Legal Update: Financial support for foster carers

A recent finding of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has provided a helpful reminder for councils of their duties towards friends and family foster carers.

The case involved a boy whose grandmother became his primary carer after Greenwich Council raised concerns about his mother's ability to look after him. Greenwich said it would start care proceedings if she did not take on parental responsibility for the boy, but it failed to tell her about the financial assistance that might be available, despite her repeated requests for financial help over the next few years.

These calls for help included telling the local authority that she had no carpets or furniture, was sleeping on a mattress on the floor, could not afford heating in the winter and had got into debt through borrowing.

Greenwich eventually assessed the grandmother's circumstances and agreed to pay her an allowance of £126 a week, backdated to the date of the assessment. This still left a four-year gap in which she should have received support but did not. The Ombudsman's investigation found that Greenwich should have carried out a financial assessment when it asked her to take on responsibility for the boy.

It also "missed numerous opportunities to help this grandmother and when it did realise its duty towards her and her grandson, decided not to backdate the support she was due. This must have had a significant impact on the boy's welfare."

What is kinship or family and friends care?

Family and friends care or kinship care is an arrangement whereby a child who cannot be cared for by their parent(s) or another person with parental responsibility goes to live with a relative, friend or other connected person.

The arrangement can be a private arrangement directly between the parent(s) and the relative, friend or connected person or it can arise through children's services involvement.

Children's services may have determined that the child was at risk of harm and therefore placed the child in the care of a relative, friend or connected person.

This is an important distinction because it will often determine the extent to which the local authority owes a duty to assess and provide support to a carer.

If children's services have placed a child with a carer, then they must assess them as a foster carer under Regulation 24 of The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010.

It is possible to assess them as a temporary foster carer so that a child can be placed with them immediately. The full assessment must be conducted within 16 weeks of the child being placed with them, and this can be extended for a further eight weeks in specific circumstances.

What financial support is available for kinship and family and friends carers?

If the child is looked after by the local authority, a family and friends carer should be paid a full fostering allowance for the child, even if temporarily approved as a foster carer. Children's services can also provide support such as respite care, facilitating contact with the child's parents and help with education costs.

If a family and friends carer is caring for a child under a private arrangement, they may be able to obtain financial support from the local authority under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 and should negotiate this as soon as possible.

Biological parents remain financially responsible for their children and may be required to pay maintenance.

In this case, Greenwich has agreed to apologise to the grandmother, pay her as if she had been a family and friends foster carer from March 2011 to December 2015, and pay her £500 for the frustration it caused by not carrying out a financial assessment sooner.

It will also, in future, ensure all parties are made aware of the nature of any foster care arrangement and where they may be able to obtain financial support.

For more information, please contact the Child Law Advice Service at www.childlawadviceservice.org.uk

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