Any Advice or Information would be welcomed Thaxs

[shywazz]

Thanks Help 1870 i'll read with much intrest.. Appricated...

[shywazz]

Morning every1... Just a up-date as to how things are going/progressing, with the info provided, i have made written contact, rather than speak over the phone, have a paper trail then for all commucation, with the socail services, ive mentioned the munby case etc and have been informed my comments and request have been passed onto the fostering manager, to try claim the full amount for the lad up-keep. I'll keep u posted as to what there say once there get back to me.
All letters now state that we are approved foster carers, yet on the finance side we are family and friends carers, hey hoy eh.. although we are not approved yet as the process is still on-going, so why there saying such i do not know.

Anyhow i've now got to have a fostering medical, which is arranged for this friday, which all should be well. I'm having little problems with contact with the socail services and the other children, socail services have put forward contact every 2 weeks, on a friday, I've explianed to them, that this will intrupt the lads schooling, and every 2 wks or 4 wks would be better,on a saturday,hence no school days will be lost by any child then.

We are no closer to been re-housed, although letters have gone in supporting our application. so we still wait on that subject.

I'm still getting mixed signals from the childrens mother, i'm starting to wonder if the socail services are not keeping her informed as to all what going on, ie fostering application etc, as she still thinks the children will be retuned home once she has sorted herself. I want to ask her straight out, but don't want the hassle of what might follow if i did. So we have decided to ask the Socail worker upon his next visit on the 22nd as to what the mother is been told etc etc.

I'll close for now, as loads of clothing to get cleaned, how one child can use and dirty so mant clothes is beyound me, my washer and dryer has never been used so much hehehehe

Hope every1 is doing okay with they prediciments and all are coping best there can.

[shywazz]

Hello everyone, not had the chance to up-date for a while, but on my own for the nxt hr so thought i'd up-date...
We have now completed the forms to foster my nepthew, we have had our medicals and the crb checks have come back fine, which i didnt think anything would be wrong anyway, the fostering application goes to the panel nxt month, the 15th i think, my sister isn't contesting the application, she just wants the two young children back, whom are placed with other foster carers, so thats one for the SS and sister to sort, with respect my nepthew, he is doing extremely well at school, having just won his 1st award, nominated by the school children he was voted best pupil for the term, which is great.
We are still awaiting a move to a bigger home, the housing seem to be dragging there feet, although we have had latters from the ss supporting our move and so forth, we are still waiting, some 4 and half mths later, i've just wrote my thrid letter to them to see how far up the list we are, as we have been classed as urgent? with respect the allowances for my nepthews up-keep, we are still getting the lower rated allowance, we have had to make a application to the panel to get the award higher, as the sum we are getting is considrablely lower than fostering? but the socail worker says thats how the la do things in there area. whether this is true we are not sure, so we wrote a letter explaining that the funds didnt cover everything he needs and this a is a dis-service to someone under a court order, which i hope helps in our case. we are currantly been paid 88.22 per week, with a view to higher allowance once approved foster carers.
We have contact with the young siblings every four weeks, as approved by the ss, there is still NO contact with the mother with regards the nepthew, although she does see the young two, every 2 wks under supervision.
We still havnt had to attend any meetings with regards hearings etc, which seems strange to me, ? can any one shed light on this, i thought we would have to attend some at least, the lac reviews all go well, with the next one not untill sept now. i just find it strange we havnt had to attend any court hearings etc. not that we mind as its a good 100 miles away. with regards the allowances, there are hit and miss, some times not reciveing payments for 4 weeks then 2 weeks then 6 weeks, and getting the contact payments back are a up-hill struggle, having received none since feb, the socail worker blaming there finace dept each time. but we keep smiling none the less. We are just happy my nepthew has settled and enjoying his new beginnings. Well i'll up-date after the fostering panel has been heard and let you all know the out-come. stay strong and keep smiling. hugs to all.

[shywazz]

Hi all okay yeah ? during the last sw visit we have been asked to consider an SGO for my nepthew ? ive started to read up about this, but any in-put would be appricated, sadly the fostering panel didnt meet as planned, its now going to be heard on the 1st week of july. chat soon peeps take gd care and enjoy the nice sunny days.

[David Roth]

Hi shywazz

It would be worth going back to some of the advice sheets I linked to earlier, to make a comparison between becoming your nephew's special guardian, and continuing to care for him as foster carers, if he remained under a care order. The advice sheets are here - check out in particular sheets no 22, 25, 26 and 27: http://frg.org.uk/advice_sheets.html Basically, under a SGO you get the legal responsibility for your nephew, but could end up being less well supported than if you were a foster carer, although local authorities are supposed to provide support services and finance to special guardians.

Since your nephew is looked after at the moment, the local authority would be obliged to assess your need for support services and financial support. And although they are not legally obliged to provide the support that the assessments show you need, they would be under pressure in the court to explain why if they were intending not to provide it. However, I would urge you to ensure that your support package is agreed before any order is made, as it is often impossible to get additional support arranged after the order is in place.

Please do call the FRG advice line if you want to discuss your options - tel 0808 801 0366, open Mon-Fri 10am-3.30pm

David R
FRG Policy Adviser

[shywazz]

Hi all... Got the date for the fostering panel which is 15th of this mth, the sw has stated we don't have attend, but me been me, ive booked the time from work, and i'll make the 100+ mile drive to attend, just in case anything arises then i can answer there and then, and i want to make sure the sw asks the panel to back date all support to the date we took my nepthew in, as the sw said the panel can make that discission on the day, we have been coping on the small amount each fortnight, but this figure falls well below the national figure to famliy and friends and fostering. His mother isn't making any defence to have her son back, so we will see what the panel says on the day, i'll up-date then, if any1 thinks i should know anything b4 hand just shout. cheers

[David Roth]

Having had experience of fostering panels, I think you are correct to make sure you can attend this panel. In fact, as I understand it it is now standard practice for fostering applicants to be invited to attend, and I'm not sure why the social worker told you that you don't need to go. Panel members often have questions which the social worker is unable to answer, and if the applicant is there in person they are often able to put the panel members' minds at rest. In my experience, most panels are more than happy to have the applicants there in person, as it enables them to put a human face to what is otherwise just a report, however well written.

David R
FRG Policy Adviser

[shywazz]

Hello.. Just got back from few days in Devon, We were approved last week as foster carers which is fab news, and we are really happy, and the panel approved us to take care of my nepthew until he is old enough to take care of himself, although he says he's going to stay with us untill he's old hehehehehe
The panel also recommended we be back-dated the payments for fostering, since we have only been getting a small remittence up to the hearing date, (Nepthew been with us for 7 mths now) which now has to be approved by the socail services manager, which should go through.
My nepthew and us are extremely happy that the panel has now approved us and his stay with us.
We just have the small matter of getting re-housed to a bigger dwelling, the panel said the property is too small, as we live in a one bed, so the urgent need to be re-housed is high on the agender, the socail services have said there will pay towards going renting private, but we are upon every housing list within our area, so we are hoping we move through this method, but the process is slow.
But we are coping with the space we do have, and managing best we can. We are expecting a visit from a link worker, within the 1st two to three weeks of our approval, something the socail services provide we were told, I'm not sure of there role for us, we just were told this is always done. I'll keep un-dating with our progress, and hopefully will have news about our move sometime soon, sooner rather than later we do hope. chat soon and take care everyone.

[Kate]

Shywazz, congratulations on being approved! [:)][:D][:)][:)] I hope the backdated funding comes through quickly, and you find somewhere bigger to live asap.

[babylove]

just to second what kate has said. great feeling isnt it