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You Could Always Adopt. . .

Adopted 3 boys out of foster care, then got pregnant for my beautiful daughter, now currently pregnant again with twins.

Friday, April 20, 2007

This Bothers Me

Ok, I'm probably being a little selfish here, but at the meeting for Bubbles today, WIC was brought up. She is not on extremely expensive formula, so I just buy it. The lost time from work is nearly the value of the WIC vouchers! Anyway, it looks like I'm gonna be forced to take her because when she goes home, her family cannot afford to buy her formula.

So, they are going to send a baby home whose parents can't afford to feed her! I'll probably hear it about this and I should understand that some people are disadvantaged, blah, blah... A can of formula costs me about an hour of work, so I'd miss approximately 8 hours of work between two appointments before getting the vouchers to get 9 cans of formula!

Just irritated today. Probably because I don't feel in my heart she will be safe returning home.

posted by Lisa @ 11:10 AM  

16 Comments:

  • At 12:00 PM, Blogger Julie said…

    Are there any WIC offices open on the weekend? We have them here- and I generally am in and out pretty quick.

     

  • At 12:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    WOW, I understand how you feel, but why would a WIC appt. take so long? Here it takes me about 10 minutes, 1x per month to get vouvhers for 9 cans of formula, 3 cans of juice and 2 boxes of cereal. Once every 6 months we go in for an appt. that lasts about 15 minutes with the wait. Are you getting WIC for Smiley?

     

  • At 12:27 PM, Blogger Lisa said…

    Nope, not open on weekends. Smiley's nurse got him set up on WIC when he was on super expensive formula(doesn't need it anymore), then we stopped him. Bubbles' formula is affordable.

    I don't know why it takes so long, but everytime we'd go for Smiley, we'd have to argue the income issue forever.

    If we only had to go every 6 mos it would be fine. I think it's every month or 3 mos here.

     

  • At 12:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Question - why can't she start on WIC when (and if) she goes home? Then bio-mom can deal with it. There is nothing that I know if that say's if you aren't on WIC for the first six months that you can't sign up then.

    I agree with the time deal - we dropped both of our foster children from WIC. We'd have to go twice a year and it was a 1/2 day appointment. They didn't have an issue with the income as they only considered the foster income for each child, not our earnings. However, it was a HUGE pain in the neck.

     

  • At 12:47 PM, Blogger Megamom said…

    Sometimes they have evening appts, maybe you could check into that. i know its a hassle, Hang in there

     

  • At 1:20 PM, Blogger No Longer In Crisis said…

    Gosh, it only takes a couple minutes in our office and they have tons of locations all over town it seems. We only have to go in every 3 months, and when Cookie was on formula, we got 31 cans a month and since we asked them for liquid Nestle Good Start (that is the brand they use), it costs about $3 a can - that was about $100 a month savings - so $300 savings for us for the quarterly appointment that never took long. For us, when the formula was gone and all it was for was milk, eggs, and cheese - then it seemed asinine to bother. Of course, now we get none anyway - but we saw it as a blessing. Biomom will only get formula for the baby until Bubble turns 1 anyway, and I totally agree with another commenter - if you'd rather just buy it, that's your perrogative. Biomom can darn well set that up herself. When we had other foster kids, we always got WIC then handed over the unused certificates, but the birth parent would have to go renew in a month or so anyway, so there is really no point in you doing it if you don't want to - Biomom will have to go sign up anyway - they will have to be transferred to her name and address as the recipient! YOu sould pretty sure she's going home - hang in there. I'm gonna email you a private comment I don't want others to judge me too quickly for. :)

     

  • At 3:26 PM, Blogger TeamWinks said…

    Ugggghhhh. That's all I can say.

     

  • At 3:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    FYI:
    A child over the age of 1 can get WIC if there is a reason from the doctor. My son has been on formula since birth and he is almost 4 and still needs it for nutrition per the doctor...he has feeding issues.

     

  • At 4:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    WIC never takes me long. I've NEVER had to talk about income. EVER. Foster children should automatically qualify. I'd have your worker call over there.

     

  • At 7:33 PM, Blogger Amanda said…

    So much variability. I had WIC within 3 days of both my placements. They have morning, evening and weekend appts and I only have to go in once every 3 months, so I get 27 cans of formula for about 1/2 hour of my time... I had no idea it was so different in different places. Sorry it's such a pain.

    The other thing is, Mom will have to go through reelgibility anyway - it's not transferrable (or at least it's not here).

     

  • At 8:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I am sorry your WIC office was so not helpful to work around your schedule. Can you go to a different one? It seems they would work with you since she is a foster child. I know when I called they worked me in so my foster baby could get on WIC right away. I agree with the previous poster when they ask about income. I say foster child and filled out the money part with his foster stipend only. We have to have an appointment twice a year and pick up coupons every three months. It never takes me more than 1/2 hour. Hopefully you can find another office to go to. By the way I do not even have to bring the baby on the three month appointments. My dh would just stop by and get them on his way to work. If you are going you might as well get it for smiley also. Make it more worth your time.

    Yes it was required in our county for me to have all foster kids signed up for WIC.

     

  • At 10:21 PM, Blogger Runergirl said…

    Why do you have to do it! Any child can be put on WIC at anytime, as long as there is a need. It sounds like they want you to do bio mom's case plan for her. I would refuse!!

    By the way I'm back in BR.

     

  • At 1:19 PM, Blogger GLouise said…

    Hmm- how can they force you to go to the WIC office, especially when you're buying formula out of your own pocket!

     

  • At 5:08 PM, Blogger Lisa said…

    I just have a problem with the issue that they technically can't afford to raise her. There are no evening appointment. Yes, she will automatically qualify, but I still have to explain the income situation EVERY time. The EARLIEST she will go home will be at 11 mos old anyway.

    I only got WIC for Smiley a while ago when he was on super expensive formula.

    Also, the germs are aweful. Smiley got the chicken pox after his first WIC appointment!

    Thanks for listening. I may have to do it, but I'm making caseworker do most of the leg work.

     

  • At 11:07 AM, Blogger FosterMommy said…

    I totally understand that you're upset.
    However, being poor isn't a reason to have your children taken away from you. Obviously Bubbles's mom has other issues, though.

    If poverty were a reason to have your kids taken, then any of us would be in jeopardy. Things happen sometimes (like Hurricanes, for instance) and you lose your jobs, lose your house, spend through your savings. Would you think it fair to then lose your kids, too?

    Her mom can definitely get on WIC and that will help her pay for the formula. They can get food stamps, too. If she's eligible, she can get welfare and medicaid. That's her right as a citizen. We have these programs in place to help people who have fallen on hard times. Hopefully she can find a job and take care of herself and her child, but it's good that she doesn't have to go hungry in the meantime.

     

  • At 1:03 PM, Blogger Happy Mama to Three said…

    Okay, throwing in my point of view. WIC serves a dual purpose in a lot of places. It assures a child is recieving the recommended formula, dietary requirements without being a financial burden on either his birth parents or foster parents. But on the other hand, it provides a secondary means of observation for that child. WIC allows for a unbiased third party to check wait and growth of the child whether he is in foster care or replaced in the care of his birth parents. I know it make sit seem like there are official noses in places where they don't belong. However, it means that if his mother retains custody there is already a paper trail of how well he was doing in foster care (gaining weight, growing steadily, etc.). I know it really is a pain in the butt and there should not be any income question for a foster child. As well as the risk of being exposed to whatever is going around at the moment. You can always ask if they have a "well baby" set of appointments. Most of them do provide appointments like that, but not all. Or they may have a separate "well baby" waiting area.

    Since each state handles WIC disbursement differently I have no idea if that is true in your area.

    Additionally, the birth mother should be eligible for WIC for at least some period of time after they gave birth so she may already be receiving survices and would not have to go through reeligibility she would only have to add him on.

    Okay, as much as I despise the extra intrusion, I do understand why they like to have foster children in WIC. Sorry you are having to deal with the very difficult system though.

    Cindi
    (I only used He and Him to be consistent not to specify either of your beautiful little people =-)

     

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