I write with good news. A local councillor helped us raise our concerns at a cabinet meeting. The Director of Children's Services in our local authority area met with us and commissioned an independent review, which has now reached a conclusion. 

Going forward, our young person will be regarded as looked after.  This means that he will be allocated a Personal Advisor who will support him until he is 25. He will also receive financial support from the LA until he is 25, and this also means specific financial support when he attends university and when he sets up his own home.

The consultant also agrees with us that the approach and intervention of the local authority was better suited to a pre-adolescence age child and as a result I understand that a new dedicated service for teenagers on the edge of care is being planned. This is heartening, as it means that in the future other children in a similar position should receive a service more suited to their age and needs.

I remain concerned however that families who are not well versed with social care processes and the complaints procedure may still be at a disadvantage, and of course this outcome is just for us in our local authority area.  My concern is about postcode lotteries for families who care for a child that is not their own.  The government guidance gives local authorities total discretion in what support they offer, and often this is limited to advice to claim child benefit for the looked after child (something which is inadequate to say the least).  

The reality is that those who choose to care for a child that is not their own do so at cost to themselves and their families.   The financial and personal  strain we have been placed under has been enormous and we have been prejudiced by trying to help a child in need. We are exhausted from fighting for over 2 years now for someone to support us and our young person. Had we lived in another area,  we would have received a very different response which would have involved us being professionally and financially supported.  Some local authorities are lucky enough to benefit from initiatives such as No Wrong Door, which allows them to allocate specific funding and interventions to families like ours. I think it is unfair  to say the least that families choosing to help a child in need in many local authorities are left to get on with it without any support, guidance or oversight at all. Let's be clear - those families are saving local authorities many thousands of pounds in preventing a child going into care, and hopefully preventing those children being in need of health or social care intervention or having contact with criminal justice systems in the future.  As a result of our love and care, our young person will hopefully go on to achieve his adult potential. He would not have done this without our care and intervention.

These types of situations need to be formally recognised and regulated in the same way across all local authorities. That is why I am pressing for this to be raised and addressed at a national level.  I hope that I can rely on your continuing support to do this. I am grateful for your support so far.

Adele