22nd June 2020
HSC Northern Ireland Foster Care would like to thank all of our Foster Carers for their hard work and dedication over the lockdown period, which has undoubtedly brought many additional challenges in caring for our vulnerable children and young people.
To acknowledge the additional costs incurred due to the Covid-19 lockdown, the Health and Social Care Board & Department of Health have confirmed additional short term funding to support foster carers.
This financial support will be made available to all Foster Carers currently caring for looked after children across Northern Ireland for a period of up to 12 weeks. It will be based on a 20% increase in the food and household element of the fostering allowances paid for each child in your care. We hope to begin processing payment within the next couple of weeks.
As you will appreciate this extra funding will be kept under review as circumstances change.
Speaking about the important role our Foster Carers play in supporting vulnerable children, Marie Roulston, Director of Social Care and Children with the HSCB commented:
“I wish to take this opportunity to pay tribute to our Foster Carers for the love and compassion that they show in caring for our children, especially so during the unpredictable and uncertain times since the Coronavirus pandemic affected us all.
“This additional funding secured by the HSCB is in addition to an initial £100 per fostering household that was provided by Health and Social Care Trusts at the start of the Covid-19 lockdown to enable carers to buy games, craft material etc for children who were no longer at school.”