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We received a clothing voucher for $100. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to use it. She asked me on the phone which store would be best, and out of the list she gave me I said Target. So I have this form that I think I'm supposed to give Target when I go shopping, but I'm not sure. How do you use a clothing voucher? Is it only shirts and pants, etc., or can it be used for shoes and hats? Can it be used for sheets are blankets? Bibs? Burp cloths? Can I shop multiple times or is it a one time use type of thing? Just wondering what types of items I can purchase with it and how I am suppose to use it? Thanks!
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In my state it works about the same way, except we usually are able to get anything with it. Our vouchers are $300 per kid and can only be used at walmart. It was really hard when I got a sibling set to spend 600 on clothes when shirts were 3$ and pants were 4$ at the most! I literally bought every outfit in their size plus a lot of stuff they never needed or used.
I was able to get diapers, food, formula, sheets, blankets, toys, pretty much whatever the baby would use. I actually know of a fp who used it to buy a sibling group a trampoline!
mountaineermom
In my state it works about the same way, except we usually are able to get anything with it. Our vouchers are $300 per kid and can only be used at walmart. It was really hard when I got a sibling set to spend 600 on clothes when shirts were 3$ and pants were 4$ at the most! I literally bought every outfit in their size plus a lot of stuff they never needed or used.
I was able to get diapers, food, formula, sheets, blankets, toys, pretty much whatever the baby would use. I actually know of a fp who used it to buy a sibling group a trampoline!
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We got a voucher when our FD and FS were placed with us. The voucher stated what we could spend it on - clothes, formula, bottles, diapers, wipes, etc. When we got our 5 yo. we didn't initially get a voucher because he had comes from another home and the previous FPs had gotten the voucher. But I ended up requesting one because all of the clothes he came with were way too small or way too big and he didn't have shoes that fit or a jacket.
When R came into care as a newborn, we got a voucher as well for essentials to get us through for the short term.
Like PPs have stated, it's typically for one store and you spend it all at once.
We get a separate clothing allowance twice a year for the kiddos, in the spring and fall. This is in the form of a check and we can cash it and use it at any store we would like.
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We don't get vouchers. However, every six months our agency has an event where a particular store is closed down for several hours to everyone but foster parents with our agency. We each get about $250 of credit per kid to buy whatever the children need. It can be clothes or shoes, but not other items. The store puts a lot of items on sale, so you can get a lot of bang for your buck.
We don't get vouchers in Washington either. In fact they almost took away all of our payments this year, but didn't thankfully. They just reduced them. Thankfully we have some consignment stores that give foster parents discounts, and that does help. As a pp said, even at $2 & $3 each, Walmart adds up FAST! (We just spent another $250 there last night!)
As far as I'm aware we don't get vouchers here, either (I'm in PA). We recently had an emergency placement of 3 girls who came with maybe one change of clothes each. Everything we bought for them while they were with us was on us. We did get a stipend for each girl daily, but we won't see that check for about another month.
For a long term placement, we are expected to spend ~$50 on clothes per child per month. Since we haven't had that experience yet, I don't know that they actually check that, but it was noted explicitly in the handbook we received from them.
We don't get vouchers, we get a reimbursement of up to $200 for a child IF it's their 1st time in care (if they've been in care before you can't get it...our current placement is iffy because he was in care in RI and now he's in care in CO). You can only get it once and it is up to the director. We're told not to hold our breath.
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We don't get vouchers here in NYC. Each child will get $300.00 along with the first check, if they didn't come from another foster home. I have one child that came from the hospital. My other two came from another foster home, so I paid for their wardrobes.