Foster Care

[derekn7]

Hi, My partner and I are considering fostering babies or disabled children, we have 2 older daughters who have moved out so have 2 spare rooms. I was wondering if anyone knew how much foster care allowance is, we have to work out if we can afford to do this. I've been on some sites that say £130 a week some say £450 a week it's all too confusing. Can anyone shed any light on this or does anyone on here foster children? Thanks in advance

I don’t know the answer OP but there is a specific fostering board and also an adoption board so you might have some more luck there. Good luck

I am a foster carer. The allowance depends mainly on who you register with and also age group and needs of children.

The highest rate you quoted would be for fostering with a private agency and probably for a hard to place teen e.g. with previous placement breakdowns or not attending school.

I foster for my local authority who are quite low paying and I would get around £150 a week full time. I only do weekend respite because I can't afford to give up work.

There are pros and cons to fostering with the LA vs IFAs.

L.A.-more likely to have children placed with you so no gaps in income. LAs will always place with in house carers first because it's cheaper. Support can be worse although mine's always been good.

IFAs - only used as a last resort so more gaps, harder to place children e.g. older, history of disruption etc. On the other hand pay is better and support is traditionally better. LAs only use them as a last resort because they are so expensive.

To get the top end you quoted you would be looking at either fostering sibling groups or hard to place teens. If you want to foster babies you'd be better going through the L.A..

The best place to start is to ring a few agencies, your local authority or neighbouring ones and see what their rates and placement levels are.

Good luck.