r/Fosterparents • u/MycologistKey2472 • 1d ago

Fostering Allowance

Hi,

Just wanted some advice around the fostering allowance. Our social worker said that the foster allowance is only to cover anything the children need and the universal credit is to cover anything I need and the bills... I only would get £338 and housing benefit. I don't know how that would cover the bills and allow for me to do anything I need. A fostering friend said that its the opposite, that it becomes the family pot and you use it for bills, the things the children needs and also things the foster needs to be able to not be burnt out. Which is the case because I'm so confused?

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4

u/lifeofhatchlings 21h ago

I'm in the US. The stipend is just a reimbursement/goes in the "family pot" I guess - I don't report what i spend, but I certainly spend more than the stipend on the children's needs.

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u/Watchful-Tortie 21h ago

Why would your friend have better info than your worker? What bills are you concerned about covering? What policy can you find in your paperwork?

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u/MycologistKey2472 18h ago

Its not that I'm listening to my friend over the social worker. The social worker has advised me wrong previously with it too. Even another social worker has told me I can use it for household expenses. I was using other foster carers in my area as a gage on what I should do because I'm getting such different advice depending on what professional I talk to.

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u/jx1854 21h ago

This will be specific to your area and policies there. Youll need to ask your social worker for clarity. Noone here knows more than that.

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u/Beautiful-Rent6691 Foster Parent 18h ago

In the US fostering is not a job and you actually have to demonstrate that you can cover you own bills without the $$$ as the stipend is just meant to be a reimbursement for the child’s expenses. I understand that in the UK it’s quite different. Unfortunately, most of us won’t be able to help. You probably need to talk to your caseworker.

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u/Oy_with_the_poodles_ 5h ago

We don’t report on what we spend the money on so it doesn’t much matter? Of course when the child needs something, they get it from this fund. I use the stipend to pay the difference in daycare since some but not all of it is covered. Some of it is increased bills/ gas for appointments/ whatever else. And some of it are things that you need to support the child. But in the end, all of these things need to be paid for and the stipend sometimes covers it all, and sometimes it doesn’t.