Need Advice: Temporary Foster Care benefits

justjinny · December 2013

I am getting nowhere with asking the social workers at my agency for advice, so I thought I could check in with all of you wise foster & adoptive parents here! Do any of you have experience with how to get benefits (food, health insurance, etc.) for temporary foster care of children?

We've had placement of a newborn for over 2 months now and still there is no court date scheduled for TPR. Technically we are foster parents and could be for the foreseeable future since our state gives 6 months to birth parents before a permanent decision must be made. I KNOW there are benefits available for families who foster and am feeling frustrated that our agency just brushes off my questions when I ask what I need to do to find more info. They kind of make me feel stingy and cheap for asking about it and just say that families they work with don't usually get any state assistance. Seriously, with the cost of adoption, any little bit financial help is welcome, especially if this child should be receiving support through these programs while he's in foster care. Am I out of line here? Is it even worth the time and effort to continue to pursue this?

I've called the WIC program and our state health insurance program but ended at dead ends because my name isn't listed on his case file and they can't give out more info to me about what he's eligible for or enrolled in. I want to follow up with my agency about this but feel like I need to get my act together and know exactly what I should be asking for. Any advice?

IdigDirt · December 2013

From what I read infants usually qualify for WIC but every foster child should get Medicaid. I can't believe they expect you to pay for health insurance yourself.

aligross · December 2013

I think at this point I would call the Social Worker myself at the courthouse. Someone in the foster world should be able to tell you what you need to do! If you can't get anywhere there because you're not listed as a foster parent, I would start seeking advice from an attorney as technically, if the courts don't have you listed as a foster parent, then WHO does?!

I would also request to speak with the director at your agency and see what there is that you can do to correct this situation.

wille2b · December 2013

You should speak to the baby's worker. At least in my county/local agency all of my foster kids have been provided WIC, some sort of health insurance and usually an initial clothing allowance as well as a monthly check to purchase things needed for the child. If you get no where with the childs worker then you need to go to a supervisor, you should be getting some help. Even a simple letter stating you have physical custody will get you an appointment with WIC. Good luck!!

wille2b · December 2013

are you working with a private agency or a state agency?

jencity9 · December 2013

Are you considered foster parents? I know in florida you have to be a foster parent to have a placement so if that is the case the licensing agency should have arranged the monthly stipends.

smash_effect · December 2013

Well that's frustrating!! Are you the official foster placement? Here FKs get Medicaid, WIC and a monthly stipend for expenses plus title 20 daycare vouchers if needed. Very strange that you are totally on your own. We had these at our disposal immediately. I'd talk to a supervisor ASAP. Good luck!

justjinny · December 2013

Thanks everyone for your advice & comments.

We have been licensed as a foster home (have a certificate & can care for one child) and we had to sign a notarized agreement to do temporary foster care when we took placement of him. We are working with a private agency that facilitates adoptions and are only fostering with the intent to adopt this child. I don't know if that makes a difference with benefits or not... Anyways, the social worker that I've been trying to get help from is the director of the agency, so I'm just going to call someone at the state on Monday to make sure we're actually doing things the correct way here. I am getting the feeling that this agency doesn't really do much with foster care and doesn't want to put in any effort to help us figure it out.

I feel like I'm going behind the agency's back by calling the state. I don't want to cause problems with them right now, especially since we are relying on their social workers to provide counseling to the BM.

smwrocks420 · December 2013

Did you do your license through the private agency or the county? If you did it though the county, you might want to start there. Our county licensing person was very helpful setting up our benefits. In our county in CA we get WIC, Medicaid, Monthly stipend and an initial clothing allowance. And you should be able to use your agreement to do temporary foster care to set up a WIC appointment.

Ihope · December 2013

A foster child is in the "legal custody" of the state and therefore the caseworker is primarily responsible for getting all that set up,ie. monthly stipend, initial clothing allowance, health insurance card etc....

sisibelle · December 2013

Whatever documents you signed for being the foster parents should be sufficient for WIC and Medicaid. All of this should be set up with your agency worker. Are they a state contractor for foster care and licensing?

daniandbri · December 2013

You said technically? Is this a friends and family foster situation. I know in Florida they are treated differently.

justjinny · December 2013

So I ended up going in to meet face to face with someone from the county's health & human services. They were able to set us up with some WIC formula for the baby which is at least a little bit of help.

I guess the mix up over health insurance came from our agency telling us to put him on our own health insurance right away when he came home with us. So that means we are paying for him to have our health insurance and the state is ALSO paying for health insurance for him through their program too. Such a mess!

@daniandbri - we didn't know the birthfamily until the agency matched us. I had gone into this thinking that we were somehow not "real" foster parents since we were intending to adopt in the end.

All of this is making me realize how little I actually knew about fostering & adopting in our state! I thought I could just trust our agency to help us navigate this system but am finding out that's just not the case.

daniandbri · January 2014

I'm not really sure how that works my only experience with fostering (although we hoped to adopt) is via the state system where the primary goal is reunification which sounds very different from what you are doing. Sending prayers that things settle out and make some sense soon.

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