How much of the stipend goes towards bills?

In Tn, you get the check the following month... so, if you got placed on June 15, you would get payment for June 15-30 around July 15. It can make things really tight if you get placed at the end of the month (ie June 30), as July 15, you would only be reimbursed for June 30, and then would have to wait until Aug 15 to get reimbursed for all of July. I wish that had been explained as we had to pay for daycare each week. Also, our kids were supposed to get $1 per day allowance. We were allowed to put it into a savings account since they were 2 & 5. I have continued that even still (although more now)... it will be a nice chunk of change when they are teenagers. :)

Since normally we are a two person household, when FKs come in---EVERYTHING goes up! The Electric and Water bill all the time. In the winter-the gas bill as we are heating the entire house versus just the side we hangout in. Groceries---not so much. Kiddos eat at school B&L and D is at home during the week. So, I don't feel the effect. We are told that the monthly allotment is for room and board. We are supposed to be prepared to get the FKs what they need from that check too. I automatically get childcare paid for through the CMA program. We are on a swipe card system now. We do not receive a clothing/school supplies allowance anymore. I have researched clothing closet programs in my area. I use one that has worked out really well and each child can visit twice a year. How I budget-I don't buy any clothing or diapers the first week. I make my clothing/diaper stash work and keep them home with me or a family member. Once the court has decided to keep in custody, I do major shopping then. Any items people GIVE me, I add back into my clothing stash. I only send them home with clothes that I've bought and still fit them. Outgrown clothes that I've bought get put into the stash for the next kiddo. I do shop at thrift stores for some play clothes. I just haven't had to come out of pocket for alot. You learn to buy just what's needed and not buy all the extras. I mark their take home toys with their initials when they receive them so it's easy to identify on packing day. I also learned to mark some toys with our last name so kiddos know that although we bought it while they were here-it's a household item they can use--not a personal toy.

In each stipend check includes an personal and clothing allowance. We have to keep our receipts to prove that we bought clothes with the money. Our fs is too young to spend a personal allowance so we will buy toys for him with that money. We will also have to keep receipts for his allowance. The rest of the check we use however we want.

LOL..yeah, I don't think any of us are getting rich here.

I don't seem to really keep track either. There typically is a bit left over each month, but I typically will transfer that to a savings for birthday parties, school stuff, fun trips/outings etc. I think are bills went up a bit, gas especially, but it all kind of balances itself out. We do get day care covered though. If we didn't then it would be a different story. But I don't think you're wrong to take a little bit to supplement yourself for cost increases. I mean I was told at one point by a CW 'it's my job.' HAHAHAHA, if this is a job it's not even meeting the minimum wage guidelines!!! I just would take the first few months see how it all pans out and decide from there what works best for you all.

A few foster parents I know IRL here say that "foster care is their business". They do everything they can to get things for free or the kids don't get it. So sad! We pay to put our kids into sports & even had to buy a left-handed softball glove for $75 (cheap gloves are only for righters). She had an incredible experience. Whatever you have to spend the stipend for, it's for the kids' care & that does include room & board.

I'm amazed at the difference in daily rate among the states. we are in WV and get 600/month per child plus all daycare is paid for while your are working. In addition to the Medicaid, both k and c will continue to receive the same monthly subsidy after adoption, as do all kids adopted from foster care here. ( our special needs qualification is vey liberal) plus the Medicaid. I can't believe some states have as low as 8 or 9 dollars per day for children in foster care, especially in states with a higher cost of living. As far as expenses go, when we went from 1 to 4 kids the biggest thing I noticed was the water bill. More laundry, more baths, more dish washing. They were all under 5 so they really didn't eat a substantial amount of food, plus they all received wic and ate lunch at daycare. We ended up having to rent a minivan during most of the kids stay with us because it was just too hard to get three big toddlers buckled into carseats smashed into my backseat. So during the time they all were with us, a big chunk of the stipend went to rent that extra vehicle. We didn't buy one bc we knew it would be temporary.

I used to keep all my receipts for all the things beyond basic daily care that I supplied for my son when he was my fc. We were supposed to keep records of any clothing we bought in case we needed to show how we used the quarterly clothing allowance. In five years nobody ever asked me for those receipts.Anyway, I kept receipts for things like clothing, shoes, car seats, special events, school field trips, sports and other activities, etc. Once, I sat down and added everything up and it was way beyond the monthly Care and Maintenance and the Clothing payments. This was before factoring in the increase in groceries, utility bills, and gas (for all the additional shuttling to visits, school and activities). And, I should add, from age 3 to 5 DCF paid for his day care too. Not sure how I would have managed if that hadn't been funded.No, nobody can get rich doing this, unless they are skimping on the children's needs.

We are very frugal (I used to teach a class on frugal living) and have very generous friends when it comes to hand-me-down clothing, strollers, toys, etc, etc. Our reimbursement has never completely covered our expenses for the child. That's for 12 placements in 3 years. I can't imagine being much more frugal than we are, so unless you are getting a much better rate than we are (and you may be, if you are with an agency--we get just under $21/day), I don't see how it can be done.

Every one of my utility bills went up when I got the girls. My water bill tripled and the others doubled, much for the same reasons others have mentioned.My foster per-diem barely covered day care. Now, moving to the new agency, depending on the age I get, I'll only get just enough to pay for day care or I'll get enough that I will have to pay about 100$ out of pocket towards day care. Everything else comes out of my pocket.Fortunately, this agency does provide 125/quarter for clothing. I was probably buying a new pair of shoes for FD1 every 6 weeks or so. She would just wear them out, sometimes before she out grew them.I did the numbers once to see if I could afford to become a "professional foster parent" meaning take in children and live off of that per-diem and there is NO way I could do it. I don't know how people do it really. The new agency also provides 1$ a day for allowance for the child but you can just buy a toy and show receipt for it. Now that I am getting subsidy for Chubbs, I put half of it in his savings so I can stock pile it because I know they'll try and cut it off as soon as they can. Although, now that there is a potential hearing issue, that may not happen.

With our agency we get $21 a day but we also get reimbursed for things like diapers, clothes, shoes, wipes, and travel. For an infant that I transported to visits it was usually like a $200-300 check each month but for Curly it is more like an extra $100. There are no "limits" but we have to show receipts for everything in that check but nothing for the stipend check. They had explained it to us as the child's check covering their portion of our mortgage/rent, water bill, gas and electric and even considering car insurance and gas into it. Hilarious to even consider because their stipend comes no where close! We do get WIC and we get help with daycare. We end up paying an extra $200 a month for each girl over what the state provides. We would never be able to survive without our income but we are very comfortable and our kids don't put a financial strain on us at all. We are able to provide them with fun stuff with out own money because the state really takes care of most of their basic needs. I think it is how foster care should be. Not a profitable experience at all but enough to get kids what they need.

Thank you all so much for all the responses! I really learned a lot. I was planning on putting some money away for the first month. A foster friend of mine didn't get her first check for 50 days. I won't quit my day job! Hopefully I can work around my husbands schedule so that we won't need a babysitter. Although, I have an 18yr old who loves little ones! Thank you all again!! :)

I got my first check 2 weeks after placement. From what I read it depends on where u are located!

wow,i fee really lucky then..we get $25 per day per child and daycare and preschool are free b/c they are foster children. we use that money to spoil the kids basically but our water bill did go us as well as more food, laundry soap, etc, so some money does go for that.

We get $23.50 per day for basic level kids. Daycare is covered, if both parents work outside the home (but for little ones, they like one stay-at-home parent in our area). Preschool (HeadStart) is free of course, and foster kids are categorically eligible.We don't get an official clothing stipend, but twice a year our agency has an event at one of the popular clothing retailers where we get a $200 voucher from that store -- we have to use it just on that day during the event.When we had five foster kids in our home, there were probably months when we had money leftover from the stipend, but there were also months where we definitely spent more on the kids than we received.