[TexasJingles]

I have a question...

Wasn't all of his medical paid by medicaid? If so, they would have a record of all the visits, medicines and what-not. It might help.

As far as subsidy... speaking as someone that's just gone through all of it... we didn't have to have one piece of "documentation".

I had receipts for most things (I will know better next time!!! Save every single receipt in a large manilla envelope!!! But not because I needed to prove anything, just to help me remember how much we actually spent!). Mostly, I just wrote a LOT! My 3 did a lot of damage to the house during their "foster" period (tantrums) and I just estimated what it cost, divided into a monthly amount, and assigned it to the one that did the damage. Divided it by all 3 when they all did it.
I put in line after line about what's going on in school, and not. I worded it like "T has a documented history of aggressive, self-injurious behaviors at school and his IEP states he needs a small teacher-student ratio. He may need a private school that specializes in managing his behavior". I did not put in there that since he's been with us, he's been an angel at school because we never know when that phone is going to ring. And last week it did! He got into a fight on one day and 3 days later was throwing things around the room. I don't think we'll need to change schools, but we just never know (and they're expensive!!! I just looked... $7,000 + for a year! OUCH!!! Max subsidy is $545 a month!).

And, it's not like this subsidy will be the last word on it. It's reviewed at LEAST every 5 years. So, let's say that your child has XYZ now and you get some subsidy for that, but when they hit school and other things start showing up, and you need special things or tutoring or whatever, you just pick up the phone and talk to your subsidy worker.

Also, although I know of people that "haggled"... I didn't need to. I had put in the application everything I could think of (she said she's never seen one so full! I even wrote up the side of the margin when I ran out of room! haha). The reason I did was because she told me that she really didn't know anything about the kids. She gets a record from the caseworker that states what level they are (basic or moderate, etc) and that's about it. So, any info you can include in the application will really help the subsidy worker.

Hope some of this helps. Good luck!