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This message was originally posted by jolean12.

We are allowed a total of 6 in our home, including ours. We have only been foster parents for 7 months, our first was our now 7 month old dfd at 1 day old. My partner stays home full-time now since our fd can't go to daycare due to medical problems. It's amazing how you learn to cut corners and due without for the children. Although with 3 kids(until yesterday) and now 5, who has time to go out and spend money LOL.
We do great if we can stick to a routine. I have found that to be a lifesaver. Everyone in my house is to bed by 8:30pm, except of course the baby. Quiet. We also have 8 dogs to go along with the 5 kids. 6 are outside dogs and 2 stay in the house full-time. We live in the country and they just show up at the house. We aren't going to just let them starve, they didn't ask to be abandoned. Julie, partner, insists that there are signs all over town giving directions to our house....these are certainly not all the dogs that have showed up.
We are trying to figure out a way to get enough money to build on to the house so we have some room for the kids to play. We live in a doublewide that we have added a bedroom on the back end of. We took the tiny bedroom and made it another bathroom, so we have 3br/3ba...wonderful for kids. We are planning on adding a 20 X 24 playroom to the back. I can't wait!

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This message was originally posted by jolean12.

Also I know that DFCS will reimburse us for carseats for any child coming into care that needs one. I just found about a store here in GA that will give you equipment for babies, carseats, strollers(even double, triple ones), mobiles, high chairs, cribs, ect. and clothes for all, books, toys, ect. It's great but noone knows about it. I found it by accident.
Also about showing up with just a diaper. 'W' was picked up from the hospital with an undershirt and diaper. You should have seen us running to the store trying to buy clothes, diapers, everything...and what a search trying to find clothes and diapers small enough. The preemies were to big......not anymore she is catching up to everyone else.
Just remembering that day makes me smile and to think that was 7 months ago today!

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This message was originally posted by mom22many.

That store gives you all of that free of charge??? How is that and why does nobody know about it?? I wish we had that here. I could have really used a triple stroller last year with a 5 month, 7 month and 25 month old it was nearly impossible to get out!!

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This message was originally posted by jolean12.

All the equipment and clothing are donated so as long as you call and make an appointment, run by all fp volunteers, you can go pick out everything you need. Then you have to have the childs/childrens cw call to verify they are in care. You don't pay for a thing. I found it playing on the internet but have been trying to get the word out to our foster parents. There is only one in the entire state and so you have to drive, but my thought was that the money I saved was well worth it because if you need it, I think they have it. I got a double stroller when I went but now I have my 7 month old, my 17 month old, and we just got a 2 yr old. I am also trying to get my 7 month old's 2 yr old brother. Mmmmmm....I think I need a quad

I though I was busy....Yikes! I hope you got some sleep.

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This message was originally posted by mom22many.

Sleeping used to ba a problem but not anymore. I have these 3 for another month until adoption and dad for the other 2 and now they all sleep 6pm-7am!!! Lucky or what!!!! They have 1 nap daytime for the 2 younger ones but one only sleeps an hour and the other requires alot of sleep and by 5 they are all so tired dinner and bath are all I can do to keep them up and they don't even cry at bedtime. Next month when they all leave and I have to start fresh with 3 new little ones I am sure I will be the one crying!!!LOL We don't have the donation thing here but the foster parents I am friends with all help each other with our personal stashes when we can.

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This message was originally posted by hope4kids.

I keep clothes and toys for children ages 5 and under sorted and stored in the closet. I have a crib bassinet and a bed in storage too. That way when the call comes, I just pull out the appropriate supplies. Many of the things were given to me by people who heard I was getting licensed. I loan stuff out too, and almost everytime I get more stuff back than I loaned out in the first place.

In IL a child coming into care for the first time gets a clothing voucher. Infants coming into care get an equipment voucher to use for cribs, car seats, and the like. My agency is very good about making sure the children have what they need. They even reimburse us for hair care for the kids! I am impressed with this new agency.

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This message was originally posted by Micki.

I'm glad to hear you're working with an agecny that helps you out a lot. I want to get a storage supply like you have! I haven't become licensed yet and I'm still not sure what ages of children we'll be taking. I guess I'm just eager to get started on preparing. Once we get licensed we'll put the word out like you have. We don't want to say too much yet just in case we don't get accepted. I'd hate to have to go through the whole explaining to everyone thing.

The agency you work with reimburses you for hair care? Wow. so does that mean you save your receipts for things and hand them in?

I asked our agency about things like that and they said that they feel their per diem or daily reimbursement is sufficient to cover all of that. Our agency reimburses $46.50 per day, per child. I have never seen anyone here mention the amount they are reimbursed per day so I hope I haven't made a faux pas

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This message was originally posted by mom22many.

Are you from Ontario Micki? I work for Toronto CAS and I previously worked for an outside resource that paid up to $50 per day but only a small clothing allowance were extras. I now am specialized with CAS and that starts at $40.40 per day but they reimburse everything including haircare, diapers, babysitting for fostercare related appts. mileage , clothing, camp, camp supplies, school supplies etc. We are in the process of possibly converting to a new system where most of these things would be includedand we would get $4.50 per day extra for kids up to 5 up to 5.50 per day for kids 12+. Sounds like a good system for thoses who will spend the money. Sorry for going on but it is interesting to see how different agencies work. Maybe we should start a new thread?!

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This message was originally posted by Micki.

Yep. London Ont. I inquired with the CAS here in London as to the reimbursement and they only give $25.17 per day unless you're super experienced with them then they MAY give $36.00 per day. I chose this agency because they reimburse more.

How does your reimbursement work?
Do they give it to you once a month?

How soon after you report with your receipts do they reimburse you? I haven't asked my agency these questions yet, I don't want to seem like we're in it for the money.

I wanted to start a new thread and ask how everyone's agency works but like I mentioned before, no one here ever mentions how much they get reimbursed for so I didn't want to bring up the money question. Did your agency go over a budget with you? Or do they trust you to use the reimbursement money the right way?

Sorry....so many questions eh?

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This message was originally posted by mom22many.

Micki, Figured you had to be up here somewhere! Toronto CAS pays $25 for new parents too. The only problem I had with outside agency was that the kids they get calls for are quite often those that noone else wants. At least that was the way with my old agency. But I have a friend who works for another agency and they take mainly babies and she has had good placements. It is totally different with an agency with reimbursables as with the CAS. My agency paid your clothing the following month after filing receipts. Now we are given a budget and are supposed to stick with it but you can request extras that are paid for by the foundation --Example bikes can be paid for if you get the child's worker to approve it. or extra lessons if they are over the allotted $200 per year for recreation. Now I have forms for reimbursables that I give to each child's worker and it varies in how quickly the cheque comes, I wait until it is a good amount before I send them in after the initial clothing has been paid for. My big thing is diapers as I have 2 in diapers and 1 in goodnites so Thnk god they cover that. My old agency did not cover that.Some it is 2 weeks later but the longest has been 6 weeks. I just did up mileage and babysitting for the past 2 months and it is worth 975.00!! I was in training 2 days a week for 5 weeks for half days so it all added up. Good luck with your licensing and I hope you get some nice little ones!!

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This message was originally posted by evansmum.

Wow you two!! This board is starting to get overrun by us Canucks.....

I'm waaaay up here in Renfrew County, though - between Ottawa and North Bay. Our agency (FCS) doesn't reimburse for diapers (except for the first couple packs you need asap) or formula - they are supposed to be included in your cheque. We are reimbursed mileage as well as meals - depending on how long you're gone - for any foster-related trips (doctor, visits, specialists, CHEO or Sick Kids).

We get around $35 per day for up to 6, around $40 per day from 6-12, and around $45 per day from 12 and up. We are also given an extra $50-100 each March and September for clothes, between $50-150 for xmas (depending on age), can get "green slipped" (preapproved) for around $150 for initial expenses, since you don't actually see any money until at least a month after the child comes.

With us having R here mid-December, we won't get the $$ for that until the end of January - not that it's worth it anyway - he was only here one day!

Well, welcome Micki.

mom22many: you get a new carseat for EVERY child you get? wow! When they brought R to us, no one even asked us if we had one. I asked them how much he weighed so I could figure out which one I needed to bring out of the basement. I've got 2 infant carseats, one convertible carseat, 2 carseat/booster combos and one highback booster. (I used to babysit in my home before we started doing this... lol).

If CAS is supplying the carseat, it goes with the child then, right? Or does it go back to CAS? I didn't know they would supply a crib and other equipment either. I just started buying things slowly when we started our training. The first thing I bought (for MY peace of mind...) was one of those Angel Care baby monitors - the ones with the sensor pad under the mattress. I figured if we were going to get high risk babies, better safe than sorry right? I ended up getting it on sale at Walmart for around $90 last February (CDN).

Ah, well, now my basement looks like a second hand kids store, and we've got no foster kids to use it..... I don't know what's going on in this county - they insist that they are sooo hard up for foster families, but we've only been called 4-5 times (only two actually stayed with us for any amount of time). I know it's a good thing that they DON'T need us (means more bios are making it work), but it's awful boring sitting here waiting.....

Well, toodles, gotta go clean up after the hubby. He just went back to work after pt.....

Meghan

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This message was originally posted by hope4kids.

Is the cost of living higher in Canada than it is in the states? The reimbursement rates mentioned here are higher than most I have heard in the States - and I am in a higher paying county. Until my baby was declared medically complex, the rate was $12 a day. It didn't really matter to me - I would have fought to keep her even if they didn't give me a cent - but it was nice when the rate went up! She gets about $35 a day now that she is classified medically complex. We get reimbursed for mileage, extracurricular activites that would help her develop, and hair care - but my former agency reimbursed for NOTHING. Clothing and equipment are not reimbursed unless it is the child's initial placement - then they come with a voucher for initial supplies. Even though I hear that people foster kids for the money, I just don't get that. In order to foster children well, it can't be about the money. It helps, and I enjoy the extra things my children and I can do with the money, but the heart of the issue is fostering for the love of the children.

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This message was originally posted by evansmum.

It's not that the cost of living is higher - but the $35 CAD we get for a wee one would only equal out to about $20 per day US.

You've got to remember that $1 CAD is only $.60 US.

You're right though. If we did it for the $$, we'd all be bankrupt within the first month.....lol My idea is, I am doing it because I was in foster care when I was a baby (don't remember), and after finding out more information about my adoption, I know if it wasn't for my foster mom (and adoptive parents, of course), I wouldn't be here. AND, Adam and I don't "think" we want any more kids, biologically, and figured why not? I love having tons of kids in my house, I love watching all the firsts (no matter how late they are), I love feeling that I am making a difference for these little ones... even if it's only temporary.

I may change some of my opinions and views later, when I am more affected by the system, but right now, I will enjoy my rose coloured glasses, and hopefully can keep them on for quite awhile longer...

Meghan

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This message was originally posted by jolean12.

We are paid in Georgia the same as hope4kids. About $12.00/day for infants. They have had a staffing about our little ones medical problems but we haven't heard anything yet. She is 7 months old now.
We are given an initial for clothing and shoes, if they are just entering care, of $150 for under 13 and $300 for 13 and over. They cover up to $15 month for haircuts or styles, $20 month for diapers, and $81.50(infants) per week for daycare if both people work full-time.
We are reimbursed for a carseat if they don't have one but it does goes go with them.

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This message was originally posted by mom22many.

So interesting to see all of the similarities and differences! The carseat goes with the child if they move foster homes sometimes but I have not had a young one move but a friend did that. I was given an infant and toddler carseat when I was licensed then when I ended up with 2 more still in carseats they just told me to go pick up 2 more!! So if you have a child leave and still have the car seat you don't get a new one with the next child. Agencies don't usually do this and even the Durham CAS does not give these things to their foster parents as we looked into their program first. We chose Toronto as they needed infant homes and Durham wanted teen homes and i am never doing that ever!!!