Eton or Orphanage?

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winjim

Welcome yourself into the new modern crisis
I don't know how that ended up here, it was supposed to be in the jubilee thread...
 
How can it cost between £3000 to £10000 per week to house children in council care.
Eton’s fees are around £1500 per week and I bet it’s far nicer at Eton.
I’m sure there are a small number of children with very complex needs which could be expensive, but most will be fairly ordinary kids who had a rough start in life.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60676971

Someone is making a fortune at our expense. It would be interesting to know who owns the homes.


As someone who grew up in care, that figure is money well spent so why are you complaining about it?

Think of food, clothes, board and 24/7 supervision for growing kids.

Is there a price on giving kids that have been orphaned, through no fault of their own, and that price should be lower just to save you a few quid?
 

BoldonLad

Old man on a bike. Not a member of a clique.
Location
South Tyneside
As someone who grew up in care, that figure is money well spent so why are you complaining about it?

Think of food, clothes, board and 24/7 supervision for growing kids.

Is there a price on giving kids that have been orphaned, through no fault of their own, and that price should be lower just to save you a few quid?

Personally, I didn’t interpret the we quoted post as a complaint, rather, an observation that perhaps there was discrepancy which may warrant examination.
 
OP
OP
Beebo

Beebo

Veteran
As someone who grew up in care, that figure is money well spent so why are you complaining about it?

Think of food, clothes, board and 24/7 supervision for growing kids.

Is there a price on giving kids that have been orphaned, through no fault of their own, and that price should be lower just to save you a few quid?

It’s not a complaint about paying money for kids in care.
It’s the fact that the costs in some cases seem to be enormously disproportionate and the profits are heading off into private hands. Should this be a privatised service?

Surely a bit more money at the front end, ie helping the struggling families to keep trying would save a fortune in the long run.
 

Cirrus

Active Member
Those places that are costing the £3k-£10k as quoted above will be highly specialised, for children with complex needs. A child in a "regular" fostering place will be costing the LA mid to high hundreds.
 

icowden

Legendary Member
Those places that are costing the £3k-£10k as quoted above will be highly specialised, for children with complex needs. A child in a "regular" fostering place will be costing the LA mid to high hundreds.

And yet the report says this:
Hampshire County Council has eight of its own children's homes, which cost more than £3,000 a week per child.
But the council says independent providers can charge anywhere between £3,500 a week to more than £10,000 for each child, depending on the complexity of their needs.
So whilst I agree that the £10,000 figure will be for highly specialist provision, the baseline does appear to be 3k, which is £500 more than Eton. So it does seem costly.

On the other hand it confuses fostering with children's homes. Presumably the children in the homes are those that it has not been easy to foster as they have additional physical, emotional and/or developmental needs, thus presumably the increased cost of having specialist staff and provision. If we make the assumption that fostering is preferred and that the majority of children are found foster placements, then perhaps the cost is more justified. Although you do then get into the area of private provision having to make profits...
 

Cirrus

Active Member
And yet the report says this:

So whilst I agree that the £10,000 figure will be for highly specialist provision, the baseline does appear to be 3k, which is £500 more than Eton. So it does seem costly.

On the other hand it confuses fostering with children's homes. Presumably the children in the homes are those that it has not been easy to foster as they have additional physical, emotional and/or developmental needs, thus presumably the increased cost of having specialist staff and provision. If we make the assumption that fostering is preferred and that the majority of children are found foster placements, then perhaps the cost is more justified. Although you do then get into the area of private provision having to make profits...

It's not particularly clear what the cost base is without a breakdown of what goes into the Council's costs for children's homes e.g. Buildings, utilities, food, clothing, staff costs and anything they potentially want to apportion as overhead (corporate costs etc which "may" inflate the number). So whether they are comparing apples with apples is anyone's guess.

I was doing some work with the adoption and placement teams of a LA fairly recently and they were on a drive to recruit their own foster carers. They pay something like £500-£700 per child per week (where I got my estimation from) for those that they recruit, and some carers would have 3 children so it can be fairly lucrative for them. They were recruiting their own as if they have to go via an agency, the the costs are substantially more. They were always battling foster carers moving from one agency to another or resigning from their service to go to an agency.

Costs for children with complex needs, e.g. children with disabilities (CWD) etc are, as mentioned, significantly higher for good reason as I'm sure we can all appreciated.
 
D

Deleted member 49

Guest
And yet the report says this:

So whilst I agree that the £10,000 figure will be for highly specialist provision, the baseline does appear to be 3k, which is £500 more than Eton. So it does seem costly.

On the other hand it confuses fostering with children's homes. Presumably the children in the homes are those that it has not been easy to foster as they have additional physical, emotional and/or developmental needs, thus presumably the increased cost of having specialist staff and provision. If we make the assumption that fostering is preferred and that the majority of children are found foster placements, then perhaps the cost is more justified. Although you do then get into the area of private provision having to make profits...
There's massive money to be made in private children's homes.By some very unscrupulous people aswell.Ive worked in quite a few over the years.Usually minimum wage or slightly above if you sleep over etc.Rewarding and soul destroying at the same time !
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...become-goldmine-for-unlikely-owners-dlr6jtsh8
 

BoldonLad

Old man on a bike. Not a member of a clique.
Location
South Tyneside
It's not particularly clear what the cost base is without a breakdown of what goes into the Council's costs for children's homes e.g. Buildings, utilities, food, clothing, staff costs and anything they potentially want to apportion as overhead (corporate costs etc which "may" inflate the number). So whether they are comparing apples with apples is anyone's guess.

I was doing some work with the adoption and placement teams of a LA fairly recently and they were on a drive to recruit their own foster carers. They pay something like £500-£700 per child per week (where I got my estimation from) for those that they recruit, and some carers would have 3 children so it can be fairly lucrative for them. They were recruiting their own as if they have to go via an agency, the the costs are substantially more. They were always battling foster carers moving from one agency to another or resigning from their service to go to an agency.

Costs for children with complex needs, e.g. children with disabilities (CWD) etc are, as mentioned, significantly higher for good reason as I'm sure we can all appreciated.

£500-£700 per week? That has increased. I fostered two children (they are now in their 40s). Adopted them after a couple of years, with biological parents consent.
 
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