18 yr old sister considered as foster carer for siblings

[sewknit56]

My DD has a friend who is 18 who has moved in with a friend and her mum due to issues at home. DD's friends mum has alcohol issues along with MH issues and DD's friend had been doing most of the care for her younger siblings, this was affecting her college work and also her social life as she felt she needed to be home to care for her siblings. She thought maybe moving out would make her mum step up more and look after her own children but it has had the opposite effect and the children are now likely to go into care due to neglect.

DD's friend wants to know if she could be considered as a foster carer for her siblings, she wants to do anything she can to stop them going into care. She is officially an adult. Children are 8 and 10.

Highly unlikely as she doesn't have her own property or stability. Maybe the friend she has moved in with, their mother could be considered as a foster carer so the siblings could still live with the 18yr old but she would not be fully responsible for them.

She can ask and they can assess her but I think also unlikely as she doesn’t have accommodation and is so young and hasn’t lived independently.

She would have to go through the long assessment process. She'd need to rent her own home to be able to accommodate them. She should ask SS as they will do all they can to keep siblings together. Maybe she could go through the assessment process. Younger siblings could be fostered. She could have regular contact during this time. In a year or so she could get them back once she has her own accommodation. She would get paid for being a foster carer.

I know of a 16 year old girl who was allowed to care (not sure of the legal terminology but Social Services allowed it )for her younger brother (about 7 yrs old) when their father died and mother was estranged. It didn't go well at first but, with support, got better and avoided the family being split up.

LAs all have different rules and regs. Thing is, lots of standard rules (in my borough) will be bent for the purposes of foster caring. My friend’s place was too small to take on foster siblings, but the council was so supportive of her taking the children on, that they rehoused her. A possibility for your DD friend could even be something like taking over the family home and the mum being rehoused - but it’d take a complex bit of work to organise. First things first she needs to talk to the children’s social worker directly and express that she wants them, and go from that point in terms of how the LA could facilitate this. Children in care homes costs council’s a fortune and they do seem to try and facilitate any which way to make it work if it involves other council services ie schools and housing - looked after children are in some ways prioritised.

You mean kinship care, rather than Foster care. There is a kinship care charity.

It would be kinship care and I think it's very likely if she had somewhere for them to live. She may be a priority for council housing. She needs to get in touch with the social worker as soon as possible and express her willingness to be involved with the care of her siblings.

I think there would be a reasonable chance and they might even help her secure appropriate housing. There is a massive shortage of foster placements and always a preference to keep children with family if safe and appropriate to do so.

Thank you. I think she is seeing a social worker tomorrow. She is a young carer to her siblings anyway and for the last year has basically brought them up. I think she is thinking along the lines of the council/HA rehousing her mum and her staying in the house with the children as their guardian.

I admire her so much and think what she wants to do is very admirable.

No advice to offer, but what an incredible young woman. 💝