How a foster carer in the UK keeps a family of eight afloat.
[Jawahir Al-Naimi and Muaz Kory/Al Jazeera]
[Jawahir Al-Naimi and Muaz Kory/Al Jazeera]
What’s your money worth? A series from the front line of the cost-of-living crisis, where people who have been hit hard share their monthly expenses.
Name: Lisa Hughs*
Age: 45
Occupation: Freelance copywriter and foster parent
Lives with: Husband Tom (aged 49); children Jamie (17), Sam (15) and Robin (12); foster children Charlie (9) and Alex (6); mother-in-law Simone (80); and a Greyhound-Labrador cross, named Sally (10)*.
Lives in: A five-bedroom Victorian house in a small, rural town in Devon, United Kingdom. The town has a population of around 13,000 people, a substantial farming industry, two mid-sized supermarkets, poor public transport links both locally and to the rest of the UK, three primary schools and one secondary school.
Monthly income: £5,808 ($7,057): £2,516 ($3,057) income and £1,646 ($2,000) allowance per foster child.
Total family expenses for the month: £5,728 pounds ($6,960)
*All family members’ names are pseudonyms, to maintain their privacy.
