Fostering Fees - Slough halves allowances for carers

It was very sad to see that the usual victims of council social services cuts are in the frame again. Slough council halved foster carer's allowances for teenagers to £200 per week.

To care for kids in care these days one cannot work. Young people may have lots of contact with birth parents, appointments, have suspensions from school. £200 per week is less than Tescos in Slough might pay. At the same time Community care also reported that children's residential units are suffering a big drop off in referrals. The reslut may well be homes closing and (mainly women) staff losing their jobs. As someone who lived was a manager during the last round of cuts in the Thatcher days, I can say that it is all too easy to chose the soft targets - non unionised women staff who do not work directly for the council. But once lost, these valuable people are very hard to replace when you need them. See: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/11/10/115784/council-halves...