The Staying Put Scheme - Information for Foster Carers

Staying Put is a scheme that offers young people the opportunity to remain with their Foster carers after they become 18. This provides you with information about the scheme and how you can be a part of it.

Staying Put offers young people the opportunity to build on and to nurture their attachments to their carers so that they can move to independence at their own pace and make the transition to adulthood in a more gradual way just like other young people who can rely on their own families for this support.

Foster Carers will be able to provide the stability and support necessary for the young people they have cared for to achieve in education, training and employment.

Foster Carers feel strongly that young people in their care should have the opportunity to "remain part of their family" and should not have to leave home just because they were 18.

They feel that they had helped and guided young people to a certain point in their lives and wanted the opportunity to support them to move to independent living at their own pace.

Staying Put is an option between 18 and 21. A young person can stay for the full 3 years or may only need to stay for a shorter period of time, e.g. until they go to university or move to their own accommodation.

The young person Staying Put will ‘legally’ be an adult so the statutory rules associated with foster care will no longer apply. Care orders will be at an end; you and the young person may need to renegotiate house rules to recognise that they are a young adult with increasing freedom of choice, e.g. they can stay over at friends without all the previous checks.

The simple answer is yes you can. The young adult Staying Put will no longer be classed as a Looked After Child.

There will be things to consider if you want to foster another child whilst you have someone Staying Put such as room capacity, an extra person in your home, the needs of the other children you foster etc. So talk with your family placement worker about this. The young person who does ‘Stay Put’ will need a DBS check if you foster other children. This will be organised by the 16+ Service.

If you foster other children, your Supervising Social Worker will continue to support you with those placements. When you only have a young person over 18 Staying Put the Inspiring Futures Team (IFT) will provide that service.

Staying Put arrangements are funded in a different way to foster care placements, it will be important for you to discuss finance with your Supervising Social Worker before you offer a Staying Put arrangement to a young person. The payment is £250 per week, in additional the young person will make a contribution.  In instances where a young person is able to claim housing benefit the sum of £86.30 will be deducted from the weekly payment, the ability to claim housing benefit is subject to restrictions and information can be provided by the IFT.

Your income may be less than you fostering allowance but you will no longer be expected to pay pocket money, clothing, travel or leisure. It is expected that the young person will be engaged in education, training or employment and therefore will have an income and will be responsible for such things.. Young people will be expected to pay a minimum of £15 per week board. Thi0-s arrangement is between you and them.

There will always be exceptions e.g. where a Foster Carer only has the capacity for one placement and receives the specialist foster payment. These situations will be assessed on a case-by-case basis to see if a Staying Put arrangement can be funded.

There will be a Staying Put agreement, which confirms any rules that you agree as a household. It is recognised that every home is different, what works for one family may not work for another.

The Staying Put agreement will also include some details, such as how much "board" the young person will pay.

"The young person was used to the family routines and these will carry on with Staying Put".

The aim of the placement and any agreed targets or goals will be set out in the young person’s pathway plan which will be reviewed every 6 months as a minimum.

It will be expected that you help the young person develop independence skills like budgeting and cooking, but also life skills such as problem solving. How this is done and over what time scale will be agreed with you the young person and the16+ personal advisor and detailed in the pathway plan.

If you are unable to take the young person on holiday with you, or if the young person has chosen not to attend the family holiday we will explore other options with you. You may trust the young person to remain at home alone or with a friend for company. If not, then wherever possible we would ask that a member of your own family stay at your home so that the young person does not have too much disruption to their life and routine. If not possible we would ask you to make arrangements with the young person to stay with friends or family.

The young person has no legal rights to live in your home, the Staying Put agreement is in legal terms a non- secure licence. However the Staying Put arrangement is not about tenancies and legal rights, it is built on attachment and respect.

It is expected that any move from Staying Put will be planned, a realistic timescale agreed and alternative appropriate accommodation identified.

Each placement will have built in review meetings, after the first one at three months they will be every six months in line with pathway planning. It is hoped that any problems can be discussed and resolved within the family or with support from the family placement worker, the 16+ personal advisor or the 16+ accommodation manager. If an immediate move is needed for specific reasons such as risk to self or others, the 16+ service will support you and the young person to end the placement.

Contact your family placement worker, the young person’s personal advisor or the accommodation officer at the Inspiring Futures Team.

The young person will be able to talk with their social worker or personal advisor about Staying Put. There will also be the opportunity for them to talk to young people who have Stayed Put and young people who chose to move on to their own accommodation.

For further details please contact the young person’s 16+ personal advisor or the Inspiring Futures Team duty on 01302 735052.