MP Calls for Flexibility on Kinship Carers’ Support
A Dundee MP has commented on the situation of kinship carers and benefits payments and called for greater flexibility in dealing with benefits and payments to allow family members to become the lead carer for vulnerable children.
Stewart Hosie said: “Over the years, I have dealt with a number of cases where for one reason or another vulnerable children had to be either taken into care or placed with another family member.
“It is a recurring situation, and sadly, often due to alcohol or drug-addiction, that a mother may not be the best person to have care of her child. In such a case, a Residency Order may be granted for another member of the family, rather than have the child taken into care.
“This can be done quite quickly but the problem comes with the timescale for the benefits position if these need to be moved over to an aunt or to grand parents or other kinship carers.
“The transfer of benefits needs to be signed over with agreement of both parties within a 28 day period, but the mother may be able to continue to claim the Child Benefits for up to 8 weeks before it is stopped.
“In the meantime the carers of the vulnerable child will be unable to obtain either Child Benefit or tax credits and can be seriously out of pocket.
“One of the recommendations of the Brandon Muir case was greater discretion for social workers to remove vulnerable children, when they are deemed to be at risk, and place them with other family members who are willing to step in and care for them.
“But I think that the Child Benefit Office needs to be more responsive to such situations. They should have greater discretion and more flexibility to support kinship carers when social workers are concerned in a particular case, that a vulnerable child is at risk.
“There might be a case for new legislation to make it easier for kinship carers to obtain Child Benefit where a Residency Order has been granted to them in a situation where the child has been removed from the mother on the grounds of its being at risk.”
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