Link for 2010 foster care reimbursement rates?

[Sierra]

Anyone have one? Even a 2009 link would do.

I am working on an adoption support review, and I need to make sure I am not being outrageous in my requests...I wanted to peek at foster care reimbursement rates to use as a guide.

[heatherdeg]

They differ by state. Or were you looking for any state? I know there's some kind of national website of statistics but I can't find it and I don't recall if it had rates.

ETA: NJ's are pretty high, but we are (as a state) one of (if not THEE) highest cost of living areas in the US... so it doesn't go as far as it would elsewhere.

[Sierra]

I was looking for one with a state-by-state comparison, though I am mostly interested in WA state. I found the link usually posted for state-by-state comparisons, but it is from 2008 and as far as I can tell, actually had 2007 rates.

[Mom979902]

I just found this from June 2008.(go to page 2) http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/n...e-payments.pdf

We're still in the licensing process, but I was told it was $430/month right now. That doc says $429 for FL.

HTH

[Polliwog]

I don't have a link for updated rates nationally but I'll give you the ones for NC.

Birth to five: $475
Six to twelve: $581
Thirteen and up: $634

I hope that helps. I'm glad I had a reason to look up the new rates. My son turns six this summer.

[jdg]

In Indiana, foster care per diem is $25/day regardless of age. Adoption subsidy is 75% of per diem, or $18.75/day until child's 18th birthday. I know we have one of the higher rates around.

[Polliwog]

Originally Posted by jdg

In Indiana, foster care per diem is $25/day regardless of age. Adoption subsidy is 75% of per diem, or $18.75/day until child's 18th birthday. I know we have one of the higher rates around.

Wow, that is really high. Do you have a high cost of living where you are?

[mamarhu]

Basic rate in Oregon was just raised to about $750 for my school age kids (I guess that is 6-12?). A little more for teens, and a little less for little ones. I have not seen that rate published anywhere.

[MissinNYC]

Depends on med level here. I think regular non medical kids are 21.50 per day, ranging up to about 45 per day for the highest med level.

[queenjane]

Basic rate here in MI is based per day, but works out to about $440/mo.

[jdg]

Originally Posted by Polliwog

Wow, that is really high. Do you have a high cost of living where you are?

My particular town, yes. The state in general, no. The rates are statewide. I would note that some of the "extras" in some states like clothing vouchers, food vouchers, etc, are not available to foster parents here. (There is a possible clothing voucher w/in 30 days of removal from home, but none after that.) The state actually tried to cut the rates by 10% for 2010, but is being sued by the foster parent union and licensed child placing agencies and there was just an injunction put into place to stop the reduced rates at least until the matter is fully heard in court.

[Polliwog]

We don't get a clothing voucher either or any extras. And your rate is about $300 a month higher than ours (at least for the under sixes.)

All foster children under five are eligible for WIC. That's a Medicaid thing, not a foster care thing.

[heatherdeg]

2010 NJ rates for regular (non med frag or therapeutic) kids at the base rate (there are 4 levels of rate for regular kids that depends on how much additional effort is required for their care is:

0-5yo = $713/mo
6-9yo = $783/mo
10-12yo= $807/mo
13+yo= $838/mo

No matter what age, they get $2.09/day for clothing (roughly $60/mo) for 0-12yo and $2.69/day for 13+yo. If they're "oversized" they get literally $6/mo more. We don't get anything for seasonal clothing or start of school clothing. But upon their initial removal from the home, they come with the clothes on their back and a $175 "initial clothing" check.

There is a daycare subsidy if you are working (subsidy changes depending on the number of hours you're working) or in school full-time. Depending on where you live you might actually find a place that only takes the subsidy, but most of the time you spend the rest of your board rate for daycare for the littles (and aftercare for the bigger ones). The counties no longer have additional funds to pay for older kids aftercare. WIC covers them until they're 5yo but really, after about 6-8mo that's not much of a help if you're eating healthy.

To my knowledge, we are one of the highest cost of living areas in the country (along with Long Island, NY and Massachusetts). It definitely sounds like a lot of money, but I've fostered infants through age 12 and so help me the 'tweens will go through their board rate in no time flat--especially with food in the summer (where we were only able to foster them because we also had a little one where there was extra money to offset the deficit with the older ones ).

Adoption subsidy is the same as board rate... although I'm unclear as to whether it keeps up with the annual board rate changes (if and when they occur).

[MommyKelly]

Our rates are really high in comparison. I am really surprised!
We didnt get foster care money for our one dd since she was kinship and it is like $.35 a day. LOL We didnt bother. When we did the adoption papers, our worker said she looked at both states and gave us our rate since it was higher. She is 5 and it is $778 monthly.

[Sierra]

Thanks everyone. I decided not to write in an amount and instead to present details about the cost of the primary special service he is receiving, and to list the other services (no cost, since it got lengthy...some things he doesn't do year-round, etc.). I hope this will be adequate information for them to make a generous determination that will keep him in this program.

I never did find out what the 2009 or 2010 rates were/are for WA, but I know they are on the low end in comparison to other states.

[j87morrow]

I know Im a little late in the convo but....

http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/n...e-payments.pdf

I believe that link is what you are looking for. I live in Ohio and I was trying to find out some of my local counties per diem rates, All of our counties are different. Average pay is $25-35 a day for younger children and $30-55 a day for teens. But for special needs it can go as high as $200 a day. I have been a therapeutic foster parent now for over a year, counties contract out for my special training, and base pay for us is $40 a day. We have a new program in our company that is $120 a day but you can only do one child at a time. The pay again reflects the childs behavioral/mental/physical needs. Ohio is one of the highest paying states, and our cost of living is pretty average. Our state required is min of $9 a day and max is $118 a day, those are for "regular" needs kids. NO county in ohio pays the $9 a day, you would have to be very well off to afford to be a foster parent in that county, lol. I emancipated from foster care in the same county I live in. My county paid for graduation needs, (pics, ring, gown, etc) they gave me $7000 towards a car, work clothes allowance, seasonal clothing allowance, books for college, and they paid my rent/mortgage until I turned 21. I married at 19 so they paid half of my mortgage, and even paid my electricity bill. Thats why I dont work for my county...lol...Every person with common sense wants to and they have way to many homes. Some parents have been licensed for 3 years with no placement. I dont know how it is in other states but in Ohio all foster youth who emancipate get medicaid until their 21st birthday. It's no wonder our state has such a big deficit, lol. By the way, I dont think the rates have been changed since 2008, so they should be the same. I also saw someone else posted the same link...boy am I blind!!

[Polliwog]

I have a really hard time with the use of the term "pay" when it comes to fostering. I've heard that there are paid foster parents in some places (some regular foster parents, often therapeutic foster parents) but that's not the norm.

I'm not paid for fostering. I get reimbursed for some of the expenses related to the children's care. If I was "paid" then I'm way below minimum wage ($15/day.) I don't get a salary and I don't report my "pay" on my taxes.

[PediNrs2012]

I am doing a college paper, and I am looking for the 2012 foster care reimbursement rate for children age 5 years & under in Florida.

My paper is on the moral/ethical responsibility of the states to adequately provide financially for the care of these little ones. Some points I plan to address are as follows...

     Are foster parents financially reimbursed realistically to meet the true life cost of providing for these children? Or are the children simply being moved from an unacceptable household with the hope that somehow the foster parent(s) will make due?

     Why do the authorities believe $440.00 (...or whatever the 2012 rate is) is adequate to provide for the needs of infants/toddlers/preschoolers?

     How did they arrive at that figure? What are they using as the measuring stick? The poverty line?   $5,280.00 a year would barely cover diapers/pull-ups, clothing (which they out grow almost immediately), OTC medication (baby Ora-gel, children's Tylenol, etc.) not to mention birthdays and holidays (Christmas, Easter, etc.).

I have a good friend who's 4 year old cousin was placed in foster care last year and he has not received a single Birthday or Christmas gift since.  No Birthday party - but he did get "A Cupcake."  When questioned, the foster mother said "The State doesn't provide me with enough funds for even the basics and it just wasn't in my budget." However, she would not divulge the amount she receives monthly.

     Is this an accurate statement, or Is the state reimbursement adequate?  

Perhaps I will have to adjust my first research paper to present what a terrific moral/ethical job the state is doing and how well these children are provided for financially. I would be happy to discover this is the case.

I know there are foster homes in Florida where the children receive nice things, have big parties, and receive terrific gifts. In April my final paper will be on those foster situations as the positive humanistic/emotional aspect of the first paper is supposed to be the focus. For right now I am restricted to a narrow issue "State funding for young foster children - Morally & Ethically Just or Bankrupt?"

Please provide the reimbursement information so I will have the current figures when I interview officials. Any additional information you feel comfortable sharing would be greatly appreciated.

     **All sources (other than the officials I interview) will only be referenced to as Anonymous Source #1 Clearwater, Anonymous Source #2 Palm Harbor, Anonymous Source #3 St Petersburg, etc.**

Thank you in advance for any assistance.

[fostermommaof3]

the current rates for washington are found at the DSHS website as follows;

http://www.dshs.wa.gov/ca/fosterparents/be_FosterFinancial.asp

just incase this link doesnt work.

Child's Age	Level I	Level II	Level III	Level IV
0-5 Years	$423.68	$601.61	$947.19	1,225.98
6-11 Years	$500.69	$678.61	$1,024.20	$1,302.99
12+ years	$575.30	$753.22	$1,098.81	$1,377.60

p.s. superman was a foster child!

[christophersmom]

I am in NC, so the rates posted above by Polliwog are the same.

Foster children in my area get $475/month stipend, childcare (most of my daycare is covered, at one point I paid about $45/month what the state didn't cover and that came out of the $475, WIC, medicaid. In the two years I have fostered, I got one one-time clothing/car seat allowance of $75.

For my DD1, I usually spent an extra $50-60 dollars a month on formula above WIC allowance and for DD2 it was more like $20. My kids eat a ton of fresh fruit and veggies, we spend usually $40-50 a week just on fruits and veggies for the three kids, so since DD2 is foster my guess is about $12/week on her alone. I don't skimp on anything with my foster kids (any kid in my house will get treated the same as my bio/adopted kids), they eat well, have great car seats, dress well, etc. My DD2's birthday was around $200, she deserves it if we can spend it on her.