At Acorns you will receive all of the training and support that you require dependent upon your experience, confidence and skills. When a new child is placed, you will be visited by your supervising social worker at weekly intervals for the first 6 weeks and you will be called daily for the first 2 weeks to ensure that you have everything that you need to settle the child in to your home. Visits after the first 6 weeks will reduce but will never be less than monthly.
Our fostering fees range from £340 a week to £625 a week for each child that you care for, dependent upon their age and complexity. We provide a £450 holiday allowance annually and pay a festival allowance of £100 twice a year. There is a school uniform allowance for those children changing schools and an emergency clothing allowance for children newly placed.
Each foster family is entitled to 21 nights of respite a year and if this is not fully utilised, up to 7 days holiday pay will be paid in lieu in January of each year. Our whole focus concentrates on the needs of the child and we are always open to requests for additional financial help to meet those needs.
As a foster carer you need to register as being self-employed with HMRC and there are very favourable tax allowances that usually mean you pay little or no tax on your fostering income, dependent upon your overall financial situation.