Kinship carer ??

[Jenna]

Hi

After weeks of hell regarding the LOOKED AFTER children in my care the LA are now trying to push me to be a kinship carer of the children I have ? I have had no assessment done on me whatsoever and completely unsure if a kinship order is the way to go for me and our family has this is all new ground dealing with children's protection orders , social workers , and police family crimes unit all I know that it is a struggle both mentally and financially dealing with the day to day battles am having with the children's parent trying their up most to upset the children and has for a temporary arrangement this was at first is going to be well over 12 months or even longer once care proceedings are eventually started ?? Any advice would be grateful

Jenna

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi Jenna
David Roth is away on annual leave, and has asked me to respond to posts on the discussion board while he is gone. I am also an advisor here at Family Rights Group.
First let me say I am so sorry you have had trouble getting through to our advice line. I know that’s really frustrating. I wish we weren’t so busy and everyone could get through more easily.
Next, I am also sorry to hear about what a stressful time you are having. I see you have posted on another thread as well, so I have had a look at that discussion.
From what I understand, you are looking after your sister’s two children in what is now (if it wasn’t officially always) a kinship foster care placement. If a child is “looked after” by Children’s Services, either by a court order or by voluntary agreement of the parents, that child is automatically “looked after” and the carer is automatically a “foster carer”.
It sounds like Children’s Services want you to continue in this role. What is not clear to me is whether they want you to do this under a Special Guardianship Order (SGO), or whether they just want you to continue for the time being as a foster carer. So the first question is whether, with the right help and support, you are prepared to continue to care for the children? If the answer to that is yes, then the next question is what does Children’s Services want from you? If they would like you to continue as a foster carer, then they need to assess you and approve you. They also need to pay you the set allowance. The amount you quoted sounds low to me. So I would advise you to ask them what their rates are, and how your allowance was calculated. Kinship carers are supposed to be paid the same rates as unrelated foster carers. There is a lot of information on our website on this here Becoming a foster carer
If Children’s Service wants you to become a Special Guardian, that is more tricky as you don’t want to rush into that without knowing all the implications. There is a lot of information on this on our website, so you can have a read. SGO
If you are to keep the children long term, an SGO is something Children’s Services will probably want you to get eventually. But if they are not suggesting it for now, I would focus on the current arrangements. If they are suggesting an SGO now, my advice is that you ask Children’s Services to pay your legal fees (they have the power to do this) so that you can go over all of this with a solicitor. You may in fact want to go ahead with an SGO, but you will want to make sure all the financial support is in place, as well as other support like help with contact arrangements.
I hope this is helpful.
All the best
Suzie