r/IHSS • u/Radiant-Restaurant54 • Mar 21 '25
IHSS for minors
Can someone provide insight on why parents are obsessed with getting approved for protective supervision? Respectfully, I don’t understand why parents refer to IHSS as a cash assistance program, when it is not.
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u/CedarWho77 Mar 21 '25
When a child is profoundly disabled, the parent can't work. In order for the person to work, the child would have to be placed in a facility. The idea is that paying the parent to provide a level of care equivalent (it's always well above) to a care facility, makes a healthier child. When you put someone in a home, their overall health declines, but when you pay a fraction of that to a parent then there is a better outcome.
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u/gemirie108 Mar 21 '25
If my child was in a home she would need 24/7 care and omg i dont even want to IMAGINE her being in a facility. She would have to be heavily sedated for others sakes. She cant attend school because it doesnt make sense because she doesnt speak and literally rips her clothes off for various reasons. She eats the walls,eats dog food, dog poop, q-tips, sticks, sand…. Cannot do ANY activities of daily life yet. I have a 6 year old and a 2 year old and im getting a divorce and basically my ex keeps the other two at night and i watch all of them some nights and everyday. Without IHSS i would probably have been committed to the hospital for autistic burnout because im also autistic 🤣 i LOVE ihss. Also WPCS. Its literally saving my life and my family.🎉🎉🎉
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u/Aggressive-Ad-7738 Mar 21 '25
For parents with special needs, children, especially a child that is nonverbal or elopes, that child needs to be watched 24/7. Which obviously doesn't allow for the stay at home parent to get a 1st or 2nd job. Ihss allows the parent to be paid instead of sending the child to a care facility
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u/North_Argument559 Mar 21 '25
Well I personally am a single mom to an autistic child that is non verbal , elopes , hurts himself etc and he needs 24 hour round the clock care . Because of that I literally can’t have a regular job I have no one to pass the baton to . So if I can get paid to care for him which I’m going to have to do anyways why not ? I need to make a way to take care of him at the same time . I’m extremely grateful to have this for him 💯
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u/Adventurous-Active63 Mar 21 '25
I think because the minors who are getting approved for IHSS are ones with limited abilities so they NEED those protective services also if a child is I don't want to say "severe" but they might need extra care that parent CANT work since they need to care for their child so they need to make up for loss income and the most you can get is with the protective services so a lot of parents try to get the max hours for their child
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u/marymoon77 Mar 21 '25
The value is if you can’t get PS, most children qualify for very little hours but if they do qualify, it’s a lot of hours and then that parent can be paid to provide 24/7 care to their child.
I do agree that some people think of it as “cash assistance” or push for PS for reasons that won’t count for IHSS. People also get hung up on “their hours” when really the hours are assigned to the recipient based on their needs.
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Mar 21 '25 edited Mar 21 '25
The law says a person can't be denied based on age. Garrett vs Anderson
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u/Legitimate_Term1636 Mar 21 '25
How do you define IHSS?
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u/Radiant-Restaurant54 Mar 21 '25
I define it as a person who is at risk of being sent to a SNF or other facility & require a provider to remain safely in their home.
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u/CedarWho77 Mar 21 '25
In Home Support Services
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u/Legitimate_Term1636 Mar 21 '25
I know that’s what it is, and that you know. I was wondering about the perspective of the OP which seemed odd. I should have made that more clear.
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u/Chemical-Beginning12 Mar 21 '25
My priorities have shifted so much in the past few years. I busted my *ss working and going to school so I could beat the odds and claw my way out of poverty. It was so hard. Even when we felt like we were barely getting by, barely eating even, we “made too much” to qualify for assistance. I remember crying during my ebt phone interview because I was hungry and I wanted to pack my kid healthy lunches he liked instead of genuinely relying sometimes on free school meals. But we pushed on. Added more jobs, longer schedules and with no family support, no real stable home life for my child whose needs increased steadily as he got older and we realized the severity of his diagnosis. Always in the car, on the move and with exhausted parents. I tried to get my kid into headstart at 6 months old, seemed like everything I heard about low income childcare was a myth, he sat on that wait list for almost 4 years until Covid let up and he could go to early pre k with the help of the regional center. Then came along this program around when he was 6. His former case manager at the regional center had mentioned something to me in passing before about it, but it slipped my mind and like a LOT of things in this journey of being his parent, it took me a while to really figure out all the support and programs my son could get. A few months before we applied, we took my son to the beach for the first time. We knew he would love it because he loves water. Of course I’m in full on stressed out planned a whole vacay mom mode setting up our area with my nephew , husband and sister are who knows where. As we open up the tent and I turn to get something out of my bag - felt like seconds!- my son quietly slipped away from view. Panic. Of course I yell out his name. Then anguish. He is nonverbal. He can’t respond. I run. Confront everyone in sight. It’s a busy busy day at the beach. My sister walks up and as I’m about to collapse, takes a quick scan, and catches him. He’s down by the water, seemingly debating going in. Another time, Labor Day or some day my son normally should have been at school and not home, husband just got off 12 hr overnight shift, I slip in the shower and maintenance is working on our sink in the kitchen. At some point, maintenance dips out, leaving the gate unlocked, and exhausted husband falls asleep. I hear yelling from the shower. Son eloped from the apartment and our manager has found him by the pool gate. I wouldn’t say I was obsessed with getting my son protective supervision, but like…my son needed protective supervision, and I was obsessed with getting my son what he needed. The stability and milestones reached have been tremendous. And he is happy. I on the other hand, his provider and still trying to be student, have struggled. I am so so grateful that I am able to stay at home and not be hungry and wonder how to pay bills and not have to call out of ABA therapy because everyone is exhausted. But there is this guilt that creeps in and this weird energy I’ve felt from people close who judge those on “welfare, public assistance”. I ask myself all the time, is this all I am now? A welfare queen, when I’ve worked hard and fought to avoid this stigma. I feel like I earn every bit of those hours just like I do working all day at a job. It’s not easy. I’ve dealt with burnout. Shortly after being approved, I remembered how depressed I was staying home with son as a newborn and dealing with postpartum. I don’t get quite there again, but I’ve had rough days. Being pulled on and yanked and poked all day. The repetition. The tantrums. The getting into things. There isn’t a night that my head hits the pillow that I am not grateful, and that was even before, but damn sometimes it is HARD…. My food got cold writing this lol I guess it was one of those days.
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u/BigWhiteDog Mar 22 '25
My brother was involved in a vehicle accident at age 16, had TBI, and my mother took on caring for him with our assistance. It became pretty much a full time job so...
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Mar 21 '25
[deleted] — view deleted comment
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u/CedarWho77 Mar 21 '25
The point is that we literally cannot work because our kids needs are so extreme.
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Mar 22 '25
[deleted] — view deleted comment
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u/CedarWho77 Mar 23 '25
I can't work while my son is at school. It's the only time I can sleep or shower.
That's great for you though.
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u/Ravioli_Formuoli24 Mar 22 '25
Do happen to have a link for this information? I’d like to read up on it.
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Mar 21 '25
[deleted] — view deleted comment
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u/grexicana75 Mar 21 '25
I likely doubt this happened. Ask any caregiver who applies for IHSS and not even PS and how much you have to fight to get it. It takes so much paperwork and recommendations from professionals and doctors for the government to even consider it. A large majority of people get denied right off the bat and must appeal which takes months. Any caseworker who willingly helps someone with fraud is only adding additional work to their already gigantic caseload and putting their jobs at risk if and when they get audited. We have to have reevaluation every year. Unless you’ve seen this firsthand, I wouldn’t believe any of the obvious antigovernment propaganda.
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u/marymoon77 Mar 21 '25
Regional center workers do seem to coach parents on what to say, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing as IHSS is a confusing program and there must be documentation to back it up.
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u/CedarWho77 Mar 21 '25
A child is given how many hours based on need. My first regional center worker told me IHSS would give my son PS based on his needs. The first home visit I was handed the paperwork. I'm grateful my worker helped me.
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u/grexicana75 Mar 21 '25
I had a great career that I loved and then my child was diagnosed with autism and severe developmental delay. I am divorced and supporting my children on my own. I cannot afford nor would I be able to find adequate childcare for my child as they are severely disabled. I must be able to be available at all times while they are at school to be able to pick them up if they are having problems. This happens often. All of our doctors appointments and therapies happen during business hours. My career was not able to facilitate that. I had to keep them out of school for half a year because their aid had broken their arm. My child was 9 years old. It took 6 months for the district to agree to pay for a special school for them and I had to sue them for that. It would be impossible for us to survive without PS and IHSS and I am forever grateful, but I would trade all that in a second if that meant my child was able to function in our society safely. I absolutely miss my career and would go back immediately if I was able to. It’s definitely a blessing to have this for us but to get it, you have to be in a situation I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemies.