[la vida loca]

How many appointments do you have for your foster child per week? Between three different kinds of therapy, weekly social worker visits, sibling visitation, doctor appointments and dental appointments...for one child I'm averaging six to ten per week.

I'd love to have another child in the home but there isn't room for one more appointment let alone six to ten more.

[AmahMama]

I hope you are logging and getting reimbursed for mileage!! That's a lot of app'ts! Are they ever going to settle down? At the beginning of a placement - I have a lot of appointments - then it seems to settle down to a managable amount.

good luck to you!

[la vida loca]

She's been here a year and a half. I don't see an end in sight to the current appointment burden. (Naturally she comes from a neighboring county so all the therapy appointments involve a 100 mile round trip.)

[MassachusettsMom]

We've been told that DSS doesn't reimburse for mileage for transport to appointments, bparent visits, etc.-- is that not the case? I'm in MA.

[buttascotchbaby]

In Hawai'i they reimburse for mileage when you transport child to visit, appointments... if the child needed to go to a special school that was a distance from your home and you had to drive every day, that would be reimbursed as well.

[michsm]

My fd has a lot of appointments also, some in home some out of home. We get reimbursed for mileage when the appointments are out of county.

Have you inquired about using service providers closer to your home? Just because she is from a neighboring county shouldn't mean the appointments should have to be in that county.

Can they offer you help for transport? I do transport when I need to be at the appointment also or when no one seems to be available.

Can they offer some of the services in home?

I would inquire about all of those things. They may not let you know exactly what is available. Also, if you have a local FPA check with them see what services are being provided to others. If they know will do it and have been doing it they will allow you to continue because you are saving them a whole lot of money.

[la vida loca]

I'm basically stuck transporting her to therapy because I'm needed during the therapy sessions. At least the behavioral therapist comes to the house so that's helpful.

Above and beyond the transportation though is that we're so tightly scheduled that there just isn't a free minute in the week. At this point my life consists of work, appointments, homework, and housework.

[JessicaBaker]

Our fs has a lot of appointments and visits too! Luckily PT and OT is done in our home.

We did take on another fd, but she has no visits or appointments (other than regular doctor check-ups).

You can specifically request another foster child who will not have as many. Of course, you never know how things will turn out... We may have gotten lucky.

[Mystik]

We were told in our initial foster parent training that transportation was our job and something we had to be willing and able to do as part of being licensed. But I did hear from someone recently that due to *A* having a bunch of recent and upcoming medical appointments over an hour and a half a way that we should be able to file a claim for reimbursement through another organization that is not actually CPS. I'm still trying to figure it out....

[arubagirl]

my fd just has 1 visit 1 day a week for 1 hour, they pick her up and drop her off.

[stevenstwin]

Originally Posted by MassachusettsMom

We've been told that DSS doesn't reimburse for mileage for transport to appointments, bparent visits, etc.-- is that not the case? I'm in MA.

We got reimbursed at 45cents/per kilometer, but only over the first "100" kilometres each month. Anything under that was just part of the job. We could have also refused to transport at any time, and they would have had to provide a driver (which I'm sure costs a heck of a lot more than paying my mileage!)

[Tuppy]

Our FC's (1, 2, and 3) mom was just sent to the state penitentiary and it is a four and a half hour trip ONE WAY. I don't know how they expect us to take all six of our kids all that way for a 20 minute visit. Only one of the children actually gets to visit due to the trauma it causes the two oldest.

We will be reimbursed for expenses, though.

[sunsetsky]

Can you apply for PACT money for your foster child? It is an hourly rate paid on top of the basic rate. It would be pretty easy for you to get it if your state offer it. It for any appointment above annual appointments. EI, therapy, visits etc.

[shan76]

On the upside, it's great that you have found so many support services for her!

[athikers]

My foster son used to have between 15 and 20 appointments a week (visits, doctors, therapies, intervention). Now he is down to a VERY manageable 8-10 appointments a week. My daughter has just ONE - a two hour visit with her birthparents pending her adoption.