Dragon Journal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dragonjournal) wrote2013-09-18 05:41 pm
dragonjournal) wrote2013-09-18 05:41 pm
The things you don't get told...
So, as some on here know, I'm a disabled mother of four children (only 2 live with me). My son has Downs and my daughter is pretty neurotypical.
We depend on SSI, state medical, and food stamps to survive. Normally, this isn't a big deal. I make do. I choose what I can that is the best for my kids. That includes learning to make my own bread, my own pizza crusts, we eat a lot of meatless dishes, and unusual combinations that actually taste good, have decent nutritional value and are quick/easy to make.
However, here's a few things you don't get told:
- You reverification is done over the phone and over the internet.
- Every six months, you have to reverify all your details.
- Once a year, this means sending in everything (bank statements, rent receipts, copies of bills, proof of income - which is separate from your bank statements).
That last one is what I'm dealing with right now.
Because here's a few things that they don't tell you:
- Even if you send in your paperwork early, it can take up to three weeks for them to receive it. Well, that's not right. They'll "receive" it in a few days. But it will sit in their mailroom for up to 3-4 weeks. It will also take that long plus maybe another 1-2 weeks to get it scanned in and to the caseworker. (I've mailed it in 2x. The 5th and the 15th. Then faxed it in on the 28th, because they said they lost it all before.)
- If you miss the phone call? Everything gets pushed back. You have to call back and redo the appointment.
- If they claim to have "lost" your paperwork? That pushes back the supposed 30 days that they have to get you in the computer and approved/denied.
- This means that it can go on for a while before you get your benefits.
- This particular way of handling things doesn't just affect your food allowance, but also your medical, so if you have life needed medicines? You need to figure out a way to get it cheap/free if there is a lapse.
- You end up learning where the pantries all are. Because you're probably going to need them.
I'm going through all of this right now. Because they still have until next Wednesday to approve everything. Meaning that I'm not going to see a damned thing until then. If I even see it then. Because there's still a chance they can state that I haven't supplied them with proper documentation and I need to give them more and that gives them another 30 days to work on it.
Will they do it? Possibly.
I'm not saying I'm ungrateful for what I receive. I know damned well, we would be in so much more trouble without it, and I'd be more screwed up. It allows me to see to my mental health as well as my physical health. So, I'm very grateful.
I also understand that it does take time and needs to be certified and everything else. However, there has to be a more streamlined situation so that we're not waiting a full month and worrying about it ever coming in, so that I can feed my children.
My friends have been beyond supportive and offered me help that we've desperately needed. Honestly, we wouldn't get by without them. But, it does bother me that I have to depend on them because I jumped through the hoops, several times and I still have all this waiting to do.
Back to waiting. Back to hoping. Back to all of it.
We depend on SSI, state medical, and food stamps to survive. Normally, this isn't a big deal. I make do. I choose what I can that is the best for my kids. That includes learning to make my own bread, my own pizza crusts, we eat a lot of meatless dishes, and unusual combinations that actually taste good, have decent nutritional value and are quick/easy to make.
However, here's a few things you don't get told:
- You reverification is done over the phone and over the internet.
- Every six months, you have to reverify all your details.
- Once a year, this means sending in everything (bank statements, rent receipts, copies of bills, proof of income - which is separate from your bank statements).
That last one is what I'm dealing with right now.
Because here's a few things that they don't tell you:
- Even if you send in your paperwork early, it can take up to three weeks for them to receive it. Well, that's not right. They'll "receive" it in a few days. But it will sit in their mailroom for up to 3-4 weeks. It will also take that long plus maybe another 1-2 weeks to get it scanned in and to the caseworker. (I've mailed it in 2x. The 5th and the 15th. Then faxed it in on the 28th, because they said they lost it all before.)
- If you miss the phone call? Everything gets pushed back. You have to call back and redo the appointment.
- If they claim to have "lost" your paperwork? That pushes back the supposed 30 days that they have to get you in the computer and approved/denied.
- This means that it can go on for a while before you get your benefits.
- This particular way of handling things doesn't just affect your food allowance, but also your medical, so if you have life needed medicines? You need to figure out a way to get it cheap/free if there is a lapse.
- You end up learning where the pantries all are. Because you're probably going to need them.
I'm going through all of this right now. Because they still have until next Wednesday to approve everything. Meaning that I'm not going to see a damned thing until then. If I even see it then. Because there's still a chance they can state that I haven't supplied them with proper documentation and I need to give them more and that gives them another 30 days to work on it.
Will they do it? Possibly.
I'm not saying I'm ungrateful for what I receive. I know damned well, we would be in so much more trouble without it, and I'd be more screwed up. It allows me to see to my mental health as well as my physical health. So, I'm very grateful.
I also understand that it does take time and needs to be certified and everything else. However, there has to be a more streamlined situation so that we're not waiting a full month and worrying about it ever coming in, so that I can feed my children.
My friends have been beyond supportive and offered me help that we've desperately needed. Honestly, we wouldn't get by without them. But, it does bother me that I have to depend on them because I jumped through the hoops, several times and I still have all this waiting to do.
Back to waiting. Back to hoping. Back to all of it.
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Because she only verifies on Wednesdays. Yep.
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Wow. Because THAT'S a reasonable, compassionate way to deal with other people's lives.
Sent from my iPad
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