What kind of attorney for disabled/ssi?

[Tap]

I need help figuring out what legal, financial options for support are available for my dd6. What kind of attorney would I look for?

 

 

 

DD6 is my great-niece and had been with us since she was 5mo. She is a ward of the state in Oregon, I live in Washington. She is in my care by court order. She was my foster daughter before we were her legal guardians. Her bio-mom and bio-dad signed her over to me voluntarily. Due to the dual state issue, sometimes we have issues with law conflicts.

 

She is PDD-NOS (Apsergers), anxiety, sensory issues, and ADD. She is very aggressive and violent. Her support services are VITAL to her development and growth.

 

She was non-VI E (this is a legal thing that will only make sense to some-people) eligible because her parents had jobs when she was taken from them. When she was our foster child we had a fully licensed foster home, not just kinship care. Since we are blood-family, we did not qualify for foster payments (Oregon state says family should take care of family for free, even for foster kids). We had to apply for TANF (welfare) for her. Our income never mattered in the qualifications since the state considered her her own legal household. This has now changed. Even if she still qualified, we are nearing her 60mth limit of services and it will all end then anyways.

 

The state now says that our income as guardians count and that if we make more than 300% of poverty level we will receive no benefits. They will consider all household income so dh18's income counts too. That means in about 10 days, she will loose her $340 a month to contribute to the household, her medical/dental/mental health care and her daycare assistance. That means she looses her behavior therapist, psychiatrist, Occupational therapy, one-on-one at daycare (required to manage her violent outbursts), and medication coverage.

 

These expenses will now cost me, after our private insurance copays:

$120 for her weekly Behavior therapist and Occupational therapy (she will lose her BT that she has worked with for 3 years since she only takes state clients)

$60 for psychiatrist to prescribe her mental health drugs

$340 lost financial support

$200 in medication copays (my private insurance picks up the other $600/mth already)

$2500 in daycare and one-on-one while she is there (she isn't allowed at daycare without one-on-one care).

$100 in regular medical copays (sick visits, labs, tests due to her health issues)

 

I do not have $3500 to pay for her basic care!!!! (Thankfully we have Very good insurance that only has $15 medical copay- or this number would be much, much higher. I already can't work full time due to her issues so on top of these costs, it also costs us lost income.

 

If I lose her daycare, I can't work at all. :0( That is not an option for us. Not only can we not afford it, I can not care for her 100% of the time. She is extremely demanding and aggressive and I have a damaged back. I physically can't deal with her outbursts.

 

I have to figure out something to help keep these resources available to her.

 

I don't know if SSI would help or disability services? I have no idea where to start. Here issues aren't a temporary problem so they and they aren't going to get any cheaper to deal with.

 

 

I doubt that her father will sign her over for adoption and since he could probably take care of her now, if we push for that option, he may get her back. Even if we want to consider these options, we still would need help navigating the adoption process and looking for adoption assistance.

[lollie010]

Oh my goodness. That sounds like an awful situation. I have practiced law in the past, but have never dealt with this type of situation. I wish I had advice. In our state, we have SSI attorneys that help you file the appropriate paper work. People hate to use them, because they take a large percentage. But, I have heard they get quicker results than filing on your own. Wish I knew more. Hugs to you and your family.

[Dandelion]

I don't know what kind of attorney you should look for. Wish I had an answer for you. :grouphug:

 

Have you checked out www.wrightslaw.com? There's a ton of great information on that site about advocating for special needs kids. Many of their articles deal with legal issues. You might be able to find the info you need there.

[LucyStoner]

Are you in the vicinity of King or Spokane counties? Chihak & Associatesare well regarded disability attorneys. Also there is Gustad Law Group. John Paul Gustad is only in Seattle/King County area. If you can get her on SSI, she should get medicaid to supplement whatever private insurance she has. In WA state, medicaid and all of the state's child health programs cover autism spectrum related services as of late 2012.

 

Have you appealed the DSHS decision? Without trashing them, they have messed up more than once with stuff like this from what I have seen in the past with the clients of the orgs I have worked for. You need to appeal to the end of the line. Is she eligible for child medical under Oregon's program since she is their ward? Does she have a child advocate assigned by the court who can help you find the right services?

 

Also, contact the state legislators for your district. You can find them for the WA state legislature here.

 

Contacting someone at Treehouse (a charity for foster/kinship kids) may be helpful. They will know about more resources.

 

ETA: There is a 5 year limit on cash benefits. There is no such limit in WA state for healthcare and childcare aid. Fight DSHS over this tooth and nail. A legal advocate would be helpful. As will a bottle of migraine medication and a pitcher of margaritas. I don't mean to make light of your situation but they have been known to mess up this stuff a lot and the appeal process, while maddening, is worth it.

 

Adoption may not be the best thing in terms of what she will qualify to receive. Unfair and counterintuitive but true.

[Tap]

I don't know what kind of attorney you should look for. Wish I had an answer for you. :grouphug:

 

Have you checked out www.wrightslaw.com? There's a ton of great information on that site about advocating for special needs kids. Many of their articles deal with legal issues. You might be able to find the info you need there.

 

 

Thanks for the link, I really appreciate it. The more info I have the better :0)

[Tap]

Are you in the vicinity of King or Spokane counties? Chihak & Associatesare well regarded disability attorneys. Also there is Gustad Law Group. John Paul Gustad is only in Seattle/King County area. If you can get her on SSI, she should get medicaid to supplement whatever private insurance she has. In WA state, medicaid and all of the state's child health programs cover autism spectrum related services as of late 2012. We are in Clark County (we are on the border of Ore/Wash). Too far unfortunately. Maybe I will call and see if they can recommend someone in our area.

 

 

Have you appealed the DSHS decision? Without trashing them, they have messed up more than once with stuff like this from what I have seen in the past with the clients of the orgs I have worked for. You need to appeal to the end of the line. Is she eligible for child medical under Oregon's program since she is their ward? Does she have a child advocate assigned by the court who can help you find the right services? I haven't got the official decision yet, but it isn't looking good. I found the guidelines on line for income and based on last months earnings, we are above the 300% mark. I had just returned to work 35 hours a week in the past few months. I was trying to save money for my son's college tuition in the fall. Otherwise, we make have eked by under the threshold. I found contradictory information on assets, for qualifying income guidelines. Our assets alone may disqualify us. Oregon will only give her state insurance if we live in Oregon. We are close enough to the border that if we can get Oregon insurance, we could utilize services there. No child advocate for us. When we signed guardianship, the state walked away from us. We have no case worker, advocate nor support services available through Or or WA.

 

 

Also, contact the state legislators for your district. You can find them for the WA state legislature here. Thanks, I will look into it. I am very ignorant of politics and representatives. How will contacting them help? What do I need to do?

 

 

Contacting someone at Treehouse (a charity for foster/kinship kids) may be helpful. They will know about more resources. I have never heard of them, I will definitely be in touch.

 

ETA: There is a 5 year limit on cash benefits. There is no such limit in WA state for healthcare and childcare aid. Fight DSHS over this tooth and nail. A legal advocate would be helpful. As will a bottle of migraine medication and a pitcher of margaritas. I don't mean to make light of your situation but they have been known to mess up this stuff a lot and the appeal process, while maddening, is worth it. The program we use for childcare (Working Connections) only covers her because she gets the TANF. Without it, she doesn't qualify for services (according to them at least). If I loose her TANF, I will still reapply, but it is a mess fo us to reapply.

 

 

 

Adoption may not be the best thing in terms of what she will qualify to receive. Unfair and counterintuitive but true. This is why we didn't do an adoption in the first place. We started the adoption process and changed to guardianship so she would have more services available. Over the years, those have whittled away also.

 

Thank you!!!!

[LucyStoner]

The benefit of contacting your legislator is that they will often know the best people to contact to get a DSHS appeal to go your way. They will also (if they are any good) be able to point you to additional information and resources.

 

That is odd that Working Connections is tied to TANF for her- it is generally only available to those working or in job training or in special disability cases.

 

This is the human side of the large social services budget cuts the state has had to make. I was very disappointed with how the former governor handled this. I am glad that the governor's race went as it did. Otherwise, bluntly, the cuts would be steeper and deeper after this session.

 

I really hope you can find a solution. My thoughts are with you and your family. What is happening to you is just unacceptable and disheartening to say the very least.

[itsheresomewhere]

Call your local ARC center. They have so many resources to help and will send you in the right direction.

[Tap]

The benefit of contacting your legislator is that they will often know the best people to contact to get a DSHS appeal to go your way. They will also (if they are any good) be able to point you to additional information and resources.

 

That is odd that Working Connections is tied to TANF for her- it is generally only available to those working or in job training or in special disability cases.

 

This is the human side of the large social services budget cuts the state has had to make. I was very disappointed with how the former governor handled this. I am glad that the governor's race went as it did. Otherwise, bluntly, the cuts would be steeper and deeper after this session.

 

I really hope you can find a solution. My thoughts are with you and your family. What is happening to you is just unacceptable and disheartening to say the very least.

 

For the Working Connections grant: We sumbit our work schedules but it was not based on dh/my income levels. Since she was her own household, her income of $0 was the qualifing income used. I also have a waver due to my back, that she can be there any time dh is working (even if I am home) since I can not take care of her during her tantrums. Out of all of her assistance, this is the most vital piece. Not only becuase it is the most expensive for me to replace, but because without it, I can't work.

 

Her bio-father pays $400 in child support. It is taken from his wages, not voluntary. Right now, $100 goes to the state to pay for her medical and $300 to pay back the state for TANF. If she doesn't get TANF anylonger, I wonder if the state will take it for his past due support or pass it on to her? Do you know anything about this?

 

Thanks for you advice. It is nice to have someone to talk to who understands the programs involved.