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16 year old child in foster care is a lone parent
Hi greater minds than mine :)
Our social workers are concerned that a 16 year old child in foster care is claiming IS and CTC as a lone parent for her baby, while her foster parents are being given a fostering allowance to look after her.
Looking at CPAG welf handbook p938 it does seem that the exceptions allow the child to do this if she has been looked after for at least 13 weeks from her 14th birthday (unless I am reading this wrong?), but there is no footnote to a regulation or piece of case law.
Is anyone able to point me in the right direction for the relevant law here please?
Thanks
My reading is that the authority is that given in fn 159 on that page in CPAG—Reg 2 of the Children (Leaving Care) Regs.
This is because the 13 weeks is the ‘prescribed period’ referred to in Sch 2 Para 19B of the Children Act which in turn brings her under section 6 (2) (a) of the Children Leaving Care Act and hence under the exception to that section contained in Reg 2.
but I’m open to correction….