Caring for children - counting the costs

Paul Kind ()
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Paul Kind: Centre for Health Economics, The University of York

No 097chedp, Working Papers from Centre for Health Economics, University of York

Abstract: Children who come into care of Local Authorities are likely to have significantly poorer health statuses than other children. Foster carers play an increasingly important role as substitute families for such children, a valuable but scarce resource that is costly to recruit and retain. Despite their status as coprofessional members of an extended social work team, foster carers are typically not paid for the work they do. Allowances intended to cover costs incurred in looking after a child are paid, but these vary widely across the country. Many foster carers receive less than £55 per week (the average kennel fees for looking after a dog), for the children in their care. The present method of calculating these allowances is based on a complex procedure which is difficult for carers to understand or challenge. A simpler method is required and this paper sets out one such costing framework. Reimbursing foster carers for their costs is only a start – increased demand for their valuable skills dictates that sooner or later they will also be rewarded for their work.

Keywords: Children Act; Social Services; Local Authority (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 1992-03
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http://www.york.ac.uk/media/che/documents/papers/d ... ion%20Paper%2097.pdf First version, 1992 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:chy:respap:97chedp

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