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just got this emailed from dcs. i guess this is good news? time will tell. NEWS RELEASEFor immediate release Friday, August 19, 2011Indiana Dept. of Child Services Announces New Foster Care Reimbursement RatesPer Diem Changes Effective January 1INDIANAPOLIS—As a result of a legal settlement, today the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) released a new foster care per diem rate schedule. The reimbursements become effective January 1, 2012. With the new rates, the supervision needs of the child and his or her age, rather than the licensure level of the foster home, will determine the rate at which foster parents are reimbursed. All of the approximately 4,900 foster homes currently licensed in Indiana will be affected—about 2,700 managed by DCS and about 2,200 managed by Licensed Child Placement Agencies.“The new rates we’re unveiling today are the direct result of a survey of our foster parents by the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research,” said James W. Payne, DCS Director. “These new rates focus foremost on the needs of the child, which are our most important considerations when it becomes necessary for us to remove a child from his or her home for their own safety.” In 2009 DCS announced an intention to implement a 10 percent decrease in the foster care daily per diem, from $25 to $22.50. The American Civil Liberties Union then filed a lawsuit on behalf of several foster parents. A Federal District Court froze the rates at the 2009 level until DCS could demonstrate a clear methodology for covering the costs of caring for a foster child.As a part of a legal settlement, DCS agreed to develop a rate setting method to determine foster care rates. To that end, DCS drafted administrative rules and held public hearings to gather input on the proposed methodology. As set out in the rules, the foster care rates cover the reasonable costs of caring for a foster child including, but not limited to, food, clothing, shelter, daily supervision, a child’s personal incidentals and travel for visitation and school. DCS engaged the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research to survey Indiana foster parents to understand the actual costs incurred by foster care households associated with caring for foster kids. (A copy of the study may be viewed at [url=http://www.in.gov/dcs]DCS: Home[/url].)Some children need enhanced supervision, which is categorized as Foster Care with Services, Therapeutic Foster Care or Therapeutic Plus. Rates for these categories of supervision were determined by a formula using the Ball State University Foster Care rate and the current rates paid to service providers for these enhanced services. Like the Foster Care rates, these are also broken out by age group. A nationally-recognized assessment tool, the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths assessment (CANS), along with input from child and family team meetings, will be used by DCS to determine the category of care the child requires.Beginning January 1, in addition to per diem rates described above, foster parents may receive additional payments to help purchase items that will benefit the child. The personal allowance will increase from $100 to $300 annually which can help children in care participate in activities such as sports, band or scouts, attend events such as a prom, or provide for other extracurricular fees. (See list of additional payments below.)“The special allowances of $50 for the child’s birthday and $50 during the December holiday season will help foster parents see the child receives things during these gift-giving occasions,” said Payne. “While a child is in out-of-home care, it is important the child receive the level of supervision necessary but also for the child to celebrate a birthday or remain involved in extracurricular activities. Foster children are no different than any other child.” About Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS):DCS is committed to protecting children who are victims of abuse or neglect. Family case managers’ primary goal is to keep children at home with their family though sometimes placing them in temporary foster care is necessary to ensure their safety. The Kids First Trust Fund, supported by the sale of ‘Kids First’ specialty automobile license plates, subsidizes child abuse and neglect prevention programs. DCS also oversees foster-care adoptions and the child support bureau. In collaboration with the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, Books for Youth is targeting a Super Goal for the Super Game: collect 750,000 books for foster kids by Feb. 2012. Child abuse/neglect hotline: 800.800.5556. [url=http://www.in.gov/dcs]DCS: Home[/url].RATE CHART ATTACHED.For more information: Ann Houseworth, Communications Director 317.234.3924 Ann.Houseworth@dcs.in.gov Rich Allen, ***’t. Communications Director 317.232.4424 Rich.Allen@dcs.in.gov INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF CHILD SERVICES’NEW FOSTER CARE RATES The standard per diem payments effective January 1, 2012 are:Category of Supervision Foster Care - Infant – 4 years $18.28, 5 – 13 years $19.85, 14 – 18 years $22.90Foster Care with Services - Infant – 4 years $26.05, 5 – 13 years $27.62, 14 – 18 years $30.67Therapeutic Foster Care - Infant – 4 years $38.19, 5 – 13 years $39.76, 14 – 18 years $42.81Therapeutic Plus - Infant – 4 years $61.94, 5 – 13 years $63.51, 14 – 18 years $66.56In addition to the above described per diem payment, foster parents may receive the following payments to purchase items for the benefit of the child:1. Initial Clothing Allowance – DCS may provide the foster family with an initial clothing and personal items allotment at the time of placement of up to $200 based on the child's need.2. Liability Insurance – DCS will provide foster care liability insurance for foster parents through a contract with the Indiana Foster Care and Adoption Association (IFCAA). Foster parents no longer need to be members of IFCAA to obtain the insurance. 3. Personal Allowance – DCS will reimburse foster parents up to $300 annually for each child in placement. Foster parents may request reimbursement for personal allowance items once the child has been in placement for at least 8 days. The items that fall within the personal allowance will be defined in DCS Policy. 4. Special Occasion Allowance – DCS will provide a $50 special occasion allowance on the child’s birthday and a $50 special occasion allowance during the December holidays. 5. Travel Reimbursement – DCS will reimburse foster parents for travel in excess of 162 miles if the travel is for visitation, school, physical/behavioral health appointment or other DCS required travel which will be set out in the Indiana Foster Parent Resource Guide.footnote:(1) The foster care per diem covers 162 miles per month for travel as determined by the Ball State Study. If foster parents travel in excess of 162 miles for the reasons cited in 5 above, foster parents can invoice DCS for the additional travel. ###
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My hubby and I have been foster parents for 3 years. We both work full-time so the kids have to go to daycare or B/A care which is not cheap. I've been told by several people just to file for CCDF, however, I've also been told that we make too much $$$ to qualify for CCDF and although foster kids are put at the top of the list there is no funding. What the heck??? Does anyone know how working foster parents can get the CCDF that the kids deserve??? Now with DCS cutting back the per diem I'm not even sure how we would be able to do it now. Advice needed desperately from any FP that know how to get CCDF!!! :grr:
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In Marion county we actually get a voucher to take to the store. The only store that I've found to accept them on my side of town is K-Mart. I've had to stay on the CW to get the voucher though but I didn't let up. Especially when you get a child that has a Wal-mart bag with no undies and maybe 3 or 4 outfits of dirty clothes and barely any shoes.
Yesterday and today, I found out what categories my kiddos are going to be placed in, come January. My 6yo has ADHD and ODD and on 2 meds. He's been placed in the Foster Care with Services. Reasonable... My 12 yo is in counseling, but otherwise normal kid. She's been placed in the Foster Care category. Again, reasonable. My 11mo has club feet, so he's under the care of an orthopedic surgeon, he has PT weekly, wears othotics and needs daily stretching on his feet. His category is Foster Care. ???? UNreasonable! I knew this is the way it would go. We will be appealing it and we'll fight it every step of the way until he gets moved into a more appropriate category! He is considered special needs for every other service, except for per diem purposes. >:-( My guess is, the ones in control of placing kids in categories will keep the deciding factors a blurry secret, so no matter what the appropriate category is, it'll really end up being whether they WANT to pay more or not. And most of the time, I'm afraid it's going to be "or not".
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sissysmom
I don't think that this affects adoption subsidies if you get it from the Federal side. Mine is thru Federal, not State. It may affect home that receive State funded subsidies.
Even if you get federal adoption subsidy , the check still comes from the state of IN.. like the previous poster, when they tried to reduce the foster rate in 2009 we were automatically shorted on our adoption subsidy for a few months before it was paid back thanks to the lawsuit.I have no faith in this state.. I tried to get my one AS's foster rate bumped up to therapeutic level a few years ago and was yelled at because they don't "do " that with non-agency homes.. Funny, the head of our foster parent training suggested it b/c all I needed to do was take a few more hours for the SN license.. I was then told that medicaid covers his numerous surgeries so why in the world would I need a higher rate?? This from the same county that threatened to remove him & his brother (with us 4.5 & 2.5 yrs at the time) when I wanted to fight for a decent adoption subsidy (again, they'll get medicaid.. that covers their various medical issues, you're just in it for the money.. UGH! In theory, I like the idea of the $$ being based on the kids needs vs the licensing of the foster home but I just know it won't work out well.. FYI- my AS has had 4heart related surgeries, numerous other tests/procedures.. Been inpatient 9times in 5yrs. Has Asthma, is in therapy, has autonomic dysfunction & has a pacemaker.. Yeah, I don't think he qualifies for more than basic level. geesh
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naca
Even if you get federal adoption subsidy , the check still comes from the state of IN.. like the previous poster, when they tried to reduce the foster rate in 2009 we were automatically shorted on our adoption subsidy for a few months before it was paid back thanks to the lawsuit.
I have no faith in this state.. I tried to get my one AS's foster rate bumped up to therapeutic level a few years ago and was yelled at because they don't "do " that with non-agency homes.. Funny, the head of our foster parent training suggested it b/c all I needed to do was take a few more hours for the SN license.. I was then told that medicaid covers his numerous surgeries so why in the world would I need a higher rate?? This from the same county that threatened to remove him & his brother (with us 4.5 & 2.5 yrs at the time) when I wanted to fight for a decent adoption subsidy (again, they'll get medicaid.. that covers their various medical issues, you're just in it for the money.. UGH!
In theory, I like the idea of the $$ being based on the kids needs vs the licensing of the foster home but I just know it won't work out well..
FYI- my AS has had 4heart related surgeries, numerous other tests/procedures.. Been inpatient 9times in 5yrs. Has Asthma, is in therapy, has autonomic dysfunction & has a pacemaker.. Yeah, I don't think he qualifies for more than basic level. geesh
I had a much better result in getting what we were originally offered ($5/day) for our 2 boys (on top of 5yr old's issues, the 3yr old has ADHD, asthma, developmental delays, obstructive sleep apnea (needs cpap), speech delays & seizures) by complaining to the state subsidy dept of the county's high handedness & threats of removal. . Of course it still was pitiful compared to our 6yr old that we adopted back in 2006.. Times are changing, and not for the better in this state :(
In theory I like the idea of per diems being based on kids' needs too, but I'm confident it won't work. If the KidTrax office gets confused and are slow to pay with a straightforward simple daily rate for everyone as it is, how are they ever going to manage with all kids' rates being different, sometimes even different for the same kid in the same month?? Plus add in extra "line items" like travel, special allowances, etc. They'll be in a state of permanent confusion and getting paid will be few and far between. It's a mess. My dh thinks the state is trying to make it all as frustrating and complicated as possible, so fp's won't even go to the bother of invoicing them. What an excellent way to save the state money!! :arrow: :grr:
We received the letter. However, it refers to the foster parent rate changing. I understand that. We are adoptive parents as well with subsidies that have been in place for years. Is this 2012 rate just reflective of the fp rate change cause we received no notification of a subsidy rate change, just one that said fp, as we do have one fc in care. Any advice or knowledge on this issue. Thank you.
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rozelle
We received the letter. However, it refers to the foster parent rate changing. I understand that. We are adoptive parents as well with subsidies that have been in place for years. Is this 2012 rate just reflective of the fp rate change cause we received no notification of a subsidy rate change, just one that said fp, as we do have one fc in care. Any advice or knowledge on this issue. Thank you.
dhardawa
I'm an adoptive parent in Indiana and my subsidy does come from the state. When they tried to reduce the foster care subsidy in 2009, my adoption subsidy went down too. I would love to know how this will impact adoption subsidies since I have received no information in the mail, don't know where they would classify my son, or if I would also receive the other lump sums of money.