Omg!!

[klmno]

I had asked for verification from the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) that they had everything covered and if there were any remaining costs not covered by sd and medicaid. They just emailed me stating that the sd pays for the number of days that difficult child would be attending based on their school calendar. This is what it says:

I have pulled a copy of their calendar and depending on his admission date they will pay for 11 days in March beginning 3/16/09. For the month of April your portion would be $1040 based on 13 days, May will be $880 based on 11 days and June will be $1680 based on 21 days. The months of July and August you would owe the full portions as school does not begin until September, 2009. We would expect a deposit to be made upon admission for March uncovered days and April would be due by 3/31/09.

Has anyone else dealt with this? What other charges are there that they haven't informed me about yet? I am going to see if I can pull from his college education fund for this.

 

[Jungleland]

Wow! That is outrageous! We could never afford that amount. I hope someone else has more info than I to help you! Yikes!!!

 

[Shari]

The school only has to pay for days they'd be in session, even tho its residential, and even tho its cause he can't attend their school like a typical child? I'd be questioning that in itself!

 

[klmno]

I've emailed and asked her to double-check this. The sd is not giving kids 13 days off in April, 11 days off in May, and they go to school half of June here. This sounds like she's trying to charge for 7 day/week attendance. I don't think the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) sends them to school 7 days a week.

 

[klmno]

Ok, she emailed and said that the state allows them to charge for 7 days/week as part of the county fuunding agreement. So, I responded asking if they are sending residents to school 7 days a week and if a parent is paying instead of the county, are they charging parents for days they aren't going to school. The way I see it, just because the state allows 7 days a week doesn't mean that payment should be made for days not provided. Who would I call to nip it in the bud if they expect me to make payment for weekends if difficult child isn't going to school on weekends? That is requiring payment for services not delivered. Wouldn't the intent of the state allowing it be for cases where a Residential Treatment Center (RTC) is providing education on weekends? Should I call DOE?

 

[klmno]

Now this is what she's telling me: (CSA is the community funding- it's put in place by the state but given and managed by the county.)

You are being charged for education during the monthly period. The state CSA system is set for daily units of billing meaning charges are made per day. Education is the same as the other CSA charges and is broken down in seven days/units to accomodate the CSA system. If a parent is paying the education portion they are charged the same as the CSA-seven equal units of education-otherwise there would be one rate for weekdays and one for weekends which would not accomodate the billing structures put in place by the localities that are served.

 

[Janna]

This isn't something I know about, or have ever had to deal with. But, the word "units" stuck out at me, because all of B's and D's services have always been charged this way by the insurance company - so maybe others do it that way too.

*shrug*

I forget, is he on SSDI with medical assistance? That's who is paying for D's current Residential Treatment Facility (RTF) placement, with the recommendation from MH/MR and psychiatrist.

Sorry you're dealing with this. I couldn't afford that! Geez.

 

[DammitJanet]

Well I never encountered this. It says...If a parent.. You arent paying, the SD is so it shouldnt apply to you. Besides that, he should be in summer school because of all the days he has missed anyway. Call an emergency IEP meeting and get ESY.

 

[klmno]

I emailed agin. LOL! I said if they are billing based on a monthly system instead of school day calendar, then could she discuss this with the school system because they aren't providing any education above and beyond the public school so it appeared to be an issue between them. If this school has already acknowledged that they are responsible for the cost of educating difficult child up to a level provided in public school, and the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) isn't providing more than that, then shouldn't they be working out how they want to count days and bill?

And here's her response to that:

Dr. XXX (from sd) is already aware of that information and made her decision to pay based on that information. She is paying for school days only and it is your responsibiity to pay for weekends and holidays.

Ok- who do you think I should contact? This lady needs to take one position or another- either she's got the cost of 20 days of education broken down to be billed monthly on a 7 day/week rate, or she's charging for 7 days/week of education, which the kids are not getting. Do I asked the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) for something in writing about how they bill for education?

 

[CrazyinVA]

I'm confused. I don't recall there being any issue of payment when Youngest went to Residential Treatment Center (RTC). I had no copays whatsoever. I also had an agreement with DSS, however, where they had partial custody, so that may have had something to do with it. I KNOW your county does those agreements, because I knew a woman who had one (her autistic son had to be placed out of state, even).

I wanted to add that as far as placement, in my county, the placement person was from the Children Services Board (CSB). That's all she did, was match up places and clients. She coordinated the placement of Youngest into the Residential Treatment Center (RTC), and did all the paperwork. She worked closely with DSS, too. As you know, though, my county is smaller, and the depts work together much more closely than yours do. Still, it's worth a call to your Children Services Board (CSB) to ask who the person is in charge of residential placements .. even if it's just a cold call.

 

[DammitJanet]

is this a private facility or a state run place? Maybe ask about sliding scale. Corys Residential Treatment Center (RTC) was state run and had a sliding scale. Supposedly we were going to have a sliding scale fee attached to his placement and I think we did get a bill for 4 bucks later on after he was discharged..

 

[klmno]

Crazy- I can't- remember- difficult child is in Department of Juvenile Justice custody and they assigned him a Children Services Board (CSB) person from detention who apparently doesn't even know that a psychiatrist is a doctor. I am not allowed to go get anoother one. Just like with dss- the gal got them involved and they assigned a sw. I'm not allowed to go get another one. It doesn't matter that another one who isn't always working with Department of Juvenile Justice would know what to do and could do it.

This is why I asked for difficult child to be released from propbation in Jan.- the PO was supposed to be the person to get whatever might be needed but she wouldn't because she said he didn't need it- that the problem was just me. Now, he has a gal and a cm but apparently, they only know the same Department of Juvenile Justice stuff, just like the po. At least the cm agreed to ask her super about the certificate of need. When (if) she calls me back about that, I am going to discuss her requesting a county meeting- it should be her to do it. But given her lack of knowledge and her strong belief in Department of Juvenile Justice, I somehow doubt I can get her to do it. Department of Juvenile Justice people aren't used to calling county meetings and requesting funds for things and stating that a difficult child needs something outside of their own agency. They have crime prevention fund to cover things- problem is- it doesn't and hasn't covered what difficult child needs. They keep trying to "re-identify" our needs to fit what their funds cover and what they are used to (ie- mst instead of psychiatrist care).

 

[klmno]

Private. I've asked for them to email me their written policy re. how they break down educational costs and bill for them.

 

[DDD]

I'm on your team.....but....please be cautious. Private institutions and private businesses do not have to deal with anybody. That includes you and your son. They can easily just delete your name from the computer and insert someone who is not assertive/aggressive.

I've done private. The decisions can be capricious...to say the least.
Good luck. DDD

 

[CrazyinVA]

There is a term for this mess.. but I can't use it here. Let me just say that the initials are C.F.

Say it out loud, to yourself. It might make you feel better, at least. :-D

 

[klmno]

I don't know of any state facilities like this in our state. The only three that have been recommended to me by anyone, even those working for the state, have been private. I think there might be a couple under the direction of state juvy but they are used more for a step-down from state juvy and that would be worse- they aren't psychiatric Residential Treatment Center (RTC)'s.

This, along with medicaid not paying for long enough treatment possibly, were the judge's concern about it. However, no one seemed to be able to come up with a better alternative- exxcept the gal's bright idea of turning difficult child over to dss. How they think my bro could solve this problem is beyond me. He could definitely solve any pproblem of difficult child being raised by someone who's over-protective though.

 

[klmno]

DDD- any suggestions on dealing with the Residential Treatment Center (RTC)? Should I just figure out if I can pay them or not and quit emailing them?

Crazy- I cannot think of what that means- can you pm me with a hint, now that it's driving me nuts trying to figure it out? LOL!

Did you guys read my update on the "this is driving me..." thread? It's about the team meeting this morning.

 

[CrazyinVA]

Done. Don't say I didn't warn you ... lol

 

[klmno]

They sent me a brief, type-written thingy that says "room & board---cost; education---cost per day based on 7 days weeks". That was it. It was obviously not a written policy.

Then, the "cm" called and said she has a call into the county team to see about the certificate of need. I said good, could you mention to them that we may need some county funding after all- and the lady she's going to speak with should know about this educational billing and asked the cm to discuss that as well. Then I asked if she could just request a county meeting and she said no because she doesn't know difficult child or me so she would not be comfortable advocating for us and that it would need to be the po. I told her that I had asked the po about it a long time ago and that she would not do it. The cm said it was her understanding that this is still the po's position. So, that puts us right back where we started from.

Then, I went out for a bit and rec'd a message from gal while I was gone. It said that she had not heard from the sw at all and had no idea why a county meeting had not been scheduled yet. And that she was not aware of any plans for anything. Then, she said that a show cause motion had been placed against me for not taking a psychiatric test. She said the mst guy told her that he had given me several chances and I had refused so I had broken the judge's order and would have to answer for it.

So- what do they do with a parent if it gets to a point where the parent flat-out refuses to "work with" (aka- stop following orders) from the people in the court services unit? These are the people in probation and mst who are assigned to monitor those on probation, and apparently order the parents around? If their goal is to make sure THEY are monitoring difficult child, placing him with dss where he gets moved out of state doesn't serve that purpose does it?

Well, I called the clerk's office. She said it's not showing in the computer yet, which tells me it was filed today. She said normally there would be an arraignment and I would get a court appointment attny if I couldn't afford one, but since difficult child's court is so soon, I might have to answer to it then. So, if I'm supposed to have opportunity to have a court appointment attny, what happens if I'm in court before then?

The GAL did not asked me to return her call but said I could call her if I had questions. Do you think I should call her? I had asked her almost 3 weeks ago to discuss a referral to a county meeting with the PO.

 

[CrazyinVA]

They have to afford you the opportunity to have a court-appointed ttorney defend you if you need one. This much I know. They can't move forward if you say you want ont. So, she could have meant the arraignment would be that day, not the actual "trial."

I'm beginning to wonder if they won't continue difficult child's court date ... since nothing has moved forward. A call to her can't hurt.