Government’s first foster-friendly employer
24 Apr 2014 03:59 PM
The Department for Education becomes
government’s first foster-friendly
employer.
The
Department for Education (DfE) has become the government’s first
foster-family-friendly employer, giving staff that foster children extra
support in balancing their work and care responsibilities.
From today, DfE employees who foster - as well
as those who care for children of family or friends, such as a grandparent
caring permanently for their grandchild - will be offered up to 20 days paid
leave to attend training or meetings relating to their role as a
carer.
Employees will also be entitled to additional unpaid
time off work to deal with unexpected emergencies, such as welcoming a child
into their home at short notice.
Children and Families Minister Edward Timpson and Chris
Wormald, the Permanent Secretary for the Department for Education, have written
to other government departments to encourage them to adopt their own
foster-family-friendly policy for staff.
Edward Timpson, who grew up with over 80 foster brothers
and sisters, said:
We’re leading by example in becoming the first
government department to introduce their very own foster-family-friendly
policy. I hope this will encourage more employees to take that important next
step knowing that their employer is behind them every step of the
way.
Chris Wormald said:
By
becoming a foster-friendly employer I hope we can retain those valuable and
experienced people who may otherwise feel they are unable to combine their
family responsibilities with work by offering flexible working options to those
who care for our most vulnerable children.
Paul Adams, British Association for Adoption and
Fostering (BAAF), said:
The
British Association for Adoption and Fostering very much welcomes the
announcement of the DfE’s policy to offer special leave to foster
carers and family and friends carers. This is a significant development that
shows an understanding of the real challenges that come with these caring
roles, and offers recognition and support to foster carers in work outside the
home.
We
are particularly pleased that this development also recognises family and
friends carers, whose needs are just the same as foster carers in this regard.
In taking this step, the DfE is showing the way to other employers
who want to demonstrate a real and meaningful commitment to children in care,
or living with family and friends. It also sends out the clear message that
people in work can also be suitable to foster. We hope that employers in the
public and private sector will note this development and follow theDfE’s
lead.
The
department is encouraging businesses to support their employees who foster -
just as companies such as Tesco and O2 already do - and has developed some
simple steps that businesses can introduce to support their staff to
foster.
Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of
reforms the government has made to improve outcomes for foster families. We
have:
- changed the rules so that children in care can stay with
their foster families until their 21st birthday - enabling them to make the
transition to adulthood and independence when they are ready, not at an
arbitrary age
- provided £775,000 to help fostering services
attract and retain more foster carers from a wider range of
backgrounds
- funded Fosterline - a confidential, free of charge
advice service for foster carers
- made over £3.5 million available to councils over
2 years to develop a range of training and support materials for foster carers,
kinship carers, residential workers and adoptive parents
- streamlined the rules to make the foster carer
assessment process clearer and more efficient
- introduced a faster-track process for foster carers that
want to adopt
- changed the rules so that foster carers have the power
to make day-to-day decisions about their foster children - such as haircuts and
school trips - allowing them to get on with the job of looking after their
foster child
Notes to editor
- as
a result of the DfE foster-family-friendly policy, employees who
foster or who are considering becoming a foster carer will be entitled
to:
- up to 5 days leave during their assessment for approval
in becoming a foster carer
- an additional 5 days leave during the approval process
or when they are caring for a foster child, eg for meetings, training or
unforeseen emergencies relating to their fostering role, ie to accommodate an
emergency placement
- up to 10 days leave at the start of a planned permanent
placement
Leave may or may not be planning in advance, and may be
paid or unpaid. The type and amount of leave granted will be at the discretion
of management, who will take into account the nature of the request and the
needs of the business in addition to any statutory
entitlement.
Our
policy offers employees up to a maximum of 20 days special leave in a 12-month
period. The maximum entitlement will be granted only in exceptional
circumstances, where an employee has, applied to be a foster carer, received
training and had a child permanently placed with them, all within 12 months.
Typically, it is expected that employees could apply for up to 10 days in a
leave year when being placed with a child.
- family and friends carers are those who care for the
child of a relative or friend where the parent isn’t able to provide
day-to-day care, eg where the child lives with the carer rather than their
parent
- Robert Tapsfield, Chief Executive of the Fostering
Network, said:
Fostering is a challenging task, and foster carers have
to be extremely flexible and available to meet a child’s needs. It
isn’t possible for every foster carer to work outside of the home, but
those who do have told us that they need more flexibility and understanding
from employers, who often don’t appreciate the challenges of
fostering.
Employers need to be helped to understand the fostering
task and to implement foster family friendly HR policies, which offer
flexibility to foster carers in their employment, allowing them to adjust their
hours when needed and recognising that there may be a higher incidence of
emergency situations in looking after children with particular needs. We
welcome the fact that the Department for Education is leading the way with a
foster-family-friendly HR policy.
Having an employer that respects their fostering
commitments can make all the difference to a foster carer. The Fostering
Network is working with the DfE to encourage more employers to
understand and respond to the needs of their foster carer
employees.
- Cathy Ashley, CEO, Family Rights Group,
said
We
very much welcome the Department for Education’s recognition, in
itsHR policy, of the needs of their staff members who are family and
friends carers. This the first government department to take a lead and grant
these carers, many of whom will be grandparents or older siblings raising
children who might otherwise be in the care system, the same right in principle
as foster carers to apply for special leave. We hope that other departments and
other employers will follow suit.
- Lynn Chesterman, CEO, the Grandparents’
Association, said:
Many grandparents and other relatives opt to raise their
grandchildren rather than have them enter the care system but the reasons for
them not being with their birth families are the same as those children living
with foster carers. It is, therefore, with great pleasure that we hear the news
that the DfE is to allow its staff the same leave entitlements
whether they are to become family and friends carers or foster carers. I hope
that other departments follow.