Ss placing my grandchild with me on SGO

[carobnan]

Have already received very helpful advice in connection with this situation but really need info on SGO. I am being considered as long-term carer for my granddaughter as SGO. My concerns at the moment are financial. I am a pensioner with no other income than my pension and am very concerned as to the long term financial support. I'm not the person taking out the order, it is the local ss. My granddaughter is currently in foster care, but should the assessments on me be acceptable then I will probably be deemed the carer until she completes mainstream schooling. The situation is further complicated by the fact that I live abroad, that my granddaughter will need to attend a private school at a cost of around 7000 euros a year, plus extra-curricular activities, uniform etc etc and may also need private health insurance.

I have been offered a one-off legal consultation which I will take - but when??

My question is - how do I secure funding in all of these areas and should that be cast in stone prior to the enactment of the court order.
I am being told that SGO is not means tested. But from what I have read here it does appear to be. They (ss) are telling me that I will receive the normal foster care allowance - how can I check this, and what process may I have to go through should the review of finance, which I'm now told may be every year, not every 2 years change matters - ie re legal representation, which there is no way I could afford. Is there anything I need to do prior to the final court order being issued?

Apologies if this is a tad garbled, but there seem to be so many issues to cover, when all I'm really bothered over is securing a place of safety for my granddaughter. Queries seem to be arising thick and fast!

[David Roth]

Hi carobnan, and welcome to the family and friends carers' discussion forum.

You are right that there is a great deal of information to absorb when you become a family and friends carer, particularly if it involves getting a legal order. Irene has already provided some very helpful information.

If you are becoming a special guardian of a child who is looked after (ie in the care system) then you are entitled to ask the local authority to carry out an assessment of your need for support - both practical support and financial support - and they are obliged to carry it out. However, unfortunately they are not obliged to provide the support that the assessment shows you need.

From what you have said, your need for financial support would be higher than local authorities might normally provide as an SGO allowance - you mention €7,000 school fees, health care and extra-curricular activities, all presumably in addition to the day-to-day costs of raising her. It is really important for you to have a discussion with the local authority about this - where you make clear what you feel you need in order to raise her, and the local authority lets you know whether they are able to pay that. It will probably involve a decision being taken at quite a high level of the department, so the social worker you have the discussions with would not be able to tell you right away.

It would also be important to get an undertaking from the local authority that they would continue to pay the SGO allowance throughout the time your granddaughter is with you. You say that they have stated you will get the same amount as the fostering allowance. It is normal for SGO allowances to be means tested, with the fostering allowance rate the maximum that can be paid, and there being bigger deductions from the allowance the more that you earn. If as you say you are a pensioner with no income, then you would get the maximum payable. You would be expected to claim the child benefit, and that would be deducted from the fostering allowance rate. If you want to check what the fostering allowance rate is, you could check whether it is published on the council's website, or ask them to tell you - the fostering team may be able to do this. The government published recommended minimum fostering allowances, which you can see for this year and the next two years here: http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/fi ... es_001.pdf

Irene is right that there are issues about taking a child who is under an SGO out of the UK jurisdiction for longer than three months without getting the agreement of everybody who has parental responsibility. If it is clear when the SGO is made that this is the plan, then it could probably be resolved when the SGO is made by the judge also granting a specific issues order, giving you the authority to raise her abroad. As Irene has said, it will be important for you to consider how in these circumstances your granddaughter could have contact with her parents, taking whatever steps you need to in order to safeguard her from harm of course.

If you are not going to be legally represented, then Family Rights Group has published an advice sheet that tells you how to represent yourself when applying for an SGO. Our advice sheet 19 is quite long, but it tells you everything you need to know about SGOs, including how to go through the court process: http://www.frg.org.uk/need-help-or-advice/advice-sheets

[carobnan]

Many thanks for the helpful advice. I live in Cyprus and the social workers have been over to assess me including a breakdown of my finances - does this constitute them carrying out an assessment of my need for support?

We visited a school whilst they were here and were happy with what we saw, they are well informed as to to the financial implications of this. I have been told that they will fund this. Interesting that I have been told more than once that SGO is not means tested, but they still need to know my financial situation!

I have checked the fostering allowances for the authority and would be happy to fund my granddaughter's requirements with that sum, but would be unable to pay the school fees. There are free local schools but it has been agreed that with the problems my granddaughter already has, hence her being removed from the family home, they would not be the best option for her, being Greek with lessons taught in Greek.

Regarding her leaving the UK, this is already covered in all documents submitted to court so far, so it is recognised that it would need to be officially agreed by all for her to come here. I have issues with the fact that they did not go down this route immediately she was removed from the family home, and have yet to receive a satisfactory answer from the authority as to why this was not pursued at the time and this may well form part of an official complaint in the fullness of time.

My daughter originally named me as the prospective carer for the child and so is aware of the contact implications. Again, I was told that the local authority would fund visits to and from Cyprus to enable this. She has since changed her mind and has now named the estranged daughter of her husband - he being the cause of the removal of my granddaughter from the family home - as the chosen carer. This will entail the next court hearing scheduled for July to be postponed to enable this person to be assessed, meaning that my granddaughter will remain in foster care even longer.

On a positive note, the authority have so far funded 2 visits for me to see my ganddaughter - the second one at the request of the judge - and are now discussing the probability of funding for her to come out here for a period in the school holidays should the court hearing be adjourned as anticipated.

Having read many of your advice sheets, including the one on self-representation in court, I do have to thank you for the amazing advice given.

My remaining query would be - will it be sufficient for me to annotate my financial need re schooling in a letter to the local authority, or do I need to address this to the court, presuming that this needs to be in place prior to the next court hearing?

Again, many thanks for your responses and the advice given, very appreciated!

Regards
Carobnan

[carobnan]

Thank you Irene, you have made some very relevant points which i will take into consideration should i eventually go down the official complaints procedure.

This website is a real eye-opener for us 'newbies' thrust into the ss system! Thank you to all who contribute!

carobnan

[carobnan]

Th legal process is churning through and final hearing is scheduled for 7th August. My only concern now is the funding which they are planning to give me. The figure mentioned is £148 per week, which seems low to me given what I have read on here and what I know a foster career gets. This figure had only been quoted verbally so far and I am being asked to sign my approval of the support plan. I am also being asked to fund 2 of the 4 access visits. As I mentioned before I live in Cyprus so these will be quite hefty - air fares for 2 of us and accommodation. The access has been agreed as being in the UK due to history of my son in law, so I have no problem with that.
I am just very concerned on the costs of bringing up my granddaughter, I don't want to make money out of this but could anyone give me their opinions on whether £148 is going to be sufficient. They have agreed to pay school fees, albeit I had to force them to agree to pay for books (these are additional costs here, not included in school fees nor provided by the school). I am still trying to get them to meet costs of exam fees too as these are also additional costs. I'm trying to think of everything but quite scared that I will miss something and then be unable to change it in the future. Time is running out I know given the haste of the final hearing, but I want to be sure that neither my granddaughter nor I will be facing hardship in the future, given that my own income is fixed. There are also unknowns in the situation here in Cyprus, with the recent bailout from the EU many things are changing and there is a real possibility that tax will increase, which would reduce my income further.

Any thoughts or advice anyone??

Carobnan

[carobnan]

Many thanks for that Irene, it has clarified the situation for me and I can now go back to them with the only query being the access visits.

Thanks so much
Carobnan

[carobnan]

Any information as to the differences between foster care allowance and the SPO? Everything I ask about I'm told its different from foster care allowance!

Carobnan

[carobnan]

Thanks Irene. I'm not trying to fleece the LA, but by the same token I'm not rolling in cash! I just have my pension. So I'm simply trying to get them to stump up the maximum I can get for my granddaughter. Alongside that, I don't seem to be getting through to them that my income is fixed and if they don't meet the costs then who will??? I'm also trying to get it written in stone so that I know where I stand from now on - I just can't envisage finding myself a couple of years down the line with their support terminated and nowhere to go to meet the costs which will be beyond my pension! Yet still they prevaricate and wrap everything up in fog. Trying to pin them down to actual costs is like trying to knit fog!!

I do know that they are already incurring massive costs re the school fees, but that is their choice for my granddaughter, I'm just reluctant to be left picking up everything else just because they're incurring massive school fees.This was not my choice, I was asked to take on this role and I do it willingly, believe me, but I don't have any spare funds! I've been honest with them in my finances, so I guess I'm just aggrieved that they are now trying to nail as many other costs to me as they possibly can. My pension is fixed, not elastic!!! I find it somewhat nit-picking that they screw down stuff such as books and exam fees which are not provided here, but an extra cost. Now them trying to pin down the access visits to me is just a step too far. I just cannot fund any more access visits,yet when I ask what will happen they simply say that if I need to get 'my support package' reviewed then I just have to go and see them when I'm over and it will be looked at. Not what I'm asking!! I just need to know where I stand in bringing up my granddaughter but its as though I'm asking for directions to the moon!

Sorry, rant over!

Carobnan

[David Roth]

You can see what the government's recommended national minimum fostering allowances are here: http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/fi ... es_001.pdf - the amount varies according to the age of the child, and where they live. The SGO allowance ought to be set against these figures, with the amount you receive as child benfit being deducted from the total.

If a foster carer would be paid an enhancement to their allowance for raising the child, for example because the child was disabled, or had a medical condition which meant they had to follow a certain diet, or it takes extra skills to care for them because of emotional and behavioural difficulties, then you should receive some extra as well. If you think you are entitled to any extra on these grounds, it is important to have the discussion before the SGO is made, as it will be very difficult if not impossible to re-negotiate afterwards. The same is true over any financial support you need for the child's contact - it can be very hard to review these things afterwards, and you need to get as much of it agreed beforehand as possible.

[carobnan]

Thanks for that David. I cannot access child benefit here in Cyprus, but still don't get it! No other enhancements applicable, so will just await their decisions re the access trips.

Many thanks to all who have helped me with their posts. I do hope that in the fullness of time I will be able to return the favour!

Carobnan