Child Arrangement Allowance

[CY23]

Hi

We have been waiting for a SGO support plan since last year. We have had to have five hearings adjourned due to the LA just not completing a support plan or not turning up. We have an interim CAO and Prohibited Steps Order, which we had to get as an emergency measure due to mum taking child to a different town whilst having a contact visit. She refused to bring him back. Our social worker was on holiday so we made an emergency application to the court which brought him back into our care. We did not particularly want to apply for this but needed to get him home safe. The local authority paid our fee and supported him being back in our care in a section 7 report.

Our last hearing in July was again adjourned due to LA not producing a support plan and they did not attend court despite being ordered to attend. We were rather hoping to get it finalised as it is the summer holidays and we are in financial hardship due to child’s DLA and Carers allowance stopping. We only receive Child benefit of £21.80 per week for our child which is not enough to cover his needs. On top of this he has ASD, ADHD and attachment difficulties so he has complex needs and is not able to stay in mainstream school and has to transition to a SEN school as he needs so much support.

As my husband has just had a full shoulder replacement he cannot drive so we have extra costs in taking him to his therapies and psychotherapy sessions. We are finding it a struggle to afford trips and cannot afford a holiday. I do worry about buying his uniform for the new year as well. Even though he is only 12 he is 5ft 7 and in a size 9 shoe. The Clarkes shoes are twice the price in mens than boys so we are looking at £100.

With all this in mind I emailed my social worker ( as he is on a child in need plan) to ask if we could be assessed for financial help for a Child Arrangement Allowance for the six week holidays to help fund activities and trips. We had no response so I wrote a formal letter requesting the same and gave it to the Social worker and asked her to give it to the relevant person. She has vaguely said ‘oh I’ve not heard of that, I’ll have to look into it’ when I’ve asked for an update. We are now three weeks into the holidays and I’ve not heard anything.

Do you know if it is correct that we can be assessed for this allowance as things are quite hard at the moment. I was hoping it would help out until we hopefully receive the SGO.

Also, the LA have conceded that our child was ‘looked after’ and have put this on record. We have been told by a legal charity that we could ask for backdated fostering allowance. Does anyone know if we can also ask for a backdated CAO allowance. I know that it is a private order but it wasn’t our plan to apply for this, we had no choice but to make an emergency application due to mum taking him and he was distressed. We were on an income based benefit at that time with a low income.

At this point I don’t know if we could revoke the interim CAO and ask for a fostering allowance instead of SGO as this has been going on for 10 months, whilst we are struggling.

Thank you if you are able to advise.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Cally,

Thank you for your post. I hope that the following advice is of some help to you.

You say that you have an interim child arrangements order in place for a child you are caring for. You made an application for a special guardianship order however this has not yet been made (due to the local authority’s failure to provide the support plan as requested). You also say that the local authority have accepted that the child was previously a ‘looked after child’. You are struggling financially at the moment and ask for advice regarding any financial support that you may be entitled to.

Firstly you ask if you could be assessed for a child arrangements order allowance. It is correct that children’s services can pay carers a child arrangements order allowance however they do not have to as it is discretionary. Therefore I would suggest that you focus your efforts instead on requesting backdated fostering allowance and ensuring that you are properly financially assessed for a special guardianship allowance (more advice on this below).

If the local authority have accepted that the child was a looked after child for a period of time then they should have paid you a fostering allowance for this timeframe. You can request that this is backdated and paid to you now. You should send this request in writing to the social work team manager (and director of children’s services if possible). You may wish to use one of our template letters to help you with this. Template letter 6 is the closest that we have which relates to your request.

Because the local authority have accepted that your child was a looked after child and he was living with you immediately prior to you making the application for a special guardianship order they have a duty to financially assess you for a special guardianship allowance. I would suggest that you request in writing that the local authority financially assess you and then you should ensure that you get legal advice before you accept their financial offer. A solicitor will be able to check that the local authority have offered you an allowance that is in line with what they are legally obligated to offer. The local authority should offer to pay for this legal advice. Please note that this should all be completed before the special guardianship order is made. It is much harder to get backdated financial support once an SGO has been made.

Finally you ask if you could end the interim child arrangements order, withdraw your application for a special guardianship order and instead receive fostering allowance as a kinship foster carer. In order to withdraw your application for the special guardianship order you will need to get the court’s permission. To do so you can either make the request orally if the parties are present at court (if you have a hearing coming up soon for example). Or you can make the request in writing setting out the reason in Form C2. You should explain why you feel that it is in the best interests of the child to withdraw and any potential impact on the child’s future care (e.g. the court may want to be clear about the legal framework under which the child is going to remain in your care instead).

So the practical steps would be:
a) Complete a C2 application to the court that issued your application, quoting the case number, stating that you are writing to the court seeking permission to withdraw your application for a special guardianship in respect of the child under FPR Rule 29.4.
b) Set out clearly and concisely your reasons for seeking permission to withdraw
c) Be prepared to attend a hearing in any event, as the court may list a hearing to consider the withdrawal application.


In regards to the interim child arrangements order it depends on exactly the circumstances in which the order was made and the wording. For example:
- Was it an order made within the special guardianship proceedings or in freestanding proceedings (then linked or consolidated with the special guardianship proceedings)?
- Whether the order made was ‘until further order’, ‘until the conclusion of proceedings’ for another specified short period of time or was it an order made until the child is 18 for example.

I would suggest that you check the wording on the court documentation but as I explained above if a court is concluding the proceedings or looking at the request to withdraw the application, it will want to be clear about the future arrangements for the child when doing so and check the position in relation to any orders that have been put in place in the interim period.

Something you may wish to consider doing is putting all your current concerns, overview of the delays, your financial struggles and your requests into one letter and copy that to the court for information. As you are party to the court proceedings you can also request an urgent listing on the basis of the local authority’s failure to comply with prior court timescales/direction if that is what has happened.

I think it is important that you are clear that if the child arrangements order is ended and the special guardianship order is not made then you will no longer have any parental responsibility for the child. This would mean that if the mother wished for the child to return to her care you would not be able to stop this. If the local authority felt that the child would be at risk of significant harm in the care of the mother then they may initiate court proceedings themselves by applying for a care order or they could ask the mother to sign a Section 20 agreement if she does not want the child in her care. (If they did do either of these things and the child remained in your care then they should indeed pay you a fostering allowance as you would be a kinship foster carer and the child would be a looked after child. They should also do a full full fostering assessment on you). However it is not guaranteed that the child would remain in your care as there are many other possible outcomes (for example the local authority may instead support the child returning home to the mother).

If the child was previously in receipt of DLA, now that you have parental responsibility you can make a claim for DLA and carers allowance. Please see our Advice sheet 2h welfare benefits for kinship carers for more information about this. You could also call the welfare benefits helpline run by The Mary Ward Legal Centre for more advice. Their number is 020 7831 7079 (Monday to Friday 10am – 1pm).

I hope that this is of some help. I appreciate that there is a lot of information here so please do post back again if you have any further queries, or it may be helpful for you to call our helpline on 0808 801 0366 and speak with an adviser. The helpline is open Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 3pm.

Best wishes,
Suzie

[CY23]

Hi Susie

Apologies, have just seen your reply. The information you have given me is very helpful and I do appreciate your help very much.

Many thanks

Cally