Foster parent for medically fragile child

Specialties Private Duty

Published

I talked to a 60 year old CNA last week. She said she had been ill but had recovered. She said that she is a foster parent for a child with medical problems. She said that they pay her to take care of the child. She acted like she was getting well paid for doing this foster care. She said she didn't need to go out and get an outside job anymore. Was she telling the truth? I had thought that foster pay was not good.:confused: Thanks

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

Having talked about this with one of my pt's moms I'm under the impression that in certain cases the parent or PCG can be paid to be the medical caregiver instead of having a nurse provided.

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The stipend for taking a medically fragile child is very good in my state. I know one family who had one foster child and was trying to get more so the wife could quit her job. They do also get Medicaid and nursing care for the most fragile child (13h/d, 7d/wk) Disgusting as it sounds, their motives are less than noble.

Kyasi

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Thanks tothepointeLVN. I think you are right. Yes, that CNA is probably being paid to be the medical caregiver. I had been thinking that she was getting a lot of money plus was being provided with nurses too. OK. Hopefully, I will continue to have good luck with finding and keeping jobs. However, if in the future,if I am out of work for a long time and can't find a job maybe I could become a foster parent and be paid to be a medical caregiver. That's good to know.

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Thanks Kyasi. So it depends on which state you are in. In your state, they get a good stipend and they get a nurse for 13 hours a day 7 days a week!!!! Wow. I guess some people don't want to have outside jobs so they foster more than one child to get more money. No, that's not a good motive. So if they foster 2 children, each child gets 13 hours a day 7 days a week!!!!!

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There are different level of foster care, and the different levels pay different stipends. My area is psych, so I don't know how the medical end of things works, but I know that there's a big difference (in psych) between regular foster care and "therapeutic" foster care (for kids with significant psych difficulties), and therapeutic foster parents get paid quite a bit more for caring for those kids than people do for just taking in "regular" kids without any special needs. However, those therapeutic foster parents also have to meet additional criteria and complete additional special training that's not required of "regular" foster parents and be available to take kids to lots of treatment appointments, work with clinicians, etc.

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I am the mom of an adopted MFTD child (TBI, trach, vent, g-tube) and 2 typical children. There are very, very few states that let a parent (bio, foster or adoptive) get paid for taking care of their own child. Foster children receive a stipend that is supposed to pay for the child's living expenses (room and board, clothing, allowance, entertainment, school trips). Foster children also receive Medicaid. They can also qualify for various waivers to get nursing hours, etc.

The stipend varies from state to state and is based on age and type of care. For instance, in one state, a healthy 4-year-old merits $423/month. That same child in MD gets double that. An MFTD child in MD can get $2000/month MAXIMUM. In VA, that can be $3200/month. In NYC, the rates are much higher. Foster children are also WIC-eligible in most (if not all) states.

A bio or adopted child can receive SSI if they family qualifies. For a foster child, the agency gets the SSI and uses it to pay the parent the stipend.

For the most part, being a foster/adoptive parent is NOT supposed to be your sole source of income. I work full-time, rely on nurses to come in so I can work and sleep and my child's stipend barely covers the additional costs of the electricity needed to run his equipment, supplies not covered by insurance or Medicaid and his living expenses.

I have seen other posts on here about parents who only have the MFTD kid for the increased stipend and it makes me really, really sad and angry. I love my child and it wasn't until he was actually placed with us that a stipend was even discussed. Foster and adoptive parenting is supposed to be about the CHILD and what is best for him or her.

As to the question in the OP, sure, if you are 60 years old, have always been working, have a low mortgage/rent payment and live in a state with a large stipend for MFTD children, it is conceivable that you would not need to work.

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Thanks Elkpark and Ventmommy.;) Thanks so much for explaining exactly how the system works. I can understand why children with psych and or medical problems receive more money than regular foster care. Wow!!!!! A child with a trach and a vent!!!! You're so brave. I would be too afraid to have a child with psych problems. I would be too afraid to have a child with a trach and a vent. I must say though that children with "special needs" are so easy to love. I think the majority of foster parents do truly care about their child. Unfortunately, I do think that there are a few bad apples out there who only do it for the money.

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Special needs children are very easy to love! I know people far braver than I am. I know a family with 6 adopted kids and 3 have trachs!''

I can think of far easier ways to make money than be a foster parent! LOL!

Psych kids are also challenging to take care of and you don't always get the support you need to care for them. With a MFTD child, you can go to Medicaid and say "look, the nurses are suctioning 8 times an hour while asleep and 15 times while awake, I need 16 hours/day or it won't be safe for my child" but with psych kids there are few places to turn to when you need an adult to be awake 24/7 because the child is violent or self-injuring. I found that I needed to set limits as to what kinds of kids with psych issues I can deal with. For example, I will not even consider fire starting, animal abuse, violence to others, or sexually aggressive behaviors.

A few bad apples spoil it for everyone no matter what the field! I am sure that some of you are on the receiving end of parents that "don't trust all nurses because they had one lousy nurse."

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Thanks Kyasi. So it depends on which state you are in. In your state, they get a good stipend and they get a nurse for 13 hours a day 7 days a week!!!! Wow. I guess some people don't want to have outside jobs so they foster more than one child to get more money. No, that's not a good motive. So if they foster 2 children, each child gets 13 hours a day 7 days a week!!!!!

Sorry I wasn't clear, they only get the nurse for 13 hrs/day for one child. The others they have had were emotionally handicapped so they got more for them monthly too. And believe me, if the poor kid had emotional problems before going into this house, they were worse because of the way they treated him. I left the house before some abuse began happening but one of the nurse did report them and they lost all but the medically fragile child who is on a vent. I guess the foster agency thinks that since a nurse is there so much, she was safe. It really is sad.

Kyasi

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I guess some people don't want to have outside jobs so they foster more than one child to get more money. No, that's not a good motive.

"More than one" child?? My state instituted new rules several years ago limiting how many kids a single foster family could take in because some families were packing the kids in like sardines. There are also specific rules in my state (for foster care, that is) about how many kids can share a bedroom, how many bathrooms you have to have for the number of individuals in the house, how many square feet of floor space each kid is entitled to, how much storage space per kid for her/his personal belongings, specific minimum nutritional requirements, etc. -- all of these rules put into place because of how kids were being warehoused in some foster homes. Some "foster parents" were putting six or seven sets of bunkbeds into a single bedroom, no floor space, the kids would have to climb over/across the other beds to get to their bed, everyone sharing one bath, etc., etc. It was really a scandal (a lot of these "homes" were more like homeless shelters than homes). Of course, those "foster parents" were making a v. comfy living off warehousing those kids. There are also now specific limits on how many "special needs" kids a family can have at once (lower than for "regular" foster kids).

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Thanks elkpark. Wow.:eek: So they use to pack the kids in like sardines!!!! I can't even imagine 6-7 sets of bunk beds in a single room!!!! Those poor children. Yes, I have heard that there is a lot of work involved before one can become a foster parent. I remember just reading about all of the different requirements and feeling discouraged.

Now, after reading your post, I understand why they have to have so many strict rules.

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