Been away awhile

[At_The_Brink]

It has been awhile since I've been here but I have some questions I think some of you might have some insight to. This is one of my first threads here and it has a lot of information on Post 22 if you want to refresh your memory:

http://www.conductdisorders.com/forum/showthread.php?p=93031#post93031


Catch up to date here:
difficult child is now almost 17 and we ended up going through with CHIPS(not JIPS) and he was taken out of our house the last week of June 2008. He has since been kicked out of several group homes for running away and then finally placed in TFC(which was a JOKE) and then another felony this past august and then off to Mental Health Hospital and now FINALLY Residential Treatment Center (RTC) and we have Wraparound Service involved now with the goal of bringing him home. He has made some great changes(motivated by seeing a friend get shot and killed SIGH) and I am cautiously optimistic about him coming home. Anywhoo, just last week we got a letter and we are being sued by the State of Wisconsin for support and mainentance of JB......What? Can they do this? Is it legal considering the diagnosis's? Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[JJJ]

Yes it is legal. They should have done a child support fee based on your income when they took him. Unless your parental rights are terminated, you are still responsible for supporting your child.

 

[BusynMember]

I live in Wiscsonsin and without going into detail it sure is. We had to pay for an Residential Treatment Center (RTC) plus foster care, although I do think it would help to go to court and plead for compassion to a judge. We did and got the cost of one of them dropped. However, ours was a very unusual situation. Oh, yeah. Bring a lawyer.

 

[At_The_Brink]

Wow, and do they do a garnishment or setup a payment? This is scary as we JUST saved our house from foreclosure. And I only work very part time and looking for a full time job. MM, was it alot? Yeesh. Yeah, I think an atty is in order. And JJJ, they didn't do anything of the sort when we were in court for CHIPS. Also, does it make a difference that we didn't request Residential Treatment Center (RTC) and that it was proposed by Social Services? And that he was suicidal with many diagnosis? And it is a term of his probation for a felony? Just asking. Thanks

 

[klmno]

My son is incarcerated at Department of Juvenile Justice and I have to pay CS. A lot of states are doing this now since they are broke. It works like this- Department of Juvenile Justice filed for CS so that part got turned over to DSS dept. of child support enforcement services, then we went to court for the judge to sign off on the amount. I've been umemployed about all year and still have to pay based on making min wage. Being a state agency that filed (instead of another parent), it automatically goes thru DSS here, meaning if I get employed, they can garnish my wages to get the money. This will be the case even if he goes to foster care, Residential Treatment Center (RTC), or group home in the future....unless I sign over all parental rights and put him up for adoption, which I will not do. (Oddly enough, if a family adopts a child they get state assistance but if the bio parent keeps the child, they don't qualify for most of it.) I have no control when they decide to return him home (unless they try and I refuse) but either way, I have to pay CS until he comes home. Hoovers doesn't it?

Your best bet would have been to apply for medicaid for him while he was in a mental health facility. I'm not sure you can do this now- it depends if he's considered a ward of the state (even though you retain parental rights- supposedly) and if this is considered a mental health placement.

 

[At_The_Brink]

My son is incarcerated at Department of Juvenile Justice and I have to pay CS. A lot of states are doing this now since they are broke. It works like this- Department of Juvenile Justice filed for CS so that part got turned over to DSS dept. of child support enforcement services, then we went to court for the judge to sign off on the amount. I've been umemployed about all year and still have to pay based on making min wage. Being a state agency that filed (instead of another parent), it automatically goes thru DSS here, meaning if I get employed, they can garnish my wages to get the money. This will be the case even if he goes to foster care, Residential Treatment Center (RTC), or group home in the future....unless I sign over all parental rights and put him up for adoption, which I will not do. (Oddly enough, if a family adopts a child they get state assistance but if the bio parent keeps the child, they don't qualify for most of it.) I have no control when they decide to return him home (unless they try and I refuse) but either way, I have to pay CS until he comes home. Hoovers doesn't it?

Your best bet would have been to apply for medicaid for him while he was in a mental health facility. I'm not sure you can do this now- it depends if he's considered a ward of the state (even though you retain parental rights- supposedly) and if this is considered a mental health placement.

He does have t-19(since Jan 08) and then all the mental health stuff is covered by wraparound now. Not sure what to expect then....wishful thinking that we don't have to pay. ha We also have a delinquency order on him(rather the court does, for his crimes). I am sure that it has to do with which government agency is handling things. Since wrap is involved(and also he is not done with Residential yet) they cover the mental health end(and they do not use tax dollars for services offered) of things for him and the family. I'm thinking they want payment for foster care services(which is strictly social services area of government). I don't know. I should be able to find out more tomorrow.

 

[busywend]

This is terribly disturbing. Not that parents should not support their children, they should. But, I certainly hope it is just the 17% of your income and not to cover the entire cost of his care.

 

[klmno]

Here it is based on income- they are not making me pay for entire cost. His insurance was cancelled when he was turned over to Department of Juvenile Justice because that made him a ward of the state- then I rec'd a letter from Department of Juvenile Justice saying that I might have to pay a certain amount of his medical bills if they went over a certain amount but I haven't heard anymore about that so far.