AVRILS RESEARCH

[Alison J Stevens]

Hello Alison

Still in the process of researching fostering allowances, I 've just
discovered, via the information that Cambridgeshire sent me, that
natural parents can be expected to contribute towards fostering
allowances.

Have asked a few Councils

'what help they give low income parents to try to prevent their
children being given away to more financially affluent foster parents
who then get paid substantial non-means tested allowances to provide
the children with a standard of living their children's own parents
couldn't afford to provide them with.'

Of the 7 replies I've had to date, none of the respondents have come up
with SPECIFIC help. I've concluded that Councils simply don't
understand how low means-tested child tax-credits (+ non-means tested
child-benefits) are in comparison with Fostering allowances.

The whole fostering arena is complex and chaotic, - with every council
making its own rules. With experience and NVQs Foster parents can
earn a lot....but one needs to dig deep to discover that. I'm
only covering the basic - it needs someone with far more research
experience than myself to uncover the more comprehensive picture.

Avril
Value-research.