RE: Financial Help

[Selfie]

Hi,
My 14yr old niece decided that she could no longer cope living in the volatile environment surrounding her parents marriage, (my sister and brother in law). She had been self harming and even tried to take her own life at 1 point.
Anyway, following another fight between her parents back in September of last year, which subsequently resulted in my sister being arrested and placed on bail at my mums house, part of her bail conditions was to not contact her husband nor approach the family home.
Both my niece and nephew went to my mums with her.
But as per usual, my brother in law dropped thee charges and my sister moved back in. But my niece refused, and has been with me ever since. Social Workers have been out and explained that the home she was at doesn't meet the threshold to remove my niece from her parents care, but also, due to her strong will she is adamant she does not want anymore to do with either parent. They also explained that there was also nothing they could do to force her to go home.
She has settled well with me and my girls, even though the amount of abuse and harassment I have received from her parents has ended up with me having cctv installed on my home and both her parents are currently on bail for harassing me.

I, myself am on benefits. And am finding it a struggle to stay afloat financially. As she came to me with no clothes and only one school uniform.
I finally managed to prove to child benefit that she was living with myself not her parents at the end of February.
The paid me only from January 10th, to February 28th.
Then stopped. I then contacted universal credit and was told that because of the benefit cap I am not entitled to anymore.

Social services closed with no further involvement on January 14th. So legally I have nothing to say she is my responsibility.

Obviously her parents are NOT in agreement with her being with me.

Anyone know if there is actually any help available in this complex situation?

Thanks in advance

Xx

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Selfie,

Welcome to the kinship carers’ forum and thank you for your post. I am sorry to hear about the difficulties that you and your family have been facing and I hope that the following information is of some help to you.

You say that your niece is currently living with you after she refused to return back to her parents’ care. From the information given it sounds as if her parents have a very volatile relationship and that there is domestic violence between them. Children’s services have been involved but told you that this is a private family arrangement and have closed their involvement. From the information you have given it is difficult to advise with certainty as to whether children’s services are right to treat this as a private family arrangement or not. It would be useful to know the exact circumstances in which your niece came to live with you. Did she turn up herself, or did one of her parents bring her (for example)? Did you have any conversations with a social worker about this at the time – did they at any point ask you to take your niece in? Although the parents are no longer in agreement for you to have her, did they agree with you at the time that you could?

I would suggest that you have a look at Template Letters 4 and 5 as, depending on the answers to the questions above, you may wish to use them to request that children’s services assess you as a kinship foster carer and be paid as such. You may find it helpful to call our helpline (details below) to discuss this further with an adviser.

It is also possible to request that children’s services provide some support (financial and practical) under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989. You say that you niece has suffered from poor mental health, is not in contact with her parents and it is clear that she has suffered some level of trauma and distress from the events she has witnessed. You can find information on our website HERE about how you can request an assessment under Section 17 (also known as a ‘child in need’ assessment).

You are right to say that there is nothing legally in place regarding your niece living with you. In the longer term you may wish to consider making an application to the family court for an order to get parental responsibility for your niece. This could be through a Child Arrangements Order or a Special Guardianship Order. With both of these orders you would share parental responsibility with her parents, however a Special Guardianship Order gives you the benefit of ‘enhanced’ parental responsibility meaning you can make decisions without agreement from her parents. We have information about these orders in our advice sheets. Please see HERE for a link to the advice sheets; I would suggest you read advice sheets 2a, 2d and 2f to start with. It may be helpful for you to call our advice line or seek legal advice if you would like to discuss any of the information further. The Child Law Advice helpline, Support Through Court and We Are Advocate may also be able to offer some support.

It may be helpful to contact the Mary Ward Legal Centre to get specific advice about benefits that you are claiming, and if there are any more that you are entitled to.

I hope that this is of some help. Please post back if you have further queries, or call our free, confidential helpline on 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday, 9:30am – 3pm) to speak with an adviser.

Best wishes,
Suzie