Guidance and Terms of Reference for the Fostering and Adoption Finance Panel
Current Financial Delegation arrangements as of April 2012 allow:
Head of Service
CSDM Fostering &
Adoption
Team Manager Fostering &
Adoption
CSDM Fieldwork
Team Manager Fieldwork
Current Approval Limit
No limit
£20,000
Future Approval Limit
£20,000
£500
£500
£500
£2,500
£500
£500
£500
Terms of Reference
1. To deal with the exceptional/unusual financial requests in relation to the following placement of
looked after and previously looked after children::
- Adoption – pre and post order
- Kinship Care
- Fostering
- Special Guardianship
- Residence Order
- Post 18 years payments
2. To determine which budget any agreed payments should be allocated to
3. To provide a consistent approach to decision making across the city
4. To meet on a regular basis to ensure speedy decision making
5. To provide administrative support to ensure decisions are recorded and actioned appropriately
and any monitoring of decision making is done
6. To have a balanced membership across fieldwork and resources.
Panel membership
- Head of Service (Chair)
- CSDM Fieldwork
- Team Manager Fieldwork
- CSDM Fostering & Adoption x2
- KInship care manager
- Adoption support manager
- Fostering support manager
- Minute Taker
Reports for Panel
All reports should be discussed and agreed by the Social Worker and Fostering / Adoption Officer before
being presented to panel. Where the care is complex it may be helpful for the Social Worker / Fostering /
Adoption Officer to attend the panel. Adoption placement reports and adoption support assessments
should be included in the paperwork for adoption carer. Pathway planning reports should be included in
the paperwork for post 18 requests. Where the request is for an extension or for a car, a delegated
decision report should be completed instead of the usual finance report pro forma.
Examples of situations which should be referred to Panel
Kinship Care
- Set up costs which entail more than the usual essential items of furniture which cost over the
current CSDM approval delegation, e.g. carpets, decoration, house move, house adaptation,
house extensions, car, washing machine etc
- Ongoing financial assistance to support the placement other than weekly maintenance
payment, e.g. reimbursement of carer’s wages, long term nursery or childminding fees
Fostering
- Requests for housing adaptation/extension, house move (N.B. delegated decision reports
(DDP) should be signed off by Finance Panel before proceeding to the Head of Service or
Chief Officer. If agreed in principle by the Finance Panel, the DDP report should be submitted
for formal approval to the Head of Social Work Service.
- Post 18 requests for young people to stay with carer
Adoption (before matching panel)
- Financial support package required in respect of single payments over and above £500
settling in grant and weekly adoption allowance e.g. for items such as a car, nursery fees,
house extensions etc
Adoption (post order)
New
- Requests to provide weekly maintenance allowances following an adoption support
assessment
- Specific one off or series of payment requests over £500.
- Continued adoption allowances post 18 where young person still in school or in sheltered
education and training
Special Guardianship
- Requests for allowances / fees to be paid after the 2 year transitional period following the
court order.
- Housing extensions/large items e.g. car.
- Leaving care provision
Residence Orders
- Requests for allowances / fees to be paid after the 2 year transitional period following the
court order
- Housing extensions/large items e.g. car.
Post 18 requests
- Requests for continued weekly payments to foster carers looking after young people who
remain in education and training, either on board and lodging arrangement or fostering based
allowance and fee.
- Unusual one off payment requests.
Examples of financial requests which are not dealt with by the finance panel
1. Ongoing weekly allowances for SGO/RO payments for up to 2 years post court order. These
should be dealt with by HOS as part of the SGO / RO planning and support report.
2. Situations which are unlikely to be long lasting and which can be signed within normal financial
delegations e.g. short term arrangements for nursery fees, arrangements covered in FN16, or
attendance at a course.
3. Ongoing adoption, allowances. These are recommended by adoption panel and agreed by the
agency decision maker.
4. Section 17 payments
Panel Administration
1. All reports should be submitted to the Fostering Admin Inbox one week prior to panel meeting. All
reports must be endorsed by your manager
2. Kinship requests should be seen prior to panel by Kinship Care Team Manager who may be able
to present the case to panel
3. Adoption support requests to be overseen by Adoption Support Team Manager
4. Minutes to be provided to all panel members along with the agenda
5. Copy of signed and agreed report and copy of the minute to be sent to the author(s) of the report
in order that they can convey the decision(s) of the panel to the carer / applicant
6. Copy of the decision and minute should be kept on the child and carer’s file
7. Copy letter to social worker / fostering / adoption officer
8. Copy of signed and agreed report to be sent to Foster Carer Payments for their records
9. Electronic copies of all minutes and agendas will be kept in G drive, Fostadoptman, Financial
Review Panel folder.
Date: 16/4/2012
FAO Head of Service
Financial Support Requests including Fostering, pre and post Adoption,
Kinship Care, Special Guardianship
Kinship Fostering
Fostering
Special Guardianship
Adoption
Attach Adoption Placement Report or Adoption Support
assessment to this report
Please specify if request for finance is (please tick as appropriate)
Pre-placement
Post placement
Post order
ti
ll
Attach Pathway Plan to this report
h
Note – Welfare Benefit checks must be completed prior to panel & details included in the report.
a
This is achieved by contacting the Welfare Benefits section who will contact the carer to
v
ensure all benefits are being
claimed
e
a
Child’s name
n
o
Date of Birth
u
Legal Status / Care Plan
t
s
t
a
n
Post 18 yrs
Name of Foster Carer / Adopter
Address
Name of Social Worker/Author of Report
Name of Fostering/Adoption Officer
Date of Report
Name of Team Manager
Team Manager’s comments
Agreement
Yes / No
Head of Service
Decision
Date
1. Purpose of this report – (Brief outline of financial request)
2. Background – (Include brief details of child’s / family situation including legal status of child, significant
factors in case, child’s needs & case planning)
3. Main issues – (As they relate to this request and whether other sources of funding have been
considered)
4. Legal and resource implications – (Provide detailed breakdown of costs; Including time period
required, any contributions to be made by the carer; review arrangements and any ‘payback’ arrangement
e.g. for large sums of monies, there is a requirement that funds will be repaid if the child leaves the family
within a specific time frame)
5. Conclusions
6. Recommendation