Kinship payment??

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Jammyatter
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2018 2:48 pm

Kinship payment??

Post by Jammyatter » Fri Jun 08, 2018 7:04 pm

Hi there .
I am new to the goup so if im posting in wrong section please excuse me . I have an interim care order for my 9yr old grandson . I was told by a fostering social worker that i may be entitled to a kinship payment .(means tested ). Although it definatley wouldnt affect my decision to care for my grandson
I feel if i am entitled to it it would be great help
However the social worker who comes to visit us says no as he isnt a looked after child ?
But this is the same social worker who told me i didnt need a solicitor .when it went to court recently but was embarrassed when judge told local authority to fund legal advice for me
So as you can imagine i have little faith in what she says .. i do have a solicitor now but would still appreciate any constructive advice
Thanks j
Last edited by Suzie, FRG Adviser on Tue Jun 26, 2018 10:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: To protect anonymity

Rhea10
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2018 6:16 pm

Re: Kinship payment??

Post by Rhea10 » Sat Jun 09, 2018 1:47 pm

Yes you are intilted to an allowance and it Varys by there age I have my grandson and I get an allowance for him every fortnight he is four so its two hundred and 60 pounds a fortnight and you get an allowance for clothes and birthday and Christmas and holiday hope this helps

Jammyatter
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2018 2:48 pm

Re: Kinship payment??

Post by Jammyatter » Sun Jun 10, 2018 6:49 pm

Thanks for this reply . He is 9 years old . And also has Autism . So i will ask my solicitor to check this out . I did suspect i was entitled to financial support as his paternal grandparents are lookin after his twin brother but they have a different care order and they get 153 per wk
Cheers

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 949
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:25 pm

Re: Kinship payment??

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Tue Jun 26, 2018 11:45 am

Dear Jammyatter

Welcome to the Family and Friends’ discussion board and thank you for your post. My name is Suzie, Family Rights Group (FRG) online adviser. First of all, I am sorry that we were not able to respond to your post before now and that you have been struggling to get support to help you to care for your grandson.

Rhea10 has been in touch to let you know about her situation which is very helpful of her. However, her situation may be different to yours so I wanted to add some clarifying information to assist you.

First of all, you say that you have an interim care order (ICO) for your grandson. I wonder if that is correct? Could you mean that you have an interim child arrangements order (CAO) for him? It is important for you to check out with your solicitor which order is in place as they do have different implications in terms of your grandson’s legal status and the support that you and he may be entitled to.

If there is an interim care order then this would be held by the local authority children’s services until a final court order is made. This means that they share parental responsibility (PR) for your grandson with his parents – but you would not have PR in this situation.

If your grandson is the subject on an ICO then there is no question about his legal status – he is a looked after child and you as his carer must be fully assessed and approved as his foster carer. Most importantly, as a related (kinship) foster carer you would be entitled to receive a fostering allowance for him, in the same way as an unrelated foster carer would and as Rhea10 describes that she is receiving. Fostering allowance is not means-tested (the ‘kinship payment’ suggested by a social worker may be but you should ask them to clarify what they mean by this and how to follow up).

The social worker has said that your grandson is not looked after (and although social workers can be mistaken about children’s legal status sometimes) this makes me think that there is not an ICO in place as a child would be looked after in that situation.

If you have an interim CAO then your grandson is not currently looked after (but may perhaps have been previously – you could ring us to discuss the circumstances) so you would not be eligible for a fostering allowance but could and should ask to be assessed for a CAO allowance or a special guardianship order (SGO) allowance if you might be seeking a SGO as a final order for your grandson. Both allowances are means-tested and discretionary and you have a stronger argument if the child was looked after first. If you have an interim CAO then you do have PR for your grandson.

It might be worth checking with your grandson’s twin’s carers as it sounds perhaps as if there is an ICO for him but not for the child you are caring for. However, I am not sure why there would be different legal arrangements for twin brothers. As the child you are caring for has autism he is particularly vulnerable and any assessment of his support needs and yours (as his carer) should take account of this.

If you have a read of this advice sheet on realtives and friends taking on the care of a vulnerable child in an emergency it will explain about the different ways children come to be cared for by relatives and what that means in terms of support. Also see our Care (and related) proceedings, DIY Child Arrangements Orders: information for family and friends carers, DIY Special Guardianship Orders - information for family and friends carers, Support for relatives and friends who are looking after someone else’s child and Social security support for relatives and friends looking after someone else’s child.


I would recommend that you:

• Pursue your request for support – especially before any final order is made. It is harder to obtain support afterwards.
• Check with your solicitor and the social worker what the current court process is and what order is in place at the moment. Your solicitor should be able to advise on this and how to ensure that you are properly assessed for support. Make sure that any request is in writing and that you insist that children’s services reply in writing too.
• Make sure that the court is aware that you need support to care for your grandson.
• Access a copy of the local authority’s family and friends’ care policy. You may be able to find a copy local family and friends care policies here and if not ask the social worker to provide one – it is a public document.

If you need to you can make a complaint about the lack of support provided by children’s services. However, as it seems that there are current court proceedings you should be able to follow up your request for support during the court case.

There are lots of local government ombudsman (LGO) reports about support for family and friends’ carers which you can find here children’s social care decisions .

Please do post again with further clarifying information if you need to or ring our Freephone advice line 0808 8010366 Mon-Fri 9.30 – 3.00 to talk through the situation.

With best wishes

Suzie

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