Over the summer, we worked with the Department of Health to review the allowances system for foster and kinship carers in Northern Ireland. We held four focus groups with kinship and foster carers and created a survey for members to share their views of the allowances system and the current model which 274 foster carers responded to.
Key findings include that there is an inconsistent approach to allowances across services, only 11 % of foster carers report that the allowance and expenses always or often met the full costs of caring for a child and there is a lack of awareness about the current fostering allowance framework.
The report will provide part of an evidence base for the Department to advocate to Ministers for improved financial support, directly contributing to the development of a proposed updated financial package for fosters carers in the future.