How Much Do Foster Parents Get Paid In Illinois

Q: Does Illinois pay a grandmother $one,500 per month per child to be the foster parent to her eight grandchildren?

A: No. State officials take no tape of such a instance, and state law would not let it. This second-hand story spread by a Danville urologist isn't truthful.

FULL QUESTION

Beneath is an electronic mail that has circulated in the past few weeks. I would like to determine what, if whatsoever, of these assertions are true.

Staff of life Winner… Making Babies!

I was speaking to an emergency room physician this morning time. He told me that a woman in her 20s came to the ER with her eighth pregnancy. She stated, "my momma told me that I am the breadwinner for the family."

[EET ]

He asked her to explicate. She said that she can make babies and babies get money for the family. The scam goes similar this: The grandma calls the Department of Child and Family Services and states that the unemployed daughter is not capable of caring for these children. DCFS agrees and states that the kid or children will demand to go to foster intendance. The grandma so volunteers to be the foster parent, and thus receives a check for $1500 per child per month in Illinois. Total yearly income: $144,000 tax-free, not to mention free healthcare (Medicaid) plus a monthly card entitling her to free groceries, etc, and a voucher for 250 complimentary prison cell phone minutes per month. This does non even include WIC and other welfare programs. Indeed, grandma was correct in that her fertile daughter is the "breadwinner" for the family unit.

This is how the ruling class spends our tax dollars.

Sebastian J. Ciancio, M.D. Urologist, Danville Polyclinic, LTD

And these volition be eight more votes for a liberal government!

[/EET]

Total Reply

The email was written by Dr. Sebastian J. Ciancio, a urologist who practices in Danville, Ill. He told us he wrote it sometime in July to conservative talk prove host Rush Limbaugh based on a 2d-hand report from an emergency-room doc he declined to name. "I really only know what the patient told the ER doc as reported to me through that doctor," Ciancio said in an e-mail to u.s.. We asked to speak with the doctor, and Ciancio told us he passed along our request. But nosotros have not heard from this medico.

In his e-mail to Limbaugh, Ciancio relays the story of a grandmother in Illinois who he claims is the foster parent to her eight grandchildren and receives $1,500 per kid per month for a total of $144,000 a year. The story is just false. Illinois Section of Children and Family Services spokesman Jimmie Whitelow told us that no such case exists in the country's system.

Whitelow, Dec. seven: Under the parameters under which he made the assertion, the Department has no such case. Nosotros don't have a family like that. We don't have anything that looks remotely like what he described.

Foster Care Payments

Kickoff, the email makes the faux merits that a foster parent "receives $ane,500 per child per month in Illinois." That's not true. No private in Illinois tin receive that much money per kid. In the instance of a grandmother serving as a foster parent to her grandchildren, Whitelow said that situation would be classified as "relative home care." The grandmother could be unlicensed or licensed, but both payment rates are significantly below $1,500.

The typical monthly payment rates for licensed relative home care range from $384 to $471, depending on the age of the child. The monthly payment rates for unlicensed relative habitation care range from $286 to $310, depending on the county. This money includes board, wearable and allowance. Foster parents may as well receive "1-time only payments to assistance the foster parent with fees that may be imposed," Whitelow explained. Such fees could exist for school supplies ($50 per twelvemonth) or campsite fees ($260.35 maximum).

This DCFS chart shows the monthly payment rates for licensed relative home intendance:

This is the DCFS nautical chart detailing the monthly payment rates for unlicensed relative home care:

There are exceptions to these payment procedures if a kid requires specialized care. In such cases, Whitelow said, additional money is awarded on a case-past-case footing. The process involves a physician's recommendation as well as a DCFS committee's approval and a gauge'due south consent.

But the extra money doesn't simply pad the foster parent'southward pockets. Whitelow wrote in an e-mail to us that "the medical professionals are paid through separate billing. All monies received for specialized needs are for any boosted professional service needs."

The bottom line: The virtually a foster family could peradventure receive directly from the state for 8 foster children is $45,216 for the yr — non $144,000. And that's true only if the country allows and so many children to be living in i house.

Foster Child Limit

DCFS has a procedure in place that by and large limits the number of foster children to no more than half-dozen children in a unmarried house — ii fewer than the eight claimed in the email. The policy allows for exceptions. The rules say, for case, that a foster home can business firm more children if the children are from the same parent — which would accept been the case in this situation described by Ciancio.

Department 402.15 Number and Ages of Children Served: Based on the ages of children in the abode, the ability of applicants to provide care, and the space available, make up one's mind that the license capacity for a foster habitation is half-dozen children, unless all of the foster children are of common parentage (meet definition) or a waiver of the maximum has been granted.

However, Whitelow said he checked department records and found at that place is no family in the state's foster care system such as the ane described by Ciancio.

In that location is likewise a more restrictive limit on the number of children in a foster dwelling house with special-needs children. A habitation with 1 kid who requires specialized intendance can only have up to five full foster children. A home with two special-needs children tin merely have up to four full foster children. In that location are exceptions to this rule besides, and a family could conceivably have up to 4 children who require specialized care (for a full of four children), if they receive the "approval of the manager of clinical services and the licensing supervisor."

Follow-Up E-mail

When we contacted Ciancio, he forwarded us two e-mails he had sent to Limbaugh: the original e-mail that is circulating on the Internet, and and so a follow-upward electronic mail in which he clarifies the record — to a point. This is the total text of the follow-up due east-postal service:

Ciancio: Last week I sent a letter of the alphabet about an ER patient claiming that her children's foster parent (who is her mother) gets $1500 per child per month, or $144,000 per year for 8 children (run across below).I called Illinois Department of Health and Human Services and Illinois Section of Children and Family unit Services to get some numbers. I was told that a typical foster parent would exist paid approximately $360-445 per month per kid depending on age. Nonetheless, the payment may exist as high as $2,000 per calendar month per child under special circumstances. I asked what those circumstances might be. The social worker explained that in that location could be 2 possible circumstances: special needs or if the social worker lobbied hard for that particular child, he/she could obtain a higher amount of funding than is normally permitted.

The "special circumstances" Ciancio mentions are not possible. We've established that relatives who are foster parents receive betwixt $286 and $471 per month per kid, and that any additional money for special-needs children is paid direct to the health intendance providers. Whitelow told us that a social worker cannot antechamber for more than coin for a detail child, as the e-mail maintains.

Whitelow explained that extra payments for children with special needs are provided on an individual footing. He could non give us a range of expected extra payments. Regardless, the additional money does not go to the foster parents.

Other Social Programs

The e-postal service is largely correct when information technology refers to other social programs available to poor families in Illinois — including costless health care, food stamps and free cell phone service. All of these are bodily available benefits, just but the wellness intendance services relate to an individual's status as a foster parent. We don't know if the family unit described in this electronic mail would qualify for all of the other benefits. In addition, the electronic mail's inclusion of the costless jail cell telephone service could mislead readers into thinking that is a taxpayer-funded government program, when it is not.

Illinois offers several health care programs, including one for children in foster care that provides gratis medical intendance. Illinois also offers the Illinois Link Bill of fare, an electronic card bachelor to those who receive cash benefits or Supplemental Nutrition Help Programme (SNAP) benefits, commonly known as nutrient stamps. The card is used like a debit card. A family of nine would most probable qualify for SNAP if it has a gross monthly income beneath $4,416. The family would receive $1,352 in benefits per month.

There is likewise a program in place for individuals to receive a free cell phone and a limited amount of free cell phone minutes. We confirmed the program tin, nether certain circumstances, provide "a voucher for 250 gratuitous cell telephone minutes per month," as the e-mail claims. Just the plan is funded past telecommunication companies, not tax dollars, equally we accept written before. (SafeLink Wireless is the program offered in Illinois.) Eligibility is based on whether an private has already qualified for other government benefits, such equally Medicaid.

Fifty-fifty Chain E-mails Get Distorted

The very nature of chain e-mails allows for further distortions every bit messages are forwarded forth. We compared a copy of the original e-mail that we received from Ciancio with the one nosotros received from a reader, and found two alterations.

The chain e-postal service from our reader featured a photo of a large blackness family unit with many young children. Neither electronic mail mentions the race of the supposed family. Ciancio told us in an e-mail service that "there was never a picture attached" to his missive to Limbaugh.

The concatenation e-mail also included a title ("Staff of life Winner… Making Babies!") and a closing sentence ("And these volition be eight more votes for a liberal government!") that Ciancio said he did not write.

— by Michael Morse, with Eugene Kiely

Sources

Illinois Section of Children and Family Services. "Procedures 359 : Authorized Child Care Payments." Undated, accessed eight Dec 2010.

Illinois Section of Children and Family Services. "Procedures 402, Section 402.xv: Number and Ages of Children Served." Undated, accessed 8 December 2010.

Illinois Section of Children and Family Services. "Rules 402 : Licensing Standards for Foster Family Homes." Undated, accessed 8 December 2010.

State of Illinois Family Care. "Wellness Coverage for Parents." Undated, accessed 8 Dec 2010.

Illinois Section of Human Services. "Illinois Link Carte du jour." Undated, accessed eight Dec 2010.

Illinois Department of Human Services. "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program." Undated, accessed 8 Dec 2010.

Bank, Justin. "The Obama Phone?" FactCheck.org. 29 Oct 2009.

SafeLink Wireless. "Lifeline/SafeLink Fact Sheet." Undated, accessed viii Dec 2010.

Ciancio, Sebastian J. Due east-mails sent to FactCheck.org. 3, 7 and 8 Dec 2010.

Ciancio, Sebastian J. Interview with FactCheck.org. iii Dec 2010.

Whitelow, Jimmie, spokesman, Department of Children and Family Services. Interview with FactCheck.org. iii and 7 Dec 2010.

Whitelow, Jimmie, spokesman, Department of Children and Family unit Services. Eastward-mail sent to FactCheck.org. 8 Dec 2010.

Source: https://www.factcheck.org/2010/12/fostering-a-fortune/

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