I will do a complete round up on this topic soon but a couple of preliminary thoughts.
The Regulations do not say that SG allowances can only be paid for 2 years - they say that the remuneration element of a foster care allowance cannot continue to be paid to a former foster carer beyond 2 years.
The payment of all residence/ kinship / SG allowances are essentially dependent on council led policies and cannot be committed to for a child's minority.
Government guidelines on calculating SG allowances which have been adopted almost wholesale by many local authorities specifically state that if the SG is in receipt of income support the maximum allowance should be paid without the need for means testing. Case law and current practice indicate that the same amounts should be on offer to a kinship carer, foster carer or SG (less the remuneration element).
The fact that a lay person, often unrepresented and unadvised, chooses to accept an amount offered by the LA does not remove the burden on the LA to assess their needs and apply their own policy to that person's situation.
I would be really interested in feedback about this to provide some definitive answers. This is a thorny topic and currently one it is difficult to deal with in court. Potential SG's in particular and they are often grandparents do not realise what they might be entitled to and are hesitant about asking for it for fear that they are seen as mercenary or as not being able to cope on their current income. I appreciate that there are policy issues to consider here: why should an SG carer or post care proceedings relative carer get more than the average single parent, for example. Why does a looked after child cost more? But as long as the current policies exist they should be applied fairly and transparently. I find myself baffled by the inconsistency of approach. Some allowance decisions in LAs are being made at a panel level - perhaps we should be routinely asking for the minutes? In any event you should be routinely asking for copies of the policy documents, not to mention the actual calculations applied to decide what amount should be paid to a particular carer.
LEAPING IN
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*Now I know that there’s lots of nonsense talked about women proposing to
men on 29th February. I’ve even heard that traditionally if the man refuses
the...
13 hours ago
9 comments:
"This is a thorny topic and currently one it is difficult to deal with in court."-> spot on. We'd also like to follow this discussion given the family law issues raised. Looking forward to more posts. East Kilbride Solicitors & Lawyers
The other element to be considered is the lump sum payment. I have had several cases where one is paid eg for furniture for the children or a family car for the children. I also had a case where the LA paid to make the garden safe for children. the maximum I have had is £20,000 but I always ask and usually get at least £1000 so worth a try!
I am a Special Guardian. We have raised the daughters of a former foster child. Allowances are £35 per week per child.
We have a child still at home and one now living independently. We are still very much involved in her care and support, eg driving lessons.
We were not given fostering allowances because the other track was adoption by strangers and the SW said that they would not have to pay anything for that.
The girls were severely neglected and abused and hence as a family we have gone through some traumatic times.
My opinion is that more help should be offered as a right to those (very few) in our situation.
We are currently heading down the SGO path, our grandchildrens guardian seems to think that we will almost definately get legal aid, and someone else has said that there is a set of legal circumstances that automatically get LA is that true?
Also, the two boys are being 'held' in their rooms for 2 days at a time as punishment, along with various other things they have told us, and the social worker goes over and 'smooths' things over to get them to believe that they are over reacting, but this has happened from the moment they went there. Two of the girls have not been moved and are very tearful and disturbed as their foster mum is dealing with her mother dying. The girls want to be moved too. Is there anything we or their Mum can do to get someone to do something!!!???? It's so frustrating!!
Many Thanks for reading!
rich b
we have had special guardianship of our two grandson's for the past five years,they are now five and six.We also took on our granddaughter two years ago she is now two and half.
We have seen your allowances go down by half in the last year.We deal with Cumbria,but a friend who deal with Devon and only has one child has seen no reduction.
Can anybody tell me why.
We are currently involved in court proceedings in respect of my partners sisters children. Social Services were the ones that have requsted a residency ans supervision order in respect of twins aged 3. We hope that their Mother wins the case, but to retain the children in the family have accepted the proposal to become their carers should this be the courts decision. Initially we were told that we could be foster carers but now social services have changed their position and the residency order allowance that they are offering to pay should they win the case is significantly less than a foster care payment as they have taken our wages into account. We already have our own children so we are more than a little annoyed to find that we will be expected not only to alter ours lifestyles significantly for the next 15 years but also to make a financial contribution to maintain 2 children who we love dearly but would otherwise had no legal responsibility to maintain financially. IS THERE ANY lEGISLATION OR CASE HISTORY TO SUPPORT OR ARGUEMENT THAT SPECIAL GUARDIANSHIP ALLOWANCE OR RESIDENCY ORDER ALLOWANCE SHOULD BE MADE TO KINSHIP CARERS AT THE SAME RATE AS FOSTER CARERS ALLOWANCE.The childrens needs are the same irrespective of what court order is made.
Carol
I am a Foster Carer. My supervising officer asked me if i would like to do SGO and when i refused asked me why. Since then ive been looking at all the information i can. In a magazine for S/Workers theres and article which says 'councils pressuring F/carers to take on Special Guardian ship orders to save Cash. Now is that the way forward and the best reasons? I think not. I will stick to being a Foster Carer and the child will be financially better off for it.
Current we have had a meeting with Social services regarding the sgo of our grandson, he is currently in care, we have passed our assessment and so to be the a bigger family, we advised social services that we would need a 7 seatter car for this to proceed as we have 7 children between us as we have both been married before, we currently only have 1 child at home aged 10 and see the youngest 2 aged 8 and 4yrs every other weekend and half terms/summer holidays, we take them camping and on picnics, days out to the seaside,play areas and zoo/theme parks in the spring and summer times. We have now been told we need to make a decison whether we want to carry on with the bridging meeting starting on the 13th feb 12, but with no help to keep our family in the lifestyle they are used too, until recently we both worked full time, i am no longer working, finances are tight, yes as all grandparents we love him very dearly, he is only 7 months old but this is causing me heartache, surely if its documented that the vehicle issue is met for the family to be a family and stay a family at all times surely the well being of all children in this family is important. im talking about a new vehicle just one for the purpose of outings shopping and the like.
I have been a special guardian now for 3 years and I can honestly say that it is the most dreadfull and appauling law that has ever been passed eg. lack of correct information even in written form no special guardian support services available, I have had to constantly explain what SG is to every benefits advisor (ie Tax Credits, Housing and council tax benefit etc etc) no one has heard of it and no one seems to know what the rules are. (We love our daughter with every bone in our bodies she is truly delightful and thats the only good thing out of all of this)
I would strongly advise DO NOT go special guardian it truly is horrendous.
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