See, I went in to my local DHS probably close to a year ago and worked with a social worker totally unrelated to my agency, the foster kids, ect. and she had no idea what she was doing and didn't know how to do the paper work so that they would pay for me to put the kids in daycare so I just gave up.
Can someone please tell me what YOU did to get this all taken care of and paid for through the state as apposed to me paying for it out of my own pocket which I have the entire time I have been fostering when have I needed a baby sitter.
Thanks!!!
14 comments:
I know I don't live in your state... but here daycare is covered up to age 12. (Even once they're adopted which I think is ridiculous, but an interesting tidbit.) Anyway, my worker (yes I am referring to ol' Faithful herself), says that here I pick the day care, and as long it's licensed through the state, the kids worker will set up the payment. It's all based on the kid's Medicaid number. I'm sure it's a state to state deal, but from what I understand, that's how it works here.
thank you ashley, this is the kind of info i am interested in esp. since, as you said, i am sure it is different from state to state.
I thought it was still based on your income even if you worked. Nobody let us know otherwise & I would've thought with the many, many DHS workers & agency workers that one of them would've told us otherwise.
Who knows - you would think that someone in your agency, would've let you know this.
Our daycare is paid for by the state, entirely. It must be a state-licensed daycare, however.
It should have absolutely NOTHING to do with YOUR income. They are not YOUR kids. They are wards of the state. My income is not even a question in the kids getting daycare or not.
That being said, even in my state, it is NOT guaranteed that the State will cover daycare even if you work full time. It is on a "funds available" basis. When I was in training, my agency said that the state was no longer paying for daycare. That was the reason I almost did not take babies & toddlers, because I knew I could not afford $400-$600/month out of pocket. However, when the State wanted to place a sibling set with me that included a toddler and an infant, I told them the ONLY way I would take the placement is if they paid for the daycare, and so they did. My agency was really surprised, because they had other situations where the State did NOT agree to pay for daycare for the foster child.
From what my agency has told me, if that is not an agreement made AT THE TIME OF PLACEMENT, it is almost impossible to get the State to pay later. From what I've been told, they try to place the kids with stay-at-home moms first so that they are not paying the monthly stipend + daycare costs (which from a taxpayer point of view makes total sense!). If that is not an option, they will place the children with a working mom.
With both sets of kids that I've had, I believe the primary reason I was given the children is because it was a sibling set including a school-aged child, and many people willing to take babies are NOT willing to take school-aged children, and many people willing to take school-aged children don't want babies. That made the siblings harder to place together. I was not told that explicitly, but that is the impression that I got. BOTH times, we had to make clear at time of placement that the State would have to pay for daycare or I would not take the children. Even so, I still had to pay for almost a full month of daycare out of pocket before the paperwork went through, and that was never refunded.
Again, we are in different states, but even here where the State will cover daycare most of the time for working moms, it is NOT a guarantee. The program that pays for the daycare could run out at any time (or so I keep being told), and if it did I would have to consider if I could afford to continue taking children who are daycare aged because the cost of daycare literally takes up every penny I'm paid for the children which is meant to go towards food & clothing and other necessities.
In my state, Dept. of Economic Security (DES) which is the parent agency to Child Protective Service (CPS) provides daycare assistance to the working poor. Foster children automatically qualify, because they are a family of one with no income. You are not legally the foster child's family and you have no financial responsibility for them (thus the reimbursement for foster care [lol]). The state has budget problems, so they won't pay for daycare unless the foster parents work. Here the CPS case manager files the paperwork with DES and the payments go directly from DES to the daycare. It must be a licensed daycare, and there is a limit (rather low) for what DES will pay per day. Usually registration fees, sick days more than 2 per month, and hold fees (for vacation) are not covered by DES. So it really depends on how the daycare charges, how much you might pay out of pocket beyond what the state will pay. I would call a state worker and keep asking for a supervisor until you get a straight answer. Ask for their policy in writing. Alternatively, call various daycares and ask if they have foster children and if they know the process to set up state payments.
If this is a duplicate, you can delete.
We were told that daycare would not be covered. We had the 4 year old enrolled in head start (preschool) through medicaid. Once she hits kindergarden, she will no longer qualify.
Our State has rules similar to Rebeca and Diane. We are in Florida.
Here all Foster Care kids qualify for the program called 4C. However, to save money most children under 5 are placed with stay at home Moms.
Foster parents do get 2 weeks of respite paid for but we have to find someone else that is licensed and has an available bed, this only used for vacation type situations.
In our state you apply for ABC vouchers. These are not guaranteed (depends on the state budget) and you have to show a letter of employment to get them. However, even if you do get them they do not cover all of the cost. We are paying about $50/child/week. We only receive $332/month subsidy so we are actually losing money doing foster care.
In Texas, we are licensed by the State, they pay for daycare up to $70 something a week. The trick is finding a day care to accept that amount as payment in full.
Daycare is covered 100% in our state. You just have to have your boss sign a paper saying you work. You pick the daycare and social services supposedly pays them. Often the day area contact me and say they didn't get paid but that is their fight.
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