[URmysunshine4]

My 15mo old FD has had 8 doctor/ER visits since the beginning of the year. I am a working mom and it seems like she has been sick since the beginning of the year non stop. Its been mostly ear infections but today I took her to the ER with some type of virus. She is getting tubes in her ears hopefully at the beginning of March which will hopefully take care of the majority of the problems. I really hate to ask for a special board rate but I have taken 3 days of PTO time and taken off early from work countless times since the beginning of the year, my husband has taken off at least 3 days of vacation/sick time and he works 4 days per week (4, 10 hour days). At what point do you ask for a special board rate because you have a sicker than normal fc? And how do you justify it with the CW or their supervisor?

[shy_bear]

Does not seem to me that the child would qualify for a special rate. To my knowledge it must be a serious chronic issue. My daughter, was in the NICU, for 5 days b/c of RSV and on home oxygen for weeks. She has an inherited blood disorder which we were at the doc. a lot for and was in services b/c she is delayed. She did not get anything above board rate. I would talk to your cw or agency.

[digmykids]

Special rates are not for kids with ordinary illness's that I'm aware of. I would think major illness or something like down syndrome or CP or the like.
Also kids with behaviors and who take behavioral meds would be considered.

[skc515]

To me, and I'm not saying this to be rude, that's pretty run of the mill toddler illness, especially if they are in daycare. I don't see that as being sicker than normal. What it could be is ear infections that are not totally going away. (And yes, the tubes should help immensely.)

Special rates here are based on emotional, behavorial, and long term health needs. We have an assessment that we go through.

Based on what you described, you'd still be at basic care here.

[ImpactingLives]

We applied for a higher rate with our FS, he has 4 parental visits/week (different days), PT, OT, and feeding therapy. That is 7 out of the home visits in every 5 day span. That doesn't count any doctors appointments which average 2x/month because of his various issues. He didn't qualify for a higher rate either. So as others have said, I don't imagine yours would qualify for a higher rate.

[UTbrie]

My current FS came to me with diagnoses such as Autism, Seizures, T-Cell Lymphoma, Thalassemia, tracheo-malacia, severe reflux/Gerd and asthma requiring a nebulizer. He was on 7 medications and was just weened of an anti-convulsant.

Now granted, they were suspicious of mom's having MBP at the time, BUT they specifically wanted a foster home that had medical training to ascertain what was real, and what was ficticious. I also did not qualify for a higher board rate, since they didn't know for sure if it was real.

It is pretty much reserved for significantly special needs children such as trach's, g-tubes, (usually ones that require home health nurse aides) or severely behaviorly/psyche component such as Bi-polar/schizophrenia etc.

[Hoping2adoptsibs]

Seems like run of the mill type of sicknesses. I don't see how they would give you a higher rate. They might even question if you can handle that age range.

[elk134]

Here, that would not qualify for the higher rate either. We went through the exact same thing you are doing through this time last year. I know it's frustrating, but it is the "normal" part of kids that age. AD had ear infection after ear infection from February through April last year. She had tubes put in, which did help significantly. But she did still get ear infections, just not NEAR as often. One tube has since fallen out already and she is back to getting recurring ear infections. She goes for a follow up in a few weeks and they are saying they will more than likely put another tube in that ear.

There was fear she had hearing loss (due also in part to some stuff that happened before she was placed with us.) If she did in fact have hearing loss, the CW was going to TRY to get her qualified at the higher rate, but wasn't sure if she could. But thankfully her hearing was okay. But the doctors are keeping a close eye on her hearing, we do regular hearing tests at the audiologist for her every six months. We just had one in January, but they are going to "up" the next hearing test to our next appointment in a few weeks just to keep a close eye on it with her tube falling out and the ear infections coming back.

Hang in there, it will get better after she gets her tubes put in!

[ladyjubilee]

Originally Posted by URmysunshine4

At what point do you ask for a special board rate because you have a sicker than normal fc? And how do you justify it with the CW or their supervisor?

I don't mean to minimize, but my son is non-verbal, agressive classic autism with "significant" brain damage, PSTD symptoms, ADHD, seizure disorder etc.....I only got the standard rate. I didn't even get anything "extra" in the adoption subsidy


With our agency, at least, in order to get the higher rate the foster parent must be licensed as theraputic placement and the child placed as a theraputic placement.

[URmysunshine4]

The foster mom that has our FD's sister said to ask about it because she thought we deserved it based on how many times she has had illnesses. Our FD's immune system is very weak because of staph infection that occured before she was in care so hopefully at some point she will grow out of this. And while she attends a great daycare center there is always some type of illness going around.

[elk134]

Originally Posted by URmysunshine4

The foster mom that has our FD's sister said to ask about it because she thought we deserved it based on how many times she has had illnesses. Our FD's immune system is very weak because of staph infection that occured before she was in care so hopefully at some point she will grow out of this. And while she attends a great daycare center there is always some type of illness going around.

Do you have my daughter? We had a scare right after we first got her that she may not be allowed to even attend daycare because of her immune system. We were told she was in the hospital more than she was not the first 6 weeks of her life. We were worried because if she had not been allowed to attend daycare, she would have had to have been moved as we both work full time and had no one that could watch her for us. Luckily after a conversation with the doctor, he went ahead and approved her to go to daycare because she was in a new home environment. And honestly except for the darn ear infections and the hearing scare, she has been the most healthy baby.

[URmysunshine4]

Elk, she is strong as an ox, we go and have shots (not kiddding) it takes 3 of us to hold her down, she only weights 26 lbs., her immune system just doesn't fight anything, she has bad allergies, seasonal, food, and I have to wash all of her clothing in a special detergent. She is very loving, goes up to all the kids and teachers in her class and kisses them, so that doesn't help. Our other 15 month old FD hasn't gotten sick since we have had her (just over a month), she is teething and chews on EVERYTHING and to boot this is the first time in daycare. I just don't get it.
And yes most of the time my house is crazy, 2 girls 15 months, but wouldn't change it for the world.

[la vida loca]

For a long period of time my oldest AD had over 40 appointments each month. There was no special rate for her.

[Teacher8]

Here in Az, they have very specific conditions that qualify for specific rates, and there are about 7 tiers, ranging from regular rate all the way to Medical Fragile 3 (extremely Medical Fragile). To qualify for any of the Medically Fragile rates, the foster parents must be specially licensed, which requires an extra 18 hours of class. There are also special needs rates, which are used for high need children with specific disabilities, but that don't require special licensing.

Our current FD, Dancing Queen, qualifies at the highest Medical Fragile rate, and we had to go become specially licensed to get that rate. We didn't get it at first b/c we weren't specially licensed. DQ suffered abusive head trauma, was in a coma, spent 10 weeks in the hospital, and had to relearn basic life skills, like walking, talking, eating, pottying, etc. She takes 5 medications daily, and has therapy appts, as well as out of town specialist appts.
Funny thing is, I've had to take LESS time off work for DQ than I did for some of our previous "normal" foster kiddos. DQ has yet (knock on wood) to get sick and need to stay home requiring me to call in sick. We were able to schedule her in-town appts, like therapy, for when my DH is off to take her. So, I only have to take time off work once a month to take her out of town to see her specialists. Go figure!

[A.S.]

I would find out how your state determines the special rate. My FS qualified because
of his chronic asthma.
Here is the main criteria that caused the special rate-- that he had a condition that required intervention by the foster parent on a daily basis.
We did not have to take any special training and we are not a therapeutic home.

I hear you about the stress of the multiple appt's missed work.
Here all children are automatically assessed for enhanced maintenance rates. You can then ask for a reassessment when things change. When I asked for the reassessment I basically said 'fs has had X appt's in the last 3 mos, and has had to miss X days of daycare b/c of this condition. We spend X amount of time per day managing the condition. We have made X trips to the ER. We also have to X & X because of this.

Looking at the eval that qualified him for the special rate it appears that the significant thing was the daily time we had to spend on it-- not the appts or the missed daycare.