She writes:
**LK, I give you NO credit at all, other than your ignorance of the other side of the coin. Which by the way, never ceases to amaze me. You do know there are people out there who can not and will not take care of their kids. Meth addicts and crack addicts don't pay taxes, I find. So let's not say they contribute via their tax paying.
I dare you to raise an infant/Toddler on 250.00 a month. Please include in your calculations: FORMULA, bottles, clothes,(not dollar store or Goodwill) DIAPERS, wipes, daycare (because someone has to work to pay for this) older babies & toddlers need baby food, age proper snacks, sippy cups, more clothes, shoes, transportation to see the parents, your time and gas to do so. Taking time off work for multiple Dr visits, because they are always sick & never up to date on anything. Of course you'll need time and gas for that too. There is so much more, but I'll let you do the calculations for just these "few" things for now. Please do, get back to me on how your budget comes out. By my calculations over the years it comes out that I pay about 150.00 per month to be able to be a foster parent to children who have NO parents or relatives who can or will take them in.
By the way, the children leave my house with more than they ever came here with. If you don't count the health, love and stable home they have while here.
Be nice, I posted your comment. Now your turn.
I enjoy your blog, I really do. I don't think kids should be in foster care a day longer than it takes parents with REAL issues to get their act together & we both know there is a need for foster care under the right circumstances.
Not all foster parents are crazy or horrible.
What never ceases to amaze me is how defensive of their jobs these self-righteous hypocrites are.
Ok... Here we go. I'll deal with this out of boredom. (slow day on the newswire)
**LK, I give you NO credit at all, other than your ignorance of the other side of the coin. Which by the way, never ceases to amaze me.
Notice how she calls me ignorant of the foster care issues. I make no claims at all other than the fact that the system causes more harm than good. I post links to news articles and provide a voice to the victims of the Child Protective Industry. And for that I'm a bad guy.
Sure I don't post much of the fluffed-up bullshit propaganda that the foster contractors like this (as well as Industry itself) wants you to believe, you know the heartwarming news stories about the wonderful revolving door foster contractor of the year who has had 250 kids in 10 years bouncing through their homes. But that doesn't mean that I don't have a clue that there are really seriously abused and neglected children out there.
You do know there are people out there who can not and will not take care of their kids.
Yeah, and I know that there are foster parents out there who rape, murder, abuse and neglect the children given to them by the state too.
Meth addicts and crack addicts don't pay taxes, I find. So let's not say they contribute via their tax paying.
Not every parent who has had their child stolen is a drug addict. I hate to tell you that.
I dare you to raise an infant/Toddler on 250.00 a month. Please include in your calculations: FORMULA, bottles, clothes,(not dollar store or Goodwill) DIAPERS, wipes, daycare (because someone has to work to pay for this) older babies & toddlers need baby food, age proper snacks, sippy cups, more clothes, shoes, transportation to see the parents, your time and gas to do so. Taking time off work for multiple Dr visits, because they are always sick & never up to date on anything. Of course you'll need time and gas for that too. There is so much more, but I'll let you do the calculations for just these "few" things for now. Please do, get back to me on how your budget comes out. By my calculations over the years it comes out that I pay about 150.00 per month to be able to be a foster parent to children who have NO parents or relatives who can or will take them in.
$250 a month? You must be living in Nebraska. Just get them diagnosed with some special need and you'll get more. Just get the doctor to prescribe them Ritalin or something. Medicade will pay for the whole thing.
By the way, the children leave my house with more than they ever came here with.
What's that, 2 trash bags instead of one?
If you don't count the health, love and stable home they have while here.
I wasn't.
Be nice, I posted your comment. Now your turn.
Not a problem.
I enjoy your blog, I really do.
Love me or hate me they still continue to read my blog. Now when you use my screen name or refer to me on your blog, put the link in. It's a common courtesy. That's http://www.LegallyKidnapped.blogspot.com Say whatever you want about me. I don't loose a bit of sleep over it. There is no such thing as bad publicity.
I don't think kids should be in foster care a day longer than it takes parents with REAL issues to get their act together & we both know there is a need for foster care under the right circumstances.
Agreed.
Not all foster parents are crazy or horrible.
I never said they were. I usually leave the good ones alone and just pick on the ones like you.
LK
So, Im confused here... do foster parents have to work at all?? I would assume the $250/month is meant as a subsidary, not a means of supporting the child.... If you cannot afford to care for them, how are you expected to give them a stable home??
ReplyDeleteThank you, I admire your open mindedness to the other side of a very serious issue. (sarcasm)
ReplyDeleteYou didn't set me off, it makes want to cry because of what you must have been thru in your life, to be so full of rage.
I don't do it for ALL THAT MONEY I get. I rest very well at night.
You make me want to be a better foster parent. I look at the little faces and I want them to be happy and not grow up to be filled with the rage you seem to be filled with.
That's all
You foster parents just don't get it. I am not raging. I am fighting for what is right. Sure, my methods might seem a little unorthodox, but somebody's got to do it.
ReplyDeleteI really wanted to post a nasty comment to her, LK, but after reading your response, you did a great job all on your own. I can't add a thing other than to say, well done.
ReplyDeleteI can always tell when a foster care giver's halo needs polishing because they always print such mindless dribble as this and on their blogs. Their "savior" complex is waning and needs to be built back up a little bit.
Their self-righteous bullshit never fails to amaze ME. I don't believe for 1 second that all they get is $250/month. That's crazy talk. The last I heard it was somewhere in the range of $900/month. I could be wrong, it may be more than that. And that doesn't include foodstamps, WIC, child support from their REAL parents and state medical and dental insurance. Multiply that by however many kids a foster care giver has and it's quite a handsome salary each month for doing absolutely nothing. They can't be watching these kids too closely cos they have the time to write a blog and make ridiculous allegations against bio parents.
People like her don't have an original thought in their heads. They believe every word that drips off the forked tongues of social workers or other CPS personnel like it's manna from Heaven. Only when they turn on them do they open their mouths about the abuse and corruption within the entire structure of CPS.
Even if the parents are drug abusers, they can and do turn their lives around each and every day. In many rehab facilities you are required to find a job. So while they may not have paid taxes when they had custody of their girls, they do pay taxes after the removal. So why shouldn't they get the clothes that they pay for. Also, they require the parent to pay child support while their kids are in foster homes. So yes, the bio parents ARE paying for their care.
Also, if you have the time and want to read another anti-CPS blog, feel free to visit mine at cpsasystemoutofcontrol.blogspot.com. Feel free to leave comments on mine too.
You know, D, you don't have to say the word "sarcasm" beside your remarks because believe it or not, we DO have original thoughts in our heads and we get the sarcasm. Oh, you were probably noting that in case the foster care provider read it. You wouldn't want her to think you're changing alliances.
ReplyDeleteAll the rage you're talking about in children, do you think it's possible that perhaps they're angry at being ripped out of their parents' homes and being stuck in foster care homes like this where their real parents are degraded and put down on a daily basis by the foster care providers and CPS? The vast majority of these children were never abused or neglected at home. CPS trumped up charges against them just for the federal money. It's people like her that buy into that mindset that CPS is God's chosen angels sent to protect the children that make the system so bad. If they would also say enough is enough and stop being a parasite by sucking the blood out of the federal government (for the money, in case you can't figure that out all on your own), then maybe the system would change and only truly abused and neglected children would be removed from their homes.
The sad thing is, they are the ones that CPS fails the worst. They're left in truly abusive and neglectful homes because CPS doesn't deem them marketable. Read the paper and search the internet. Every day another foster child or bio child is beaten, raped, tortured and killed at the hands of their protectors while CPS was involved in their lives. It boggles the mind that this occurs so often here in America.
We are not ignorant about the other side of the coin. We know all too well how you guys operate. You want the world to view you as a savior and when they don't, you go off on a rampage. If you're so wonderful, kind and sweet, why does what we say infuriate you so bad? What about your rage against us and the bio parents? Sounds to me like it's a double standard. It's okay for you to rage against us but we can't say anything back. We have earned the right to be angry. CPS has ruined our lives and that of our children. It's not rage though, it's fighting back against the corrupt system. Foster care providers and CPS aren't used to that and so you don't know how to handle it. Get used to it cos we ain't going nowhere until this corrupt, out of control system is abolished.
Brenda:
ReplyDeleteI know its under $500/month and that's in California. Yes, the idiots at investigative services grab the wrong kids at least 60-70% of the time. (They spend their time investigating kids who put their feet out the upstairs window and touch the roof ledge or reinvestigate a case involving a school that the police have already investigated, because some clown pych. doesn't know that and anonymously reported it again) While child support is likely to be >$800 per month with a typical 20% custody arrangement (meaning the cost is actually $1000per month).
And even when the kids are placed with aunts or uncles, frequently after a few months they don't want them, so they end up in foster care. And some of the parents care so little about their kids they won't complete a parenting class to get them back because the other parent is there. (The parents were breast feeding and the baby didn't get enough and the idiot father told his SO to stop feeding the baby while she was put in the hospital because she couldn't produce enough body heat to stay warm. That baby gained 4 lbs after being put in emergency foster home in 4 weeks and she was still several pounds under weight.)
The problem is that investigative services takes the so many wrong children and therefore foster agencies have to take almost anyone who appplies and is trained. For example if California changed the W&I Code, to require before taking a child into custody, that it had to be shown that the child was in serious danger beyond a reasonable doubt, it could save enough (billions of dollars) not to have to make many of the cuts its now going to have to make. I define serious as something that requires hospitalization.
Okay, let's say it's $500/month per child. Most foster care providers have way more than one child in their homes at any given time. Now, this in addition to medicaid, foodstamps, WIC, and any child support the parents have to pay. Well, they should be able to afford the child independent of this money they receive from the state. Where the hell does this money go? If they have 2 children, that's $1000/month. Do not tell me that foster children get $500 worth of clothes, shoes, toys or other stuff. So even at that amount, that's more than some bio parents make after taxes and child care AND this has to pay the rent, food, gas, electricity, etc. They barely squeak by but foster parents get to sit on their asses, play on the computer, etc. earning this money that no one will even account for.
ReplyDeleteWhere does that money go? It's NOT going to the children so I'm assuming (yes, I know what assume means) that the fosters are spending it on stuff for them, like paying their mortgage and other bills. Yet, if the parents were given this $$$ for a designated period of time, they could fix the problems in their lives that led to the removal of their children.
So tell me where that money goes or show me proof that you spend it all on those children.
We all know that the CPS, should consider the Kin care clause,and in many cases, this option is not being used.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the Lady, would do the job, if she had to live on the same wage as a Kin carer?
Foster Care, should be used at the last resort only.
Alison Stevens Parents Against Injustice.