Anyone watch Dr. Phil today?

[Thena]

I had to take the pup to the vet so missed most of it. I wanted to hear
what the nurses said about the health of the babies, etc. In the teaser it looked interesting.

[vegaschristina]

Nope. I have a cold, and I slept thru. I'm tired of watching shows about her though.

[movefearlessly]

i meant to, but i fell asleep! i was looking forward to seeing Dr. Phil's take on the situation. . .

[Thena]

In the teaser it said something about the way the babies held their hands showing stress. But that is all I heard.

[~Carla~]

I watched it yesterday, and Tuesday. If memory serves right, Dr. Phil was mentioning how cute it was that one (or two) of the babies had their hands up towards their faces, and an Angels In Waiting person said that it was in fact, signs of stress and not so cute.

[Sharia Braxton]

i watched it. Everyone is taking care of the babies and providing ocotomom with everything she needs so the babies are taken care off. They're cleaning the house, building her a great nursery, etc, so when the babies come home the home will be octo-clan ready.

[mlpieters]

i tried to watch it but then had to turn the channel.

i'm glad the babies will be taken care of. but on the other hand i'm stinkin mad. she got exactly what she wanted.

[daly]

i tried to watch it but then had to turn the channel.

i'm glad the babies will be taken care of. but on the other hand i'm stinkin mad. she got exactly what she wanted.


My thoughts exactly. I'm relieved those babies will be taken care of, but ugh...that woman is a piece of work!

They stated a statistic (dang it if I can't remember it precisely right now but it was high) about foster care...about how much higher neglect and abuse is in foster situations. please don't flame me for that! I know that there are many, many terrrific foster families out there doing a terrific job!...probably many better than the biological parents were. I only point this out because it helps explain why Dr. Phil (and others) are working so hard to get these babies the care, in Octo-mom's home, and not separating them and putting them in foster care.

ETA: I think the bit about fostercare was actually on Tues show (?)....it was a 2 day story on his show...not sure which day I saw it.

[vegaschristina]

They stated a statistic (dang it if I can't remember it precisely right now but it was high) about foster care...about how much higher neglect and abuse is in foster situations. please don't flame me for that! I know that there are many, many terrrific foster families out there doing a terrific job!...probably many better than the biological parents were. I only point this out because it helps explain why Dr. Phil (and others) are working so hard to get these babies the care, in Octo-mom's home, and not separating them and putting them in foster care.

ETA: I think the bit about fostercare was actually on Tues show (?)....it was a 2 day story on his show...not sure which day I saw it.

Just so you know, (no flames) in Nevada, any time any of my foster kids gets injured and requires medical attention, a CPS report is filed. I've had CPS investigate my home on 3 occasions. The first one came when my 11 month old daughter was learning how to walk and she stood up on the couch. Just as I was reaching for her, she fell off the couch and hit her head. A few hours later she vomited and since vomiting is a symptom of a concussion, we took her to the ER as a precaution.

They did a report on the local news saying that in the last 3 years, there had been over 1100 reports of abuse made against foster parents. They didn't bother to mention that every time a child is injured...regardless of reason...a report is filed. They do it to make sure that the parents the state has entrusted these kids to (because of abuse/neglect within their own families), that these parents are doing it right.

There are bad apples. But most of us are just trying to help children.

[daly]

Just so you know, (no flames) in Nevada, any time any of my foster kids gets injured and requires medical attention, a CPS report is filed. I've had CPS investigate my home on 3 occasions. The first one came when my 11 month old daughter was learning how to walk and she stood up on the couch. Just as I was reaching for her, she fell off the couch and hit her head. A few hours later she vomited and since vomiting is a symptom of a concussion, we took her to the ER as a precaution.

They did a report on the local news saying that in the last 3 years, there had been over 1100 reports of abuse made against foster parents. They didn't bother to mention that every time a child is injured...regardless of reason...a report is filed. They do it to make sure that the parents the state has entrusted these kids to (because of abuse/neglect within their own families), that these parents are doing it right.

There are bad apples. But most of us are just trying to help children.

That would certainly help explain why the stats are so high! I think you are probably right.

However, I do personally know of a family (we are distantly related) that signed up for fostercare just for the added income. When I heard they were doing fostercare I was kind of shocked...because things I had heard about the parenting of their own children...well, let's just say they are not anywhere near 'ideal'...they were in it for the money...:( not for any altruistic reasons.

[Theresa Hernandez]

My thoughts exactly. I'm relieved those babies will be taken care of, but ugh...that woman is a piece of work!

They stated a statistic (dang it if I can't remember it precisely right now but it was high) about foster care...about how much higher neglect and abuse is in foster situations. please don't flame me for that! I know that there are many, many terrrific foster families out there doing a terrific job!...probably many better than the biological parents were. I only point this out because it helps explain why Dr. Phil (and others) are working so hard to get these babies the care, in Octo-mom's home, and not separating them and putting them in foster care.

ETA: I think the bit about fostercare was actually on Tues show (?)....it was a 2 day story on his show...not sure which day I saw it.

My concern with foster care was finding a foster family willing to take all 8 babies. As a mother of multiples, I see HOW important it is for them to grow up together. Granted, 2 vs. 8 is a big difference, but still, all eight of those babies need to be together.

[Digi Web Studio]

That would certainly help explain why the stats are so high! I think you are probably right.

However, I do personally know of a family (we are distantly related) that signed up for fostercare just for the added income. When I heard they were doing fostercare I was kind of shocked...because things I had heard about the parenting of their own children...well, let's just say they are not anywhere near 'ideal'...they were in it for the money...:( not for any altruistic reasons.

If these foster children are being abused or neglected, please report the foster parents!

[daly]

If these foster children are being abused or neglected, please report the foster parents!

No, no....not that I know of anyway. It's just more the 'attitude' they have, their own kids are smart mouthed and cuss and a bit um... 'rough', but no one has been arrested or anything....my house isn't spotless by any means...lol...but ugh...theirs is what I would consider filthy. They eat (in my opinion) way too much junk. That type of thing..

[vegaschristina]

they were in it for the money...:( not for any altruistic reasons.

In some states, foster reimbursement is only $400! For a month's worth of everything a child might need. In Nevada we get $680 for kids under 5 years old. Out of that money, I have to provide everything but medical care. That means food, clothing, toys, extras like gymnastics, their share of utilities, diapers and formula (for infants).

All foster kids do qualify automatically for WIC and for free lunches at school, so we can get some assistance on what WIC covers. We only used WIC when my youngest was on a specialty formula. Her formula was $55 for the small can, and it would have used her entire reimbursement each month, before we bought any diapers, clothes, etc.

Because my husband and I are going to school, we do have daycare assistance (EOB)that covers most, but not all of their day care costs 2 days a week. We have the kids in day care 3 days a week, so we pay out of pocket for the other day plus what EOB doesn't cover.

I'm sharing all of this as a round about way of saying, there are some who are "in it for the money." There are. But most of us just want to help kids and we spend far more than we get reimbursed.

[Pachimac]

I could not watch it. When I heard that Gloria Alread was involved in it - I would not even turn it on. She's an opportunist ambulance chasing attention hound lawyer that I don't have any respect for. I was actually wondering who would step in and try for a pie of the publicity, Mark Garagos or Gloria!

[Digi Web Studio]

In some states, foster reimbursement is only $400! For a month's worth of everything a child might need. In Nevada we get $680 for kids under 5 years old. Out of that money, I have to provide everything but medical care. That means food, clothing, toys, extras like gymnastics, their share of utilities, diapers and formula (for infants).

All foster kids do qualify automatically for WIC and for free lunches at school, so we can get some assistance on what WIC covers. We only used WIC when my youngest was on a specialty formula. Her formula was $55 for the small can, and it would have used her entire reimbursement each month, before we bought any diapers, clothes, etc.

Because my husband and I are going to school, we do have daycare assistance (EOB)that covers most, but not all of their day care costs 2 days a week. We have the kids in day care 3 days a week, so we pay out of pocket for the other day plus what EOB doesn't cover.

I'm sharing all of this as a round about way of saying, there are some who are "in it for the money." There are. But most of us just want to help kids and we spend far more than we get reimbursed.

I commend you Christina for what you're doing. :) I'm about 1/3 of the way done with my foster/adoption classes and am really learning so much. What pertains to what you wrote here would be that in essence fostering a child is taking care / providing needs (100%) for another person's child. So the financial compensation is very tiny compared to the fact that you have a child in your care all the time.

I doubt there is a person on this earth who'd babysit a child round the clock for the fee some foster parents make so it really surprises me to hear that anyone could actually be in it for the money. Seems there would be much easier ways to earn money than that!

Disclaimer: I am not comparing fostering a child with babysitting as I realize there is SO MUCH MORE involvement, but I wanted to use it as a comparison for the financial aspect (which there again fostering is so much more involved than babysitting could ever be).

[daly]

I commend you Christina for what you're doing. :) I'm about 1/3 of the way done with my foster/adoption classes and am really learning so much. What pertains to what you wrote here would be that in essence fostering a child is taking care / providing needs (100%) for another person's child. So the financial compensation is very tiny compared to the fact that you have a child in your care all the time.

I doubt there is a person on this earth who'd babysit a child round the clock for the fee some foster parents make so it really surprises me to hear that anyone could actually be in it for the money. Seems there would be much easier ways to earn money than that!

Disclaimer: I am not comparing fostering a child with babysitting as I realize there is SO MUCH MORE involvement, but I wanted to use it as a comparison for the financial aspect (which there again fostering is so much more involved than babysitting could ever be).

The people that I was talking about previously aren't 'too bright' ...yeah, I think they just saw the dollar signs without really thinking things through obviously. -Like I said they are way less than ideal....but...maybe the kiddos are even better off (with them)than what they came from...:shrug

sidetrack....
This thread made me start thinking...we used to have orphanages here in the USA. We don't anymore, right? I honestly don't even know if there are any here in the USA anymore. I do know 2 people in their 50s who grew up in them though. I guess at some point, the gov made a decision that foster care is better than institutional orphanages. just curious I guess.

[kjbstevens]

They still have boys and girls homes in Virginia especially for the older kids, but here in Maryland all of the kids are in foster care around here as far as I know. All of the camps and afterschool programs I ran I don't think I ran into any that were from homes like that. The whole time growing up I never knew anyone that was actually in a foster home but knew several than lived in the "group homes" which I think is the new term for it but there they did have individualism for them especially for the ones just taken from parents because of circumstances and they had their own stuff with them. They were at all of the community events too so I think it's better than you hear about the old ones.

[Pachimac]

My cousin and his wife ran a group home for teen boys for about 10 years in Virginia!

They still have boys and girls homes in Virginia especially for the older kids, but here in Maryland all of the kids are in foster care around here as far as I know. All of the camps and afterschool programs I ran I don't think I ran into any that were from homes like that. The whole time growing up I never knew anyone that was actually in a foster home but knew several than lived in the "group homes" which I think is the new term for it but there they did have individualism for them especially for the ones just taken from parents because of circumstances and they had their own stuff with them. They were at all of the community events too so I think it's better than you hear about the old ones.