I am definitely getting the run around and it is beginning to make me just a bit angry. I have 3 kids who have complex medical issues for which they need treatment in the metro area. We are supposed to be reimburssed for our travel expenses, but in order to get that payment we need an annual referral. We have had the same physician write the referrals for the past 12 plus years and they have been fine. Now the referral which clearly states that the kids have complex medical issues and need to be treated out of this area is no longer good enough. They want:
ALL the medical diagnosis
names of ALL the physicians and therapists
a specific number of appointments
exact dates and times of ALL appointments
specific locations of all appointments when the referral is written
assurance that there is no provider closer who can provide the care
Our physician does not have time to be writing ALL of this out just for a travel reimbursement and I don`t have time to be bugging him about this all the time. Besides those 2 factors we do not have any idea how long (likely for all of their lives) they will need to be followed, the physicians and therapists change frequently, and we certainly do not know the dates and times of All appointments in advance. If we have a seizure issue tonight we may be running immediately.
I spoke with a supervisor who told me that if we could afford to adopt these kids then we could afford to cover these expenses and we should stop bother them about this .
My response is that even though they are going to try to make this impossible I WILL be there with whatever paperwork they want, heck if it makes them happy they can pay one of their staff to follow me around while I take these kids to all of these appointments. The issue here is simply that they are eligible for this service (and many others which no one even bothers to tell you about) and all of this running gets expensive. The payments do not in any way cover our costs. The whole idea that middle class families can absorb the expenses incurred raising kids with special needs is beyond nuts. This is what we get for adoption support around here and it needs to stop. We are families who sacrifice much while caring for the kids society throws away.
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There must be some advocacy group around with lawyers who like nothing more than raising hell with these fools.
ReplyDeleteI was once told that potential adoptive parents should be screened to ensure that they would have the financial means to care for an adoptive child if they needed RTC or long term mental health care as they got older because all of these people were adopting infants and toddlers from the foster care system and then asking the state to help them foot the bill a decade or so later when the kids were becoming suicidal and/or homicidal. Yeah - like we all have a crystal ball and a extra half a million dollars to put in an "just in case my kid loses it" fund to prove we are qualified to adopt. Mental health services are inadequate at best in my state, and so what? Do they want me taking my special fund to another state that has a $1200/day facility that will actually "help" my child as opposed to the one in my area that just watches them for a few days here and there - IF there is a bed open and IF they can't talk us into keeping them a little bit longer at home? Crazy....I know it's a different issue than what you're referring to specifically here, but it's the same mind set. I couldn't afford this if it were my bio child either so it's not about treating my bio vs adopted kids differently.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely correct about them not even telling you what services you could qualify for - that makes me angry too. There are so....many sacrifices we've made and strange things we've had to do in order to meet everyone's many needs. The fact that maybe we could have gotten some assistance THAT WAS ESPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR THIS SITUATION and yet wasn't offered makes me wonder who they're saving it for and why my kids are somehow unworthy.
Keep going - they're halfway hoping you'll give up and get out of their hair. Hmmmm...making others do the jobs they are paid to do shouldn't be in our very long job descriptions to begin with!