Failed connected carer assessment due to 12 week time

[FGED22]

Hi all , I'm new to all this so please bear with me. I will start at the beginning. Our 2 grandchildren aged 11 & 13yrs were placed with us on 20/8/25, after being taken from their BM, through cruelty & neglect. We had our initial assessment & were told that the children were under an interim order through the courts & that SS were happy to let the children stay with us & for us to go through the rest of the assessment to become Kinship carers the SW told us we were classed as tempory carers untill the outcome of the assessment., she told us how much we would be getting p/week for each child, and it would be backdated to when my daughter signed the section 20 over to them which was 9/9/25.
Fast forward to October when the payments arrived in my bank to find out that it was only £842.?? I questioned this with the payments section & they said that we were still classed as unregulated & as we were unregulated the payments were discretional although SW had told us we were classed as connected
carers going through the
assessment procedure. We had a safeguarding meeting with the IRO & other professionals involved, well before the payments kicked in & she asked the SW to trigger the payment asap as we were classed as tempory carers, but they are still only paying us £50 p/ child p/ week. I have had to cut my hours of work down to fit around the grandchildren,appointments & schooling which leaves me £400 pounds short in my wages every month, we have paid out for clothing as they came to us with only the clothes on their backs, we had to put down new carpets on the stairs & landing as the fostering team pointed out it had to be done for the assessment, my bills have doubled since the children came to us, & I am putting double fuel into my car to get them to & from school & taking them twice weekly to their meetings with their BM & disabled sibling who has complex needs as she requires 24 7 daily care & is in a care home for now. On the 27/11/25 the social worker told us that our assessment had failed due to the bedroom situation, which was a shock, as even the childrens guardian & solicitor had visited & told us this wasn't a problem as the bedrooms were same sex bedrooms. Iphoned the fostering team to ask why we had been failed & they said we hadn't failed on the bedroom situation, that the failed assessment was down to the 12 week time limit it had failed because they were into the sixteenth week. I asked if we could extend it for the other 8 weeks that they sometimes do, but i was told they couldn't as that would take them over the 24 week time scale, so now we are back to being closed as unregulated carers, & I have been told by a friend who is a proper foster carer that it is illegal for the children to still be placed with us & that they can come ^ take the children away now. I don't know what to do next the children are important to us that they have stability & feel safe untill the outcome of the final hearing. I have spoken to the IRO & she has said that she is supporting me all the way because she has has nothing but praise about us from all professionals involved in the case. She is trying to find out more information about the failed assessment, as she was shocked as much as I was about it. I don't know if I should contact the childrens guardian to see if there's anything she can do, I don't know whether she can get involved in this matter I am at a loss as what to do next, if anybody could shed some light as to how I go about this it would be very much appreciated, I don't want to lose the children.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear FGED22

Suzie (FRG Adviser) here, thank you for your update and for providing more background information.

The steps that children’s services take when they place children with family members are outlined here on our website and the process for approving kinship carers is defined in Regulation 24.

The Government advises local authorities about how much fostering allowance ‘might/should’ be paid to carers, you can see those figures here.

The Government has also created guidance for local authorities (LA) about kinship care, here is a link to the guide. Page 28 has a paragraph about accommodation (bedroom sharing).

It would be wise for you to get a copy of the assessment that has been done and go through the process of challenging it. We have a template letter on our website which you can find on this webpage, it is Letter Number 3. You should edit it to suit your situation deleting or adding information that you think is relevant.

Your local authority (LA) will have information about your home (the placement) being an unregulated placement. In general, a LA might say that a placement where the (kinship) carers have not been assessed and approved by a fostering panel is an unregulated one or from what you describe the time period of the assessment has gone beyond the 16 week period or will do (without agreeing the further 8 weeks). This ‘will make’ the placement an unregulated one. I understand how 'stressful' the whole process is for you and your worry that your grandchildren might be removed from your home. It would be wise for you to contact the social worker involved and ask for their policy and perhaps ask who the ‘decision maker’ is (as regards fostering placements).

Your grandchildren will have a care plan and in that there will be information about permanence for them: do ask for information about the contents of the plan.

You may want to challenge the outcome of the assessment or consider going to the next court hearing. The children’s guardian (as you have suggested) will have a view, do contact them.

If you would like to discuss your situation, in confidence, with one of our advisers, our telephone service is open Monday to Friday (except Bank Holidays) on 0808 801 0366 from 9:30am to 3:00pm.


Best wishes
Suzie
Family Rights Group Adviser