WIC...

Has been one of the biggest annoyance with this whole fostering stuff.  Seriously.

First off, I want to say that I generally do not support the public assistance programs as I feel there are way to many people who are getting away abusing the system.  I will say there are true cases of need out there, and in those cases, there needs to be support, and at this time the PA programs are the best the country has to help...

I am going to sound hypocritical, so skip over if what I am going to say may tick you off.

I am super thankful that SB is eligable to be on WIC. Because he is a foster child, he is eligable...no questions asked. Ok well they do ask questions...but you get the idea.  So SB is a youngin and requires formula to thrive.   So that is what is provided through the WIC office. He will also be eligable for jarred baby food in two months (they start when SB is 6mos...) and eventually real food. Which will be nice, but really we wont need the help with providing.  The formula as many of you know is pricey. We could pay for it, but it would be hard on our wallet to spend about $125 a month just on formula.  Anyhow, that's not really what I am writing about.

I am writing on how I feel like the biggest turd (for lack of a better word) when I go to WIC, mostly because of how I feel like I am abusing the system somehow & also because of how I am treated by the workers at the WIC office.

Until a worker reads the info that SB is a foster kid, I am treated like some mother who doesn't work & wants the government to pay my way. Sigh... SB and I have the same skin tone, so they don't know he is foster until they read the chart.  But still I get treated like some uneducated mother.  This last time I picked up the checks, I also had to take a "class."  The class was a section of a binder I had to read in regards to how & what to feed baby.  I guess this may have been informative to some, but I knew a lot of it already.  I am wondering why they want me to read about food when I wont be getting checks for baby food until SB is 6mo-maybe they think I will be starting at 4-5mo?  The other thing, after looking at baby food that is available now, I have decided to make a lot of SB's food & supplement with jarred food.  I also plan to make food that is not eligible to even be bought with wic checks, such as peaches.... yep you can't get baby peaches on wic in my state because they believe the higher sugar content in baby food peaches can lead to diabetes or obesity....yep you heard me right.

So also this last time I got in trouble for forgetting to have my hubby sign the signature card (if he signs, he can also pick up the formula at a store). I felt like a little 2nd grader getting in trouble for something.  I tried to pursuade the lady that I just forgot-ya know since I have visits & case worker visits & birth-3 visits and so on to think of, and I forgot to have him sign.  She finally gave in after a few tries, and says if he doesn't sign this month, she will take him off... The first thing I had hubby do that night-sign the damn card...

Grr sorry for my WIC rant...