Kinship advice

[CB88]

Hello,

We have put ourselves forward to foster my nieces children who are currently being fostered by Foster Carers. SW has said that we will be employed to look after them and should look up kinship. If it goes ahead one of us will have to give up work as they see young and as we have our own children we will need financial help and I’ve seen stories that kinship carers don’t always get help. Any advice?

Thanks in advance.

[Robin D]

Local authorities will take any opportunity to save money. That said, there have been several cases where they have been overruled by the courts.

Start by reading advice sheets 21a, 22 and possibly parts of 19 at https://www.frg.org.uk/need-help-or-adv ... ice-sheets.

Good luck . Robin

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hello,

We have put ourselves forward to foster my nieces children who are currently being fostered by Foster Carers. SW has said that we will be employed to look after them and should look up kinship. If it goes ahead one of us will have to give up work as they see young and as we have our own children we will need financial help and I’ve seen stories that kinship carers don’t always get help. Any advice?

Thanks in advance.

Dear CB88

Welcome to the Family and Friends Carers’ discussion forum and thank you for posting.

I see that you have already had some useful advice from another poster on the forum.

In addition to the links that have already been given to you, I think it is important for you to know that children’s services has to carry out a financial assessment (which is means tested) as part of the support package that should be offered to family or friends. As the children are currently ‘looked after’ children this is a requirement and you should ensure that this is in place before any order is made in your favour.

If the children are placed with you as foster carers then children’s services would be responsible for the children. You may wish to discuss with the social worker what permanency arrangements are currently being considered for your nieces. As foster carers you would receive a fostering allowance. Should you decide you wish to have a special guardianship order then an allowance will also be paid but you would have the right to make decisions about the children.

It is really important that you have as much information as possible about the different ways you can care for your nieces’ long term. Please read the information on our website. You may also find it helpful to look at the local authority’s family and friends’ policy which should be on their website or you can ask the social worker for a copy. This policy might be referred to as kinship care or connected person but the local should have a policy.

Should you decide to have a special guardianship order, you can ask the local authority to pay for you to have some legal advice. It may be helpful to have this advice once the support package has been offered. This way, you can have advice from a solicitor about the package as well. You have not given the children's ages but state that giving up work would be an option. Have you considered childcare as part of a package. If you are a long term foster carer then you would effectively be working for the local authority.

Should you wish to speak to an adviser, please telephone our advice line on 0808 801 0366. The advice line is open from 930am to 3pm Monday to Friday (except Bank Holidays).

Best wishes

Suzie