What financial checks are done when fostering?
All fostering provider ask applicants to confirm that the outgoings/expenses of the family are lower than the income. The reason for this is that foster carers are only given an allowance when a child is being cared for, so some foster carers may go a period of time without a fostering fee.
Sparks Fostering prides itself on carrying out some of the most comprehensive financial checks in the sector. This is important for Sparks Fostering because of the regular complaints from care experienced adults that their previous foster carers (not linked to Sparks Fostering) kept the fostering allowance for themselves and didn’t care for the children appropriately. Also, Sparks Fostering monitors the fostering family’s finances to ensure that sufficient support is being provided by the agency.
The financial checks completed by Sparks Fostering include:
- Applicants are asked to confirm that family income is greater than expenses before the application is started.
- Copies of 3 months bank statements for all bank accounts held by the applicants are to be shared with the assessing social worker
- Applicants summarise all the regular expenses and income on a table within the Sparks Fostering bespoke assessment.
- A bankruptcy check may be completed at the social worker’s discretion
- 3 months bank statements are resubmitted at annual reviews (or earlier if there are concerns or significant changes to family finances)
- At annual reviews the updated finances table on the carer assessment includes spending on the children who are receiving foster care.
Most (if not all) other providers are not as robust because they don’t want the foster carers to feel that too much is being asked of them; however, at Sparks Fostering we require this level of transparency because it’s in the best interests of the children we look after. Sparks Fostering takes all possible steps to ensure that all children who grow up in our fostering homes feel that their carers have been generous in every way.
