Holidays during school time - social services said no

[KR94]

Hello
Back story, i have been fostering my twin nephews for 5 years from the age they were 4 and currently in the process of SGO just waiting for a court date. When the boys came into my care it was found out at the time that there “father” wasnt there father so we had to get there surnames changed (we now all share a surname). It took social services 3 years to get there names changed as they swap social workers so much, once the names were changed i requested passport as we wanted to take them away, which is what i had also been asking for during the 3 years it took to change there names, two years later i have just finally received there passports! I would love to take them on there first proper holiday during October half term but the prices are just to expensive for me to afford, to lower the cost i asked the social worker to ask the manager if i could take them half way threw half term and they would need 2 maybe 3 days off school to help with the cost. However the manager has rejected this even though the school have no issue!

Now i don't know what i can do because i just cannot afford to take them during the holidays due to being a single person. I personally think its disgusting that the local authority have refused this after taking 5 years to get it sorting and now the children will have to miss out after being so excited to finally get there passports.

does anyone have any advice or been in a similar situation?

I suppose one out of three is better than none...

Seems very straightforward to me. As a foster carer, in order to take foster children out of the country you need a signed letter from the LOcal authority social worker as they are the legal parent. If they dont agree (which was always likely) thats the end of it.

So? It didn't prevent you from understanding the post.

OP seriously this is such a bad idea! Going on holiday during term time makes you look really irresponsible. You risk getting social services' back up and them deciding you're unsuitable as a permanent placement. Over a holiday.

The wrong social worker would have a field day over this.

Seriously, you need to wait for the final SGO to come through before going on illegal holidays, or go during school holidays and go somewhere you can afford (or wait for the law on term time holidays to be repealed, it might happen before that SGO comes through at this rate). A UK based holiday to somewhere off the beaten track like Aberdeen or Stratford Upon Avon wouldn't break the bank. That's the sort of hols we go on.

As per pp, can you change your holiday destination to something a little cheaper? Eurocamp in France perhaps?

We only paid £350 for a 3 bed caravan on a beautiful park in The Netherlands last October half term. The tunnel and petrol cost about £300 altogether and we self-catered. It was one of our cheapest ever but also one of our favourite holidays.

It doesn't matter if the school authorise it, the family need social services to provide a letter of permission for OP to take the children out of the country. The local authority are the legal parents of these children until the SGO is granted so without that they would be removing the children from the country illegally. It's not just a case of slapped wrists.

Also bless you @Passerillage , it'll be a maximum of £150 per week per child in most of the country, and the expectation is usually that you don't work (or certainly not full time) alongside fostering.

I do agree that going within the UK is the best option as the reality is you could take both kids on holiday unauthorised without any formal consequences in this scenario.

Re the allowance, it depends on the LA and under what circumstances, some LAs only pay the maintenance element for connected person foster carers which would be around 150pw, so for 2 children around 15k a year

If these were not connected persons carers, for 9 year olds its between 250-350 pw each child, dependent on the LA (that Ive worked in), they vary hugely

There wouldnt be an expectation that a foster carer cant work with 9 year olds as long as neither of them were likely to need time of school on regular occasions but obviously this will depend on their need.

Please don’t just go! You don’t have PR until the SGO is awarded and you could get into all sorts of trouble! Push for the SGO and then take them away after that. At 9 not having a holiday abroad really isn’t the end of the world. Ask for their holiday allowance and go away in the UK in half term.
They can’t after a holiday in term time and there’s no point fighting it.