How Much Do We Make?

Rebecca had put a new out look on this process for me. She had talked about the system in a positive way and I needed to hear that because I wasn't sure I could keep hoop jumping. Mostly, I wasn't sure I was a strong enough person to bring a wounded child into my home and help them heal. After listening to Rebecca's stories about good things that had happened in her cases... I felt rejuvenated...more than that I was feeling like I could take on the world again.

The next class we took was on how all the paper work was processed in the county. It was given by someone from the accounting department and a social worker. I think my husband and I went into this class thinking it was going to be a semi boring class because it was about paper work. I mean how could we listen to how paper work flows for three hours?

When we got to class we were shocked at the amount of people that were there. Usually there are about 20 of us. This class was probably double. There were lots of faces we hadn't seen in any of the other classes and some faces that were with us in every class. As we found a spot in the back of the room I said to my husband...why do you think so many people are here? He just shrugged his shoulders like he was wondering the same thing.

As the class got started and I settled in with my notebook and pen. I started to look around the room. I couldn't imagine why all these people were there. And then the first to speak was the accounting person. She began by telling us we would be paid to take these children into our home. That is when it hit me...all these people wanted to know about the money! She gave us the time frames on when we needed to get paper work in vs. when we would have money directly deposited into our bank account. She passed out a sample form and explained what portions needed to be filled in on the form in order to receive payment. She went thru every detail of this process. You could tell she had done this speech a thousand times for people just like us. When she got to end of her speech I had a page of notes. I was more worried about having the paper work just the way they needed it for record keeping because for us it wasn't about getting the paid. The truth is I would have done it for free if it meant we got a child.

However, there were others in the group that were there for income and not there for child. You could tell they were there for the money. As soon as she asked if anyone had questions hands flew up all over the room. When she called on one of the women in the room her first question was...How much do we make? I was in disbelief! How much do you make? This wasn't a job interview! It wasn't a salary we were talking about here. Then she said to the woman in accounting...well I need to know how much money we can expect per kid so we know how many kids we need to take. I know at this point my mouth was wide open like some sorta bad acting job on daytime TV...but I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The amount of money received was suppose to go to taking care of a child not to put in your bank account as income. I really had no idea how much money we were talking about at the time but I did know everything she was saying was completely inappropriate! Is that why her and her husband were here was a source of income?

The sad part about that question was it didn't even phase the accounting gal. She had obviously heard it before because she just simply said that the amount of the subsidy was dependant on the child's needs and then she advised the woman to speak with her social worker about details.

As the accounting woman moved on to other questions that were similar to the first woman's question.... my mind started racing about how some people got into this for the income. After all the stories they had heard in their training classes about children being abused the question most on their minds was, HOW MUCH DO WE MAKE? I was trying to pay attention to other questions as they were asked but the more I heard the more sick to my stomach I got. My mind was once again on how our society had deteriorated as human beings with hearts. I thought the saying wass..it takes a Village to Raise a Child....not how much cash do I get to raise child! I also wondered if social services would still let them take a child into their home? I mean just because you are good at jumping thru hoops doesn't mean you should be able to take a child into your home. Especially if all your seeing is dollar signs. There were probably three couples that day in that room who were only concerned with the cash. That could be at least three children that would be in homes that only wanted them because of the income they brought in. It terrified me that the system could let this happen.

And all this happened before we even heard what the social worker had to say.