Any Advice or Information would be welcomed Thaxs

shywazz
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2010 11:07 am

Any Advice or Information would be welcomed Thaxs

Post by shywazz » Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:18 pm

Hello every1.. Found this site after it was recommended..As of the 02.01.2010 i have become a carer for my sisters son, aged 14 years. with her other children placed with other foster homes, bro and sis aged 7 and 8 with one foster carer, other child aged 15 and with new born baby of her own with mother and baby unit, son aged 16 now staying with her former husband, with myself and partner now looking after the son aged 14. Of course i have many questions that will need answering, at the moment i have registered the boy with doc and dentist and the local school, all of which i have done without any assistance from any local goverment body, i have had one visit from the socail services and have another home visit arranged to disscus any issues and concerns, also a visit from the outside guardain to discuss issues etc relating to present and furture happenings. although cirmcumstances will deferr from person/family to person/family any questions that i might need addressing when the visits take place, that i might not know, please feel free to put them to me, hence allowing myself to ask such when the ss and g visit. At the moment things are quite unfamilar to us and we are also now learning what might be ahead for myself and my civil partner. We both work ft and are in the process of speaking to our compaines to advise them of our postion, mainly due to the amount of time we might need away from our employ to deal with any immiment matters in the early stages of our new commitment to the child. The cirmcumstances relating to my sister having the children removed, are very complex and have been for the last few mths, everything came to ahead so to speak on jan 2nd with the removal of all 5 children so everything that is happening is happening very fast and even ourselves havnt had the time to come to terms with everything as such. any views or early advice that might be of help would be appricated, i will of course up date as visits etc take place, and if i have q of my own to seek advice. thax for reading and please do feel free to reply. [:)]

shywazz
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2010 11:07 am

Re: Any Advice or Information would be welcomed Thaxs

Post by shywazz » Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:27 pm

As a up-date, i have got an school appointment to place him in the local school, with him been under a child protection court order we jumped the waiting que so that he can get to some form of normallatie, (Spelt wrong i think) so hopefully he will be within the new school within the nxt week or so, which will help him in gaining new friends and filling his time in an better manner. Ill take him shopping for the uniform and any matarial items that might be required at the weekend, am i correct in thinking that the costs will be met either half way or in full by the socail services ? doesnt matter if not, but no harm in asking i guess.

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Help 1870
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Re: Any Advice or Information would be welcomed Thaxs

Post by Help 1870 » Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:49 pm


Definitely ask about payments towards a new School Uniform, and it might be worth asking for start up costs towards things like new bed, bedding, any additional clothing you have had to purchase.

If a Guardian is involved then it sounds like you are in court proceedings and the child may be on an Interim Care order. Plus with him being placed with you by SS then the child should be 'Looked after'. This means you should be receiving Foster care payments. Are you getting this money?

Any questions just ask, there is a wealth of information and support from the members of this forum.

[:)]


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David Roth
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Re: Any Advice or Information would be welcomed Thaxs

Post by David Roth » Mon Jan 25, 2010 2:23 pm

Hi shywazz, and welcome to Family Rights Group's discussion forum for family and friends carers. I hope you will be able to find useful information here, and enjoy the support from others who are in a similar situation to you.

One of the most important areas of information that you will find it useful to be well informed about is legal status. What are the different legal options for your nephew and yourself and your partner?

To begin with, you will need to find out the whether your nephew is placed with you as a 'looked after' child or not. If the local authority placed him with you, or he is under an interim care order, then generally that will mean he is looked after. That would mean, as Help1870 says, that you ought to be getting paid a fostering allowance, and going through an assessment to be his foster carers. Local authorities often try to avoid giving children 'looked after' status, because they have to provide a high level of support and financial assistance to family and friends carers who are fostering the children they are caring for.

You may also find it being suggested that you apply for a residence order or a special guardianship order, so you can have parental responsibility for him if he is to stay on with you. Although that will probably be at a later point in the process, it is worth informing yourself now. You may find FRG advice sheets 12, 13, 14, 20, 22, 25 and 26 and 27 useful.

If you want to talk things over with someone, you could ring Family Rights Group's advice line. The number is 0808 301 0366, and the line is open from 10am to 3.30 pm Monday to Friday. The number is free to all landlines and to most(but not all) mobiles.

Good luck with getting you and your nephew's situation sorted out!

David R
FRG Policy Adviser
David Roth
FRG Policy Adviser

shywazz
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2010 11:07 am

Re: Any Advice or Information would be welcomed Thaxs

Post by shywazz » Tue Jan 26, 2010 9:33 am

Thax David and Help 1870.. AS you might have guessed, we are somewhat new to such happenings with children, due to such we are just taking each day/week as there come, yes the court proceedings are much still taking place, which i have very limited information at this time, all i hear is from the socail worker when she visits and the gurdain over the phone, far as was informed this was temp stay with us, but due to cirmcumstances becoming much greater than expected, this could result in a much longer stay even untill he is old enough to manage on his own, again all hear say untill the next hearing on feb 9th. The sw has recommended to the courts that he continue to stay with us under a child protection order, however with his friends and schooling and his bros and sis's whom are placed around the area of living, within fostering etc, the courts need to see that we can give him the care/guidance thats required, if the court decides that its in his best intrests to have him placed within a care home near the above, hence why we havnt seeked any start up costs etc since the proceedings are in such a early stage. With the SW and guardain seeking us to find schooling, which i had already put in motion anyway, i feel that this could/will result him staying with us for as long that as might be needed. With respect the stage of him arriving with us, i recieved a text message from the boy in the early hrs of one friday morning three weeks ago, telling me that the police had taken him and his little sis and bro out of the famliy, and left him at this home, which i found later to be a care home, and his sis and bro taken elsewhere, whom have now been placed within a foster home, i contacted my sister, whom confirmed such over the phone, getting the SW phone number i rang them, and expained that myself and partner would take the lad in rather than he be within the care system, hence police checks were conducted on ourselves, etc etc etc and we were then allowed to go collect the lad (took 6 hrs for them to agree), thinking this was just going to be a few days, on the 1st sw visit, we were asked to consider looking after him on a temp to perm period, so really looking around the site, we volenteered to have him stay with us, rather than him be placed with us through the socail worker/system. When the guradain rang for the 1st time last week, to arrange an appointment to come see us, as we live 120 miles away from them, only then did we find out about costs etc, after she seeked what help we were getting, when i informed her nothing, she was bewildered to hear such and stated she would look into things for us. and bring us all the information when she visits on the 30th. From this visit we hope to be more up to date with the happenings etc, and where things might be heading, on the 1st feb i have the SW visit so sat and mon are busy days but i'll have more of a concept of whats going to happen and whats ahead for every1. I'll most deffo seek as to which order he is now under now he's with us, and about the aid that might be available for schooling items. I'll up-date monday after both visits have taken place.[:)] thax to both for the replies.

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David Roth
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Re: Any Advice or Information would be welcomed Thaxs

Post by David Roth » Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:05 am

shywazz, I'm sorry but I meant to provide a link to Family Rights Groups advice sheets in my last post. You can find them here: http://frg.org.uk/advice_sheets.html Do take a look at the ones I mentioned, as you will find a lot of useful information in them.

David R
FRG Policy Adviser
David Roth
FRG Policy Adviser

aimilgray
Posts: 508
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 5:43 pm

Re: Any Advice or Information would be welcomed Thaxs

Post by aimilgray » Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:13 pm

hi and welcome you will find most of what you need already on here is a life saver this site. just wanted to say though although things have happend very quickly do not think this is the norm, cases can and most do go on for years we ourselves have been in the court system for 25 months and the end is near but not near enough. finances usually take some time and moaniong from us but because of the order he is on then you would need to be assesed as kinship carer and hopefully that would bring the apropriat funding. good luck to all of you and is great to hear another family member has stepped up. take care xxx

shywazz
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2010 11:07 am

Re: Any Advice or Information would be welcomed Thaxs

Post by shywazz » Sun Feb 07, 2010 5:45 pm

Hello All, just an up-date from our meeting last monday, sorry for the delay, but with my work and everything else getting a moment to gather my thoughts is now seldom, the meeting seemed to go well, with the socail worker and another lady, think she said she was independant from ss but was there to monitor the socail worker etc, there have agreed to verbally, that my partner and myself will be classed as foster/kinship carers for my sisters third child, and that we will be entitled to the moneary assistance towards his up-keep, school uniform clothing etc etc etc as to when this payment will be made, i'm guessing it will be sometime, but we are in a postion to buy him all that is required in the meantime, the ss took all the recipts as to what we have already spent, to get that processed to start with. He's now been in school one week now, and is enjoying it very much, and fitting in well, making new friends to boot, which is enableing him to chat to them on facebook etc we have placed our tranferr in with our housing, as the ss have agreed to support our application by writing a letter to our housing to explain things, although the said letter hasnt arrived as she promised, the next court hearing is the 9th which the saocail worker and gurdain are going to make the application that the lad stay with us on a long term basis, the other children will remain in other foster care, for the forseeable future due to the cirmcumstances of my sister and the new husband. which we are pleased about as the invrioment isnt a place for children. I'm puzziled as to why we havnt been invited to these court hearings, or had to fill in any paperwork at all, either to state we will care for the young man or application for the moneary side of things. All this has been decided verbally between the guradin and ss and ourselves. The guradain visits us again on the 13th to which she will up-date us on the court application and see if progress has been made on the funding from the ss. Its sad that my sisters children are the ones suffering so to speak while all this goes on, we can only do the best possible for the lad, and hope the other kids are okay aswell, we have contact with them by telephone and the ss are arranging a venue for all to meet, as there havnt seen each other for near 6 weeks now. there is zero contact in place for mother and children at this time, and for the foreseeable future. Well my partner has taken the lad to swimming which there due back in 15 mins so i'll close for now, thax for reading its gd to get my thoughts out even if i do come across as rambling, ill come back on when i get another free moment or after the guardain has been on the 13th whichever is sooner. bye all for now.
Many thax David for the updated site you put in ur rely, have been on there and some very useful things to read. many thax.

shywazz
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2010 11:07 am

Re: Any Advice or Information would be welcomed Thaxs

Post by shywazz » Sun Feb 14, 2010 7:10 pm

Hi all, got a min or two to self while partner is swimming with the lad, we have contact with his bro's and sis's monday at the guardains offices for two hours, its been 6 weeks since there all saw each other, the mother and step farther are not allowed contact with any of the children by order of the courts, so have a round trip of 300 miles to do tomorrow, which will be tring for all i guess, we still have zero support from the SS although we keep getting told some one will ring with regards moneyarty assistance towards his up-keep etc, as we have been accessed as fc for him. the next courts hearing isnt untill july now, there are happy for him to stay with us, which will be reviewed at the nxt date hearing. He's doing really well at the new school and we have now put our transferr application in for a bigger place allowing him his own room, might take mths but least on waiting list. Was his b/day so got him a xbox 360 which he loves, so all in all he's settlied in very nicely. just wish SS were alittle more helpful. but hey we will cope regardless. ill let you know how the contact goe's in the week. hope all is okay and coping as best as possible with there own cirmcumstances. [:)]

old bear
Posts: 356
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 3:21 pm

Re: Any Advice or Information would be welcomed Thaxs

Post by old bear » Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:53 am

hi shywazz,
sounds like it's all good news with you just now ~ fantastic ~ it's always great to hear something's going well.
i really hope the contact is good for all the children ~ it must be so hard on them to have so little contact for so long. i don't much like the sound of all that travelling, but i suppose that's just life.
and good luck with getting the money sorted out ~ i suppose it'll happen eventually.
old bear

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