Membership meetings

The future of foster care in Scotland: exploring allowances, fees and training

5 September 2007 - Dundee

11 September 2007 - Glasgow

A recent report from the Fostering Network, Can’t afford to foster, based on a survey of foster carers throughout the UK, found that many foster carers are out of pocket as a result of fostering. The report examines levels of pay and income among foster carers in the UK and finds that, despite making a vital contribution to society, many foster carers are poorly paid and receive only token payments while others are paid nothing at all. The report argues that fostering is often a full-time job due to the needs of children being cared for but warns that a lack of adequate pay is pushing too many foster families into poverty.

These one-day event allowed delegates the opportunity to discuss the recommendations of the Fostering Network to introduce a structure for foster carers that will:

• examine the national minimum fostering allowances set by the Fostering Network
• support the recruitment and retention of foster carers
• tie in with the skills and experience necessary to work as members of the professional child care team
• be resourced centrally to enable payment of fees that equate with comparable employment in the children’s workforce
• provide continuity of payment for foster carers 52 weeks of the year
• examine the rights, roles and responsibilities of carers and agencies in working within this structure

Feedback and discussions from the day

The presentations and notes below can be downloaded to your desktop.

• Care Commission Update (Powerpoint)
• A professional foster care service: what do we mean? (Powerpoint)
• Recruiting foster carers at Dundee Council (Powerpoint)
• Recruiting foster carers at Glasgow Council (PDF)
• Notes from the membership meeting on 5 September
• Notes from the membership meeting on 11 September

Education: are we doing better?

8 November, Edinburgh

Feedback from this event will be available soon.

In January 2007, the Scottish Executive published a document called Looked-after children and young people: we can and must do better. This document reflects the findings of a working group, which was established specifically to consider the educational outcomes of looked-after children and young people. What it found was that many young people leaving the care system do not have a fulfilling, positive and successful experience of education.

This one-day event aimed to explore how, almost one year on from the report, the educational opportunities and outcomes for looked-after children and young people in Scotland have been affected.

For more information, contact Sarah Crangle on 0141 204 1400 or email sarah.crangle@fostering.net.