Initial fostering allowance

You are responsible for making sure your foster child has a reasonable level of clothing and possessions. If you are a child's first foster carer, you might need to spend more in the first month of placement to make sure they have a good initial supply of things like:

• Clothes
• School uniform
• Nappies

The initial fostering allowance helps you to cover these extra costs. If you need to claim an initial fostering allowance, you should:

• Get the costs approved in advance by your supervising social worker, and
• Submit your claim to your supervising social worker on the Children's Provider Portal (ContrOCC)

You should use your basic maintenance allowance to cover the everyday costs of caring for a child for the rest of their placement with you.