I do respite and also work FT - why not use it as an opportunity to see if you like it, and in the future make the transition to full time FC ?
I personally would only ever do respite, although I’ve actually done it pretty much every day for several weeks without a break.

I do wonder if they are short of respite Carers (like my agency), and that’s why you’ve been set up as this….

Thank you all for your replies.

I have chatted to my parents about it today as they were also assessed as part of my form F and their feeling is I have been set up to fail.

It was made clear to them at panel that I would give up full time work to foster. ASW didn’t assess me for under 5’s so part time job could have been done whilst they were at school. Again the part time job is flexible in that there are no set hours.

i can’t do both jobs and respite at the same time. I will speak to the agency tomorrow as I will not be seeing my ASW again, this person was an indépendant bought in to do the form F so does not work directly for the agency, therefore no debrief.

So do I tell them tomorrow that this doesn’t work for me and to go no further forward, obviously there are 2 conflicting recommendations, ASW short and long term fostering, panel respite fostering or do I speak to other agencies and send them a copy of my form F.

The reason respite was given rather than anything else was I have no recent parenting experience. Parenting experience was approx 20 years ago and they were not my biological children.

Hedge your bets?

Ask what your options are.
It's possible that whoever you apply to, panel is the same. I'm not sure- it was a while ago. They are supposed to be independent I think.

Ring other agencies and describe your situation. Ask what their policy would be.

Hi @Carrie8079, did you speak to the agency??? It must be so frustrating for you, and feel like 8m down the drain :(

I tried to contact them today but no response will try again tomorrow.

i did try to get some info from another agency but they told me to try and resolve this issue.

My ASW is an indépendant so his hands are tied also.

If they had told me at the start panel would only look at respite i would have gone elsewhere.

I did everything they asked, redecorated the house, got permission from the landlord to foster etc.

i just feel emotionally drained, all that build up and prep work, miles of forms to be basically dismissed in 50 minutes.

Thanks for the update. Yes, you must feel very disappointed. I know when I was looking into fostering it was hard to choose who to go with, it's such an important decision. You must feel like this agency has wasted your time. I really hope they can reassess your situation, maybe when they realise they might lose you as a potential Foster carer. I'd definitely ring a few more agencies, there are loads of them out there or would you consider going with the Local Authority?

Thank you for your reply.

There was a specific reason why I went with this agency but can’t say to much on a public forum. Yes I would do local authority.

i need to speak to the agency tomorrow, they were supposed to call today but didn’t. I suppose the decision maker can overturn the panels decision but this is unlikely. I just dread starting from the beginning again.

I was led to believe that children go to the LA first and if they can't place them with their own Foster carers, for whatever reason, then they are placed with private agencies. I'm sure your LA would be eager to sign you up. After you've spent time with them, then you could change to a private agency eventually, if that's what you prefer. It seems a real shame that someone who is willing to open their home and heart to children in need of a long term home, such as yourself, is only being offered sporadic respite care. My son was in his wonderful Foster home for 18 months before coming to live with me and it was the first proper home he'd ever had in his life. Good luck.

@Carrie8079 have you got a resolution to this yet? I have been thinking of you.

I have spoken to my SSW and the office, both have agreed that if I do respite a few times and all goes well then they will change my approval.
no time line on this or what a few times is exactly but am willing to try to make it work.

Could you try out the respite by taking a week of annual leave from your full time job? See how you enjoy fostering?

You have to go back to panel at least yearly so when you go back you can ask to change your status.