The Austin Lafferty Solicitors & Estate Agents Blog

A recent study by Family Rights Group into kinship care in England has found that family and friends carers, who are raising some of the nation’s most vulnerable children, are not receiving sufficient support from local authorities.

When children are unable to live with either of their parents, official guidance stipulates they should be enabled to live with a member of their extended family or social network, provided this is feasible and in the child’s best interests. However, the study found that these kinship carers, caring for an estimated 250,000 children, are being left to fend for themselves and suffer significant levels of hardship.  

Key findings from the study include:

• One in five children (20%) being cared for by a friend or family member had first been placed in unrelated foster care before eventually being moved to a kinship arrangement, creating twice the upheaval and placing unnecessary burdens on an already stretched care system.
• Forty-five per cent of English local authorities had not published a family and friends care policy, more than five months after the government required them to do so.
• Almost half of carers (44%) surveyed said they had received no practical help from their local authority and 95% identified at least one form of support they had needed, but not received - most mentioned several. The great majority – more than 70% - rated the support they had received from their local authority as poor or very poor.

The Fostering Network has issued a warning to the Scottish Government that foster children will not have all their basic needs met unless they receive proper financial support.

All foster carers receive a weekly allowance, which is designed to cover the costs of caring for a fostered child, from clothing to food and toys to books.

However, the charity has published the results of a new survey, which found that in 2011-12, 69% of local authorities gave their foster carers allowances below the Fostering Network’s recommended rates.

The Fostering Network’s recommended minimum allowances start at around £130 per week and increase with the age of the child, and are largely accepted as the benchmark for the costs incurred as the result of fostering.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland there are recommended minimum allowance levels set by governments. But in Scotland, while guidance suggests local authorities should pay attention to the Fostering Network’s recommended minimum rates when setting their own allowances, the Scottish Government does not enforce this and local authorities are free to set their own allowances. This means children in neighbouring councils could be treated very differently with some receiving as much as £100 more a week.

Over 5,000 children were living with 3,300 foster families on 31 July 2011 in Scotland, which is an increase of 7% over the same time the previous year.

The Fostering Network is now urging the Scottish Government to introduce a statutory minimum allowance for all fostered children and to ensure that local authorities are properly funded to pay this rate to all foster carers.

Barnardo’s Scotland is issuing a desperate plea for people to put themselves forward as potential foster carers – particularly for older children.

While there is considerable focus on placing babies and younger children, the charity highlights the needs of older children. There needs to be a range of placements so that the system works for all children and young people.

Barnardo’s Scotland acting director, SallyAnn Kelly, said:

“All children and young people deserve and need a loving home in order to thrive. We urgently need more people to consider becoming foster parents to children over the age of ten.

We know from our experience that older children in care can need extra support. They need carers who can help them overcome emotional and behavioral difficulties, and provide much needed stability.”

There is a general shortage of foster families across Scotland, with at least 1,700 new foster families needing to be found within the next 12 months.

The situation is particularly worrying as the number of children in care who need foster families has continued to increase year on year, but the number of carers coming forward has not matched the need. Figures from the Fostering Network show that the number of children in care in the UK living with foster families at any one time has risen every year since 2005, from 49,700 to over 59,000 in 2011.

New UK-wide research has revealed that adoption agencies are struggling to find homes for sibling groups. A general reluctance to adopt groups of brothers and sisters who need to stay together means that these children may miss out on permanent homes, the British Association for Adoption & Fostering (BAAF) has warned.

The research, which was conducted amongst local authorities and voluntary adoption agencies across the UK, was undertaken as part of National Adoption Week (31st October – 6th November 2011). BAAF is concerned that these children, alongside children aged 5+, and children with disabilities, may not find a ‘forever family’ if more adopters do not come forward.

Key research findings include:

•Just over 90% of adoption agencies said that there is a shortage of families willing to adopt sibling groups.
•Around 80% of adoption agencies admitted it has become harder to find families for sibling groups within the last 10 years.
•All of the agencies asked told BAAF that they need more people to come forward and adopt harder to place children.

These figures reinforce the concerns highlighted by the recent statistics released by the Department for Education which identified that the number of children adopted from care had dropped to 3,050 – a decrease of 5% from 2010.

Scotland's new centre for improving the lives of looked after children, and enhancing their future prospects, has been officially launched.

A couple are to lose their young daughter after an Italian court ruled that they were incapable of looking after her properly, reports the Telegraph.