This message was originally posted by
Live2shop.
Am I the only one who gets children with nothing decent at all to wear?
Ok, I know when they come into care you will get a clothing voucher on the children depnding on what they come with. This is great when you can pick out the stuff yourself. Here is my gripe (sorry, but yes, it's about other inconsiderate foster parents)-
I have had one boy who got a voucher of 200.00. The foster mom kept him two days then sent him on his way. He came with 4 shirts, all the same style, but different colors (1 more shirt). 3 pairs of jeans, a pkg sock, a pkg underwear, then his old tennis shoes. While shopping at Target I saw that the clothing she bought was all on clearance! She couldn't have sent more than 75.00 dollars worth! Where did the rest go?
Now, I have an 11 year old boy. Foster mom sent him to me 3 days before his birthday and gave me little time to prepare. Not only that, she got a voucher also for 200.00 and here it is school time. I was very upset when this young man only had one decent pair of pants! Two pair of socks. I had the SW come and look at what he had. She was very upset since the last placement had been given the money to buy him decent clothing. He was given several items of clothing from her teenage son that were WAY to big for him. I was reissued another voucher for him. VERY THANKFUL since it was school time.
Does this happen to anyone else????? This is happening more and more. I know that when they leave my house, they leave with WAY more than they come with or what we started out with. We also get a clothing allowance of 50.00, and 57.00 in incidentals a month for them included in our checks. This other fp had my 11 year old for over 9 months. That's 450.00 in clothing money she was given (not including the 200.00 voucher!) And usually when the children get a voucher, that's it. So you are left with making sure they have decent clothing.
I am really sorry to sound so "grumpy" about this, but this is getting very expensive since it seems to be happening with EVERY child that is coming through my house. My husband is getting a little frustrated with me because I am spending so much money and it's exceeding what we are getting compensated for. I know we can't keep this up.
Any ideas??????