WIC: The Foster Care Resource You Might be Missing

https://youtu.be/yZ7O8qIidsM

Panhandle Orphan Care Network (00:00)

what is WIC? Okay. WIC stands for Women, Infants and Children. Right. And it's a supplemental nutrition program. And education is a huge part of WIC. A lot of people think about WIC as maybe just providing food.

People don't realize not only do we provide nutritious foods, we provide nutrition education, which is almost more important than the actual food

Hello and welcome to All Things Foster, a place for coffee, connection, and community. We've got a really, really interesting topic today that I think will I think hopefully will benefit a lot of foster families, adoptive families that are out there there's some support mechanisms that are there that I run into consistently folks that just don't know about it. And so we've got a great guest that's gonna

Kind of talk to us about one of those support mechanisms. But before we get into that, today's episode of All Things Foster is brought to you by Pullman Diesel, which is also known as Low Diesel Services. When you depend on a diesel truck to get the job done, you need somebody who you can depend on to keep it running. Pullman Diesel provides diesel repair and service with the kind of straightforward, dependable work you want from a local shop.

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So welcome to the show, Shantel Elser. you're with the City of Amarillo in the WIC department. Is that correct? Yes, sir. I actually I've worked for WIC for 35 years. Wow. Once I started well, I graduated from college and I thought, you know, what do I do next?

Yeah. And so I saw an ad, you know, for a WIC nutritionist. And so I answered it. It was in Carlsbend, New Mexico. And then I really didn't even know what WIC was myself. Right. And so I got the job because I was just so excited to get a job right out of college. And then I started learning more about the program. I thought, man, this really helps a lot of families. And not only does it provide food, it provides education, referrals, resources. Yeah. I was just blown away how

many people it helped. I mean, like right now we see over six thousand people a month just in our area. Wow. And so it helps a lot of families and it's just kind of fun to go in the community. And since I've been with WIC so long, I've had people come up to me and say, I remember you when, you know, I was young. I came to the WIC office and you were there and I said, Well I'm still there.

That is so cool. Yeah, thirty-five years. We were talking before we hit record that back then it was a it was a card that they got stamped. Like actual Yeah. And what it was is like if someone were to get five gallons of milk, we'd have to pull five milk cards, stamp it three times, we sign it, they sign it. And sometimes they'd leave with like an inch of cards and they have to sign them and we have to stamp them. And at the state office every year they had the stamp off contest because people got so

fast at stamping. It was like a game show that all the staff would you know compete to see who could be the fastest stamper. Wow. So that's when I started it when they had cards and stamps. And then they the computers became more popular and we actually had checks in that we had like a dot met matrix compute printer you know that just slowly printed out checks.

And we thought, man, this is so cutting edge. Yeah. We have checks. Yeah. Yeah. And then little bit later, they came out with a a credit card type thing and it had a chip. And we thought, my goodness, this is just incredible that we don't have to have printers and paper anymore for the checks. And we put it on a credit card with a chip. Yeah. And now well, we still had paper files and we had paper.

Now we're totally paperless. It's totally on the cloud. I'm it's just amazing and I've seen it come, you know, from cardboard cards all the way to a paperless system that's on the cloud. It's just it's it's amazing to see a program through all those chains. No kidding. Yeah, absolutely. I mean we were talking before the I hit record and way back when I was in high school, I worked at Homeland, which I don't know if you guys remember Homeland, but it was a grocery store.

And it was just right down the street from my house and I was I was a cashier. And I remember people coming in with these with these stamps. And back then it was all it was all keystrokes on a on a thing. There wasn't the there wasn't the scans. The barcodes were there. We just didn't at Homeland, they hadn't implemented that. So we had to manually type in all the different prices. It was all stickers on them and things like that. So it's yeah, it's things have changed a long way. Yeah, for sure. Well, so so tell us.

Let's let's kind of assume that somebody doesn't have any idea with the basics. So what what is WIC? Okay. WIC stands for Women, Infants and Children. Right. And it's a supplemental nutrition program. And education is a huge part of WIC. A lot of people think about WIC as maybe just providing food. As you go to the grocery store and you see pink stickers in the grocery store, you're probably very familiar with those pink stickers that says WIC approved. And

People

don't realize not only do we provide nutritious foods, we provide nutrition education, which is almost more important than the actual food because we teach families how to make you know good decisions for their, you know, for their children, smart snacking, healthy decisions at the grocery store. It's just things that can be passed down from generation to generation with nutrition education. Yeah. So some of the foods that WIC provides.

And actually this has changed a lot too. I remember it was mostly like milk, eggs, cheese, juice, cereal, dried beans when I started. And hardly anybody used the dried beans or wanted dried beans, but now it's evolved in the and there's still milk, eggs, cheese, juice, cereal. We offer canned beans now, peanut butter, canned tuna and canned salmon.

Fresh fruits and vegetables. And that's been a real hit with their clients. Because it's called a cash value benefit. They get so much cash and they can buy any fresh fruit and vegetable they want, you know, in the in the grocery store. And they can even use it to make their own baby food. And we offer packages that has yogurt in it and even soy packages for people that have milk allergies or lactose-free packages.

It's really evolved over the years to something that it really benefits families. what's the difference between WIC and food stamps? With WIC, there's a nutrition component. okay, and there's only certain foods you can buy with WIC. Yeah. Like if you get cereal, there's only you're not buying fruity pebbles or frosted flakes. There's certain brands of cereal and sizes of boxes that are approved.

for you to get. And they're and they have to meet all sorts of guidelines to the the FDA and everything. Yeah. So it's it's certain foods that you get on WIC. With food stamps, I think it's more that you have a certain amount of money and you can you know buy whatever brand you want or whatever food you want. But also with WIC, the big difference is it's a nutrition education and a prevention program. when you come in for your appointment

We see if you qualify financially and residentially. And then there we weigh and measure the children. We take a little blood sample from their finger to check to make sure they're not low on their iron. And then we have nutritionists that come in and talk to them about their nutritional status and identify nutritional risk factors. And then they go to classes to try to overcome those risk factors. And with food stamps, I don't think, you know,

Yeah, they did make a big change on the food stamp side of things back earlier this year where they cut out like sodas and that kind of junk food, that kind of thing. But but yeah, and that's and that's just strictly based, I think, on on on income and stuff like that. And I don't I don't know that there's any like educational pieces to it. Right. Yeah. I think that's the big part. And then WIC does referrals and we're really big on supporting breastfeeding.

We have a lactation consultant on staff. And if we if someone chooses not to breastfeed, that's totally fine too. We never make someone feel bad for not breastfeeding. But if they do breast breastfeed, we provide any sort of support they need. we have peer counselors, like they were actual WIC clients that were successful in breastfeeding. now they're working for us. So they're able to meet with the clients and we call them peer counseling because

You know, they've been there and they've been there and done that and they you know, could answer questions, you know, better because they've actually received the WIC services. All of our nutrition staff are trained in breastfeeding. And like I said, we really have an IBCLC for high risk cases. And I've seen her work miracles with people with getting to latch on and answering difficult questions. So WIC really is a prevention type program.

And a nutrition education program where food stamps isn't. and it is federally funded, for every dollar spent on WIC, it saves the taxpayer two dollars. And then I've seen another study that even said three dollars. Because if we can get pregnant women in early in their pregnancy, start having them eat properly, go to prenatal care. I mean, even if we

prevent one stay in the NICU. Yeah. And can you imagine how much money that saves? And you know, for the health of the the children and the moms. So and like I said, when I first answered that ad in Carlsbad for a weight nutritionist, I really had no idea what all I was just worried about getting a job out of college. Yeah. And then I ended up making a career and I think over, you know, 35 years I can look back and think,

You know, no telling how many families have I held, you know, put food on the family on the table or make family changes. And, you know, we talk about eating meals together as a family, cooking instead of eating out all the time. We have gardening classes. We even have cooking classes. Wow. So WIC is really a good program and a lot of people don't realize.

that there's more to the program than just providing the supplemental foods. Right. Yeah. I had I didn't even know all that. So so and it but it's women, infants, children. So where does that where's where does this stop? Okay. I mean so children up to age five. Five. Okay. Yes. And generally when they turn five, they're in school and school lunch kicks in and school breakfast. But we see all pregnant women and they

We want come in as soon as they know they're pregnant so they can take advantage of all the nutrition education that we offer. And we serve breastfeeding women until their child turns a year. And breastfeeding women, if they don't receive formula, they get more food. Okay. because some I've had women say, Well, you know, I I may get formula because, you know, I I may need it and you know, occasionally and I'll say, Well, you're gonna get like twice as much food food from us if you don't get

formula and you can actually buy a can of formula if you need that. Yeah. So that formula is stinking expensive. It is very expensive. Yeah. And I'll talk about that in a second about our contract and, you know, the rules with the formula and all. But if they choose not to breastfeed, we call them postpartum women and they're on WIC until the baby turns six months. But then the child can still be on WIC until they're five. But every year they have to be recertified and meet the four criteria. Right.

And so let me tell you what the four criteria is. Okay, they have to reside in Texas. Yeah. And so the second criteria is they have to bring in their proof of address. It could be a utility bill, a rent receipt, anything that has their address on it that was mailed to them that doesn't have a P.O. box, it has to have a actual physical address. Physical address. And then the next one is income criteria. And if they're on foster, if foster care and DFPS

is the con managing conservator, they automatically qualify financially. Right. But if they're not in foster care or if it's just like a family that has stepped in to help temporarily, it's based upon the family's income. Yeah. And a lot of people think that you know you have to be down and out and not working to qualify for WIC. I they just increase the guidelines. And I think for a family of four.

It's over fifty thousand dollars. So I mean a lot of our clients they both work and they still qualify. So we always tell people if you have any doubt, try. I mean, it you nothing's lost by incr seeing if you qualify for sure easily. For sure. And then the fourth criteria which separates us from any other program is there has to be a medical or nutritional need. And that's why we weigh, measure, do the hematocrits or nutrition education.

can't you know help that need. And anybody that's in the foster care system qualifies nutritionally because that is a risk factor being a foster child. And so really with foster families, the main thing that I see is ID seem to be a problem. Because sometimes they don't have an ID right away. But if they bring their placement papers, that works for ID. Okay.

And then the family could bring their address, like a utility bill, room receipt. And as long as that placement paper says that the DFPS is the managing conservator, that's all we need for income. Right. So it's automatic. You know, and and part of where this conversation started, for me is we were we were delivering a bunch of placement packages and you know we

We try to get the family enough we try to be there within twenty four hours of when the kiddo is placed and we try to get enough things that they need to last for about a week. So, you know, a week's worth of clothing, a week's worth of diapers, a week's worth of wipes and those kinds of things. And and we are asked a lot of times for formula. and and it's never the basic. Right. I know. It's hard. I mean they're in care because things have not been great.

And so the the you talk about the risk factors, they're I mean, so they're always on the you know, the advanced, the Similac alimentum all the yeah, all the really expensive ones. And so, you know, we'll bring them, we try to get an enough formula for a week. And then, you know, I so I take it to them and they're like, you know, they're very grateful and everything. we start talking about

formula and how expensive it is and I'm like make sure to go get WIC set up and they're like what do you what are you talking about and I was like no if you need to go get WIC set up and they're like we make too much money and it's like it doesn't they don't even chat like all you have as long as the kids are in foster care yeah if even if it's like grandma but it's but CPS removed and placed like it's automatic. Like you just have to go down there and do it. Yes and they're like I'm

I've fostering for five years and I can't tell you how many cans of formula I bought. I'm like, well, here you go. You need to get down there and get it done. And let me tell you a couple of things with that. The first thing they should do is is call for an appointment. Cause it does take Yeah, don't show up. Yes. And then especially if you give them a week. And you know, I would call have them called right away. And then also we have a website, it's TexasWIC.org

There's a place it says apply now. Yeah. And they can put their information in and that sends us a ticket and then we reach out to them for an appointment. But the thing with these special formulas like Alimentum and Nutramigen they're we have to have a a doctor's prescription. Sure. And so that takes time for them to get a prescription from the doctor and we an approval process and everything. our contract formulas, we have a contract, a milk base and a soy base. Sure.

And those just regular formulas don't require prescriptions. But anything outside of that requires a prescription. And if there's if it's not a medical formula and it's just another brand of a contract, it may not get approved because there's only certain contract formulas that the WIC provides. And I don't want to say what contract it is because it changes every so often. And sure enough, someone's gonna watch this and say,

you said, you it's Similac and it turns out to be Enfamil Right. Yeah. But there's a lot that goes into the formula piece of it. Yeah. Especially the, you know, these special formulas like the Nutramagin and Alimentum. There's some formulas that are, you know, we have to get dropshipped because they're so hard to get. Right. And and we do that as well. Yeah. So but the best advice I'd give a foster mom that has a a special needs child that has a

formula is contact WIC right away and tell them what type of formula you're on. If you just say make an appointment and don't mention it until you're at the appointment, that's gonna cost more time as, you know, trying to contact the doctor and then going through the approval. But if you tell us right up front, my child's on Nutramagin, then we'll know, okay, you need to take this form to the doctor. You can the doctor has to fill out this out. We have to get it approved by the state or the R D. So that's

That's one piece of advice I I'd love to tell everybody is right up front, let us know what kind of formula the baby's on. Sure. But then even still, I mean, they're not just gonna get the formula, they're gonna get the all the other things too. And so there's no downside no, there's no to to to setting up the appointment and coming in and and getting it set up. I mean exactly. And even worst case scenario, you get to the WIC clinic and turns out we need a prescription or something, but at least

we never just turn anyone away that we get everything done that we possibly can. Sure. You get the process started. Yeah. And then you'll know what the next steps are. So you like you said, there's no downside of contacting WIC and getting an appointment started. Yeah. So let's say you got a three year old. I and I know it's like a it's like a tremendous amount of milk and things like that. I mean, I can't remember

'Cause our kids were on it at one time when we first got them. And and it's a lot of stuff. It is per child. I know. It it really helps with your grocery bills and everything. One thing that we do tell people it's a supplemental food program. Yeah. It's not gonna pay everything. Everything. No. And certainly with the formula, we always tell people because formula is so expensive. Like for powder, depending on the can size, I think it's eight cans that they get a month for a full package. But you will have to end up buying.

Some formula. But the eight cans that you don't buy, I mean that that that saves tons of that could be four hundred dollars a month. Or more. Easy. So we buy we buy a lot of it, let me tell you. And this the the sad thing is that like I have ways to to get stock of a lot of things that I can buy in bulk. But what I can't do is buy the formula in bulk because I have no idea which child

is gonna need formula and which formula they're gonna be on. And so it's hard. You know, so we that we get a lot of our inventory from places where we can pay, you know, a lot less than the kind of the normal market rate. retail prices and stuff, but the formula we just there there's just not a way. I mean we could go buy, you know, fifty cans of one and not not need nobody needs that one for six months and then they expire.

Yeah, I know. So it's like it's like it's like we're when it comes to formula, we're like, here's something to get you started, and then go to WIC and get it set up and and and that helps us too when you get them started, yeah, because they're not in a crisis right away, you know. But so that's why I'm saying if they can call us as soon as they know, yeah, to start the process and y'all help them, you know, to get started. And you know, things should go smoothly, even if you don't have everything.

then we tell you, you know, what you need and the main thing I see with foster placements over the years is there's confusion, like maybe someone's not through an DFPS like a managing conservatory and people don't understand why, you know, we have to take their income. There's two different types of placements, I guess. if the their foster children

DFPS is a managing conservator, we count them as a family of one. Yeah. We don't even look at the household income for for them. Yeah. But if it's like I d someone just decided to let their mom watch the the child or volunteer. Volunteer something or another, then we're looking at their income. Yeah. Sure. So there's some confusion on that because you know, people will read that, you know, if they're foster

You know, they automatically qualify, but we're saying, this isn't quite the same case. Yeah. So I think that was the biggest misconception that I've seen over the years of people misunderstanding. Yeah, the different different types of placements. But as but as long as CPS has removed them and placed them. I mean, it's one thing if you where there's a voluntary placement where it's like, you know, I'm gonna go into rehab and so I'm gonna take the kids.

And have CPS place them somewhere is different than the CPS has removed them. That's when they become the conservator. Because if you do a voluntary placement like that, anytime anytime you want, you can revoke that. Really? Where as opposed to a family where a child has been removed and placed with a licensed foster home or a kinship family or whatever, that's where they're gonna have the paperwork that says these kids have been removed.

They go through all that paperwork the night, you know, the day that the kids mountain of paperwork and they're left with that because they ultimately they need that paperwork for a thousand different things. I know. You're gonna go set them up doctor's appointments. And it's like, well, I need your birth certificate. Well, I don't have it. I got this placement pay. They they not they gotta have that. They take it everywhere, should take it most everywhere, anyways. They just need to know that they need to for sure bring it.

a few months ago, I was talking to a foster mom and

the caseworker had dropped the kiddo off and and they did have the diaper bag and the diaper bag had a can of formula, so the caseworker thought that they were okay. She went to open the can of formula and it had like half of a scoop left. no. Right. And it's like eight o'clock at night. She literally lives an hour from anywhere to buy formula. Man, yeah. But we had already gotten the referral, we'd already knew what she needed and we we showed up like

right after that happened. And so, you know, I mean, that you know, that baby needed to eat like right now and could not wait. Right, right. There's yeah. I mean, little bitty town, there's nowhere to buy formula. You know, what are you gonna do? So that reminds me, do you remember a few years ago with the formula shortage? I do. That was I remember my daughter was a competitive dancer and so we were on a at a dance competition and I came back and I just read the news about formula shortage. I thought, you know

This isn't gonna be that big a deal. I go to work the next day and I realize what a huge deal that was. Absolutely. And we got calls, I would say hundreds of calls every day. Yeah. Where can I get this formula? I mean, they had their WIC benefits, but trying to there was none. There was none. Yeah. That well, I have a guy that's on my board. He's actually been on the podcast, but they got placed. This was in the middle of the shortage, and they got placed and she

needed a very specific type of formula. And what really stood out to them as a family was that my wife and I, we went to four stores to and finally found what they needed. But it took a lot of work to go to all these different places to try to find that specific formula. We had one person that's all she did all day was travel around to all the stores and we had a a website that we, you know, try to maintain

But as soon as someone bought it, it wasn't actually you know, that was so sad that we said, Well, the last time we knew such and such a store had this. Well, they can go to the store and they call it's gone. And you know, so we we made calls and like I said, every morning before she'd come to work, she'd go to all the stores and take inventory of what they had. Wow. It was just a really hard time. It was. And it was right in the middle of COVID too. So there was still

Stuff was still shut down. It was a mess. It was an absolute mess. I had no idea what I was walking into when I just read a little bit of the news about the formula shortage and all. And then it I mean, it it really impacted our operations. Yeah, I know, I don't doubt it. Because I mean, we had no problem issuing the benefits of the card. But what do you do if stores don't stop? And then, you know, all this misinformation about making your own formula that that's dangerous. You don't want to do that, you know.

It was just a really, really hard time. It was. And it and it lasted for a while. It did. I literally I knew somebody. trying to remember like how I knew them, but they were they were literally driving to Mexico and buying like a truck bed full of formula to bring it back here. Yeah. Just because they're just what it just didn't exist. What are you gonna do? Yeah. I know. I mean, golly. So so the the

The there are different benefits depending it's just depending on the age of what each child would qualify for. Yes. Right. And that kind of brought that to my mind is like children that's from one to two, they need like whole milk for their brain development. So everybody wants whole milk, truthfully, because you know, they it tastes better and this and that. So that's a struggle we we face. We can only issue whole milk to

kids one to two. Once they turn two, you know, we have to follow the advice from the the the government, you know, that we need to decrease our fat. And they can only get like skim or one percent milk. And I don't know how when that first happened and they changed it from where you had your choice to kids two and up and adults having to get low fat milk. That was a uphill battle. People were upset I'm sorry. They were but

This has been that way for a good number of years now. So it's really not such an issue now. But I I was working for WIC when that happened and having to explain to people, you know, why you can't have the whole milk, but your one year old can. So you know, I get calls every day, well, my one year old gets on on their check or whatever, whole milk, but mine says skim milk and we're having to explain you know, why and all. But yeah, and then depending on their their age,

Like for infants when they're six months, we help with baby foods and infant cereal and everything. But for the first few months, they just get formula. It's really a tailored food package based upon their nutritional needs at that age. That time, yeah, sure. Love it. so the process to get enrolled, so they need to call the office or online and register to schedule an appointment. Yes, and that's a biggie.

Because when this state first said, Okay, let's on the website we'll get this apply now button and I thought, no one's really gonna use it, you know, guess I'm old school. I mean I'm used to the cards and the stamps on it. But once we started it, everybody makes these appointments and we come in and there's twenty to thirty new inquiries online and you can do it you know, in the evening when you get off work and not have to

call during the business hours. So that TexasWIC.org is going to be a really good resource for families. Or you can call the main WIC office. And we have a call center. We do have a couple of WIC offices, one on Austin Street, one in the North Branch Library, and but it's just a satellite clinic. We're just there Tuesday and every other Saturday. We travel the Canyon, we travel to Vega, Panhandle and Groom once a month.

But we always ask people to call this main number and it's 806-371-1119. And we can make an appointment for any clinic that you want to go to. So we don't want people calling the North Branch Library for a WIC appointment because they're totally separate than us. So we always try to communicate that you either make your appointments online or the main call number. And even there's a

WIC app now. It's my WIC app. And you remember, I'm sure as a cashier, go people go in the grocery store and you say, this cereal's not approved. Right. You know, this type of juice, this brand's not approved. Well, they can scan it now. you put in the grocery store that you're in. No way. Yes. And then you scan it before you get to the checkout aisle. Yeah. And then you'll know if it's approved or not. Wow. Because so many people would say, you know, it's embarrassing. You're at the aisle and you have a

the wrong thing and you're holding up the whole line. And so this app and you know it has the the shopping list right on there. And then you can scan it to see if it's WIC approved. Does it have does it is it associated with your like account so you know like for the two year old what you have to have this. Yes. And for the three year old to have this. Wow. So we always encourage people to sign up for what the app

differences is you know 35 years from the stamps on the cards to have an app that you can scan even before you get to the checkout lane. And then another thing that's just incredible is they starting in July, we're able to issue benefits over the phone without them coming in. But there's a huge but it's only for classes. if they do their nutrition education online on that website we have all sorts of classes. We have

Click and learn classes on anything you want to learn about. We have cooking classes. You could do your class online. It loads up to your app and it lets us know you finished your class. And then we have to call and verify your identity. We have to make sure it's really you, your name, address, phone number, date of birth. And then we can load your benefits automatically without you coming to the WIC office.

And but already there's been confusion. If it's a certification or you know, a midpoint of mid cert, you still have to bring the child in. You still have to, you know, we have to do the weighing and measuring. That part has not changed. Yeah. But it's only for the nutrition education piece of it that you don't have to you can even call us and say, I just finished my class online and we get the certificate and enter it in and it gives you benefits for three months. That's crazy.

Technology is just. It it is just absolutely amazing. Yeah. So they need the the paperwork from the courts or the the CPS or whatever saying that they that's the biggest one piece of it because we can even use that for ID if you don't have it. You can use that for the ID if you don't have 'cause I mean I remember we got like

One social security card but not the other two. And I know and one birth certificate or two and not the others and stuff. And so that's that does make it a challenge. So that just having the paperwork. They changed that because I remember I don't know how many years ago that was not the case and that was the biggest struggle for foster families getting the ID. And we could you know, we were stuck without an do anything without it, yeah. But I don't know how many years ago, but they do did change it to where the placement paper works for ID for the the child.

Does it and and their Medicaid status is completely separate and not even associated, affiliated with this, right? Yes. One is separate. But the thing is, is if they are on Medicaid, like even if they go to a like someone voluntarily places the child with the somebody else if it's not CPS, if the child's on Medicaid, they automatically qualify financially. So that's kind of

We tell people there's two ways to qualify financially. If you're on Medicaid, food stamps, or TANF, the child has to actually be on food stamps themselves, not the parents. And we don't even have to look at their income because honestly, WIC income guidelines are higher than Medicaid's. So if we know they already qualify for Medicaid, we don't have to do all the calculations ourselves. Yeah. So the simplest thing is someone brings in their Medicaid card.

There is a way for us to look it up now, but it if they have the Medicaid card, man, it just makes things so much easier. Yeah. Yeah. So but if they don't, then people say, I didn't come to WIC because I don't have Medicaid or I didn't have the Medicaid card yet. But I mean, worst case scenario, we can look at the family income. Yeah. for all the income in the family. And the guidelines are higher than what most people expect. And sure people can't believe they qualify. So

That's the message I want to get out is you you have nothing to lose. Yeah. Maybe time a little bit of time coming down to the WIC office to see if you qualify. But you know, you make an appointment and we even if you don't have everything at at the first stab of it, then we can do what we can and then tell you what direction you need to go to. Cause I see a lot of times with the formula, people don't need know that they have to have a prescription for like a special formula. Yeah. If it's

If it's contract formula, that's not a problem. But the main problems I see is not having the placement papers or and then a prescription. So other than you know, verifying the paperwork and then the address. I mean at the initial appointment if they if they were to bring everything. Okay. So they verify the paperwork, you they're gonna height weight.

Medical test with the kiddos. Yes. Is there anything else? do they have to is there trainings that they do while they're there? Well, no we teach them how to use their WIC benefits if they haven't been on before. But if they meet all four criteria when they're there, they're gonna get that credit card and it's gonna have three months of benefits on it and then a return appointment for a class. And so they don't have to the benefits expire at the end of the month. They don't roll over. Right.

So at the end of the month, they we always tell them, make sure you don't leave anything on your card because you're gonna lose it. So at the first of the next month, the whole new food package starts up again and they can use the benefits. And then as it is now, as of July, they can do their class online toward the third month and then let us know they've already done the class and then we can load three more months. But then they every six months they do need to come in for either a midpoint or a mid cert.

or a recertification. like I said, they can get benefits up to age five, but they have to re-qualify. Sure. You know, yeah every year or do a midpoint every six months. Okay. But it's so nice. People are so excited that they don't have to come in every three months now. They can do it on their class online and save it. Yeah. And and it's really nice for us too, because it's quicker. You know, they just call us and we get their certificate and then

Just a press of a button. Sure. It's it unloads their benefits onto the card. So and it goes to their WIC app what they've received. So when they go to the grocery store, they get their app out. And it shows how many gallons of milk you can get, if you can get whole milk if you have a one year old or not, or you know, what you're eligible for. And then if you're uncertain about an item before you go to the store, scan it. Yeah. And cause some stores they're allowed to

declare what brand of like least expensive brand. I'm sure you remember that as a cashier And so if you're unsure, you can scan it and then you don't have the problem of being at the checkout stand and having to say, we're gonna have to go back and get something, you know, different for you or or whatever. Well they try to make it easy when they they can I mean they there are those pink stickers all over. It's like this is WIC approved and things, but having that app to just it's got everything that you have left and just you can just scan it and know whether or not

That makes things so much easier. And not everything is labeled a pink sticker or kids move it. I had someone call me and say, I didn't know y'all gave distilled water. I said, We don't. Why? She said, There was a pink sticker on the in the at a grocery store. And I said, No, someone must have moved that sticker. they don't need medical records and shot records, any of that unless they're on Well, the way that

A prescription that we need that, but shot records, we screen shot records if available. Yeah. But it's a service we provide. It's not like mandatory. so but if someone doesn't have an ID and they have shot records, we can use that for an ID. I see if it has their name and dirt date of birth on it. But we always tell people, don't not come because you don't have your shot records, because it's it's not mandatory. It's just we want to make sure parents know when their kids are due for shots next. Yeah.

So we ask for the shot records and say, your babies due for shots at four months or six months. And that's just part of the screening process. But it we it certainly doesn't affect your WIC eligibility if you don't have a shot record. Right. So what happens if let's say you know, a foster family has to close a home for a reason and the the kiddo goes from here to there? the new family would have to have a new

Appointment and new all that stuff separately. And it used to be a really big deal on our end that if we'd have to try to get the card back from the old foster parent. And then if they had used, you know, some benefits, we didn't know what they were. But with the new system starting in July, supposedly this is still working the kinks out, but we could transfer the child to the new foster family.

And if there's benefits left on the card, it transfers to automatically to the new card. Wow. I have not seen this work myself, but it's supposed to and the with WIC, things change so fast, policies change so fast. And maybe by the time someone sees this podcast, what I say is not gonna be true anymore because the nature of WIC is just you know, they're always on the cutting edge of things and with technology and they

have to update their policies to reflect the current you know policies through the USDA. Yeah. So but they're they're making it a lot easier for foster moms and for us. Yeah. If from foster to foster. Yeah. And one thing I do it helps a lot for people to know if the foster child goes back to the biological mom that to go ahead and give them the card, everything you have, and then when the

the biological mom makes an appointment to let WIC know they need to bring the child in because we need some proof that the she has a child back. For sure. Or and the best thing is if the the caseworker could write us something saying, you know, the biological mom has the child back. And that just takes a lot of extra steps off for us. But you know, we we do have to be responsible about making sure we don't issue benefits to the wrong person, whether it be a foster child parent that

doesn't have the the a child anymore or the biological mom that doesn't have the child anymore. So that's why the placement papers are so important. And and then also I've had over the years some amazing caseworkers that, you know, I would call and they said, you know, they can verify who has custody of the child. And we document that 'cause sometimes, especially on like a mom and dad custody situation, it just gets messy. absolutely. And we don't, you know, we're just

stuck in the middle and we all we want to do is issue benefits to whoever has a child. That's all we ha care about. We don't care about who has custody of the child. We just want to make sure the food goes to the right person. So that's why there's all these policies in place when we have to have some sort of proof of custody. Sure. Some sort of letter from CPS, some sort of placement paper. Yeah. let's say that kiddo is born

way premi, drugs in the system. They know foster mom knows that when that child is released from the hospital after they get out of the NICU, they're coming and they already know what formula they're expected to have them on. Have them write a prescription for that in the hospital. In the hospital before they ever come home. Can they set it up in advance? Yes, they can't. But

We really can't issue benefits as long as the baby's in the hospital. Right, right. But they can get every all the work done first so that the day the baby comes home, I know we've got formula. Yes. And and if a baby is, you know, like really sick in the NICU, there's ways to do it. Like normally they have to be physically present in the clinic to prove that, you know, they're there or you know, that this is really a real person. But if someone's real sick in the NICU, a doctor can write, you know, the

This child can't come to the weight clinic because they're hooked up to medical equipment or whatever the the case might be. And then they fill out the prescription for the formula and then they write the weight and height down. And that that all helps. Yeah. You know, and saves a lot of steps. No, I'm I I don't I don't know how many times we've done that just very recently, you know, the hospital sent the family with like two of those pre made bottles. And that was it. Yeah.

And and again, we got the referral and so we were able to get them the formula to get them through and everything like that. But I mean that's they got two bottles worth and and they were gonna have to go buy you know the stuff and so it's hard. Yeah. It's really hard. Yeah. Well I that's really cool that they can they can do most of that work in advance and make it advance, yeah, it could be so so so helpful. Yes, and

But they still like the mom would foster mom would need to come to the WIC clinic and you know, sign all the paperwork and everything. But at least anything you we can do in advance of appointment will help. Sure. Because you know, no matter what you do, seems like there's something, you know, the prescription wasn't signed or the prescription, the date was missing. And so we're calling the doctor. Yeah. I mean, no, you know, it's just happens, life happens. Right. Yeah.

So there's more we can get done in advance or even check to make sure that it's right, it saves time for the foster mom and for us. So we're we more are more than happy to do that for sure. Okay. so whose responsibility is it to notify you guys when the child is

Not with that family anymore. Is it that family? Is it the next family? Is it the caseworker? Is it the bioparents that Yeah. I don't know whose responsibility it is as long as they're getting notified. Yeah. it's just really nice if like if foster to foster, I've seen some amazing foster parents work together and they they gave the other foster mom the the card or if there's any formula left over, you know. I mean that's just amazing if if they do that. But

I would just say my best advice is, you know, call the WIC clinic and, you know, let us know what you know and you know, if they could just work together that would even when the child goes back to the biological mom, if they can work together, yeah. That that would that saves a lot of work. Truthfully, foster kids, there's a lot of steps like verifications and everything that we have to do extra steps.

And so the more people work together and and we're all in it as a team and we all want the best for the kid. Yeah. And so that's why I'm thinking, you know, if people will just work together, it would just make the whole process go a lot smoother. Right. So for your WIC office here, what area did you guys don't serve the twenty six counties? No. Well, truthfully anybody that's in Texas, we can serve. But we go we go to Canyon and

Panhandle, Vega, Groom. But sometimes occasionally we have someone that l lives in Herford and they work in Amarillo And by the time they get to back to Herford, the clinic is closed. And so we see them. I mean, we try to be respectful to that other clinic. We don't say, well, we're gonna take all your clients, you know. But I mean, whatever is best for the the But there are multiple clinics around.

you know, the ones you mentioned that you send somebody satellite every once in a while, but there's so there are others. So, you know, if they're in Perryton, they don't have to come to Amarillo to get WIC benefits. If there's somebody closer. Yes. And I'm glad you brought that up. If they went to Perryton they can't just pop into the Amarillo office and then it 'cause it's totally separate. You know, different pools of money and all kinds of things. All kinds of things. Yeah, yeah. So we always try to you know, make sure that if someone

does want to come to Amarillo that this is what they want. It's not just that that they're here shopping for the day and they think that, you know, they want to go and pop in. Pop in. And then then they're in Perryton and then we'd have to do transfer. It's just it it's just a big mess. So but there's all counties are represented by WIC and whether it they have a office like we do, an actual office or they send satellite like we have

Like Groom is really small. So we have a travel team that goes to Groom. It's the first Monday of every month at a certain time. And then we see the people there. And there's not very many people. But I mean, sometimes when you live in small towns, you don't, you know, have a car or but other times we have people, I want to go to Amarillo because you know, I'm there all the time and you're there more than once a month. Yeah. So I mean

We're just here to help the families. I mean, whatever makes life easier for them, we're here for. And like I said, we do have people that work here from Hereford or Perryton that wants to, you know, get WIC services here. Yeah. But we ask that they some, you know, try to stay here. They they just don't go from one clinic to another. When I first started, the WIC agencies were only authorized to receive certain counties, like we serve Potter and Randall counties.

And we had to get special approval to see other counties. But now they changed it to if you're a Texas resident that we're able to see you. Okay. Yeah. So what if family moves from here to Perryton and there's a there's an office up there? Is it a transfer? Transfer. It's easy. They have to they do have to s show documents, you know, but they just contact the parent and WIC office and say

You know, I'm move moving here now. They'll show their new proof of address, their placement papers. And it's it's fast. It used to be I remember when computers start started, it it was like fifteen, thirty days for the transfers to go because I went like from here to the state, the state to there. And now it's within Click of the mouse Yes. usually we say a couple of days just to make sure all the food records benefits, the updates are on there.

But I mean it's amazingly fast compared to what two weeks. Yeah. So yeah.

so here's the here's the scenario. So family has received a kiddo and the kiddo had WIC benefits at another home, but there wasn't any handoff, there wasn't any communication. What do they do? They come in, they call us for sure. Set up an appointment, bring the new papers, all that stuff. And if if it's here in Amarillo or Texas, I mean, there is a way we can transfer now that

the benefits that was on the old card into their new card. Before July, there wasn't really unless the foster mom gave them the card, it was really difficult. But now we can transfer like if there's three gallons of milk left, then we can transfer it onto the new card. Cool. But sometimes, like I said, especially with formula, if the one foster mom has spent it,

And the new foster mom gets the child, they're they think to send the formula with the child. Sure, sure, sure. And that's really helpful. Yeah, no doubt. Yeah. So, are there any WIC benefits that you think that foster and adoptive families just that the they're there but they don't know that they're there? Well, I can think of like we refer to the community to for different things. I mean, like I go to a bunch of

outreach you know meetings and I learn different things like someone's having a school supply drive or someone's giving out toiletries or you know a trunk or treat you know just different things. So we always try to make sure our clients are aware of these different things or if we see a need, like I don't know about foster families, but like if we see a family that excuse me has a hard time

paying utility bills, we refer them to PCS and different places that might could help them. Okay. what are some like big some of the biggest mistakes that families make when they're when they're trying to get it set up? Is it just not bringing in the paperwork? Not bringing the paperwork, not calling quickly. Yeah. You know, as soon as they know if it's not a contract formula, the prescription, that's a that's a big deal. But

With y'all helping like a week, that gives us a little bit of a cushion. Yeah. Yeah, because you know, it's terrible when a family presents themselves and I have no money, I have no formula, I don't even have a prescription. Yeah. And we're scrambling and we call the doctor and the doctor doesn't call us back. You know, it's it's hard. And these doctor's offices, you know, they're great, but a lot, you know, they're busy seeing patients too. And so I mean, we when we call, we don't get through any faster than right a patient. Yeah. So it's just

We we struggle, you know, helping people and you know, our heart goes out to because, you know, especially with a formula, the baby needs that. Right away. Right. Right away. Right now, right now. So that that is that is just amazing, which I'll do is to give someone a cushion, you know, to help them with the with the formula. I don't know if they the foster kids get food stamps or whatnot, but a lot of people don't know that food stamps you can use to buy formula. Right. And I I don't know the rules with foster families, but

I talked to a lot of families that they call and say, I already used my eight cans of formula. What do I do? And we can I mean, it's a USDA limit, the it just the computer won't do it. I mean, we can't issue more than the maximum allowable amount. And you know, we try to refer to you know, to different community resources, but I'll say, Do you have food stamps? And they Yes. I said, Did you know you could use food stamps or formula? And they didn't know. And so that was a game changer. You know, they said, great, I can run down and get a can of formulas.

Yeah, I guess I need to talk to see if I can't find somebody from the food stamp office to come on here and talk about this that kind of stuff. Because I don't know. I mean, I've not talked to anybody, foster families, otherwise or whatever, that have talked about getting food stamps set up for the kiddos. Yeah, I don't know what the policies are either. That'd be an interesting conversation to have. what is one thing you wish every

Licensing agency or CPS case worker told foster families. Bring your placement papers. We're gonna keep hitting that dog. man. When we train staff or when the state trains us and we they go over how to read, you know, placement papers, they said the first thing you look for is the managing conservatory ship, the DFPS. Once you see that in there, you know that it's a true foster case. Because if you don't see that, then you're wondering,

Do I need to look at the income of the family and everything? So we even have had I and I know this isn't practical because all everybody's so busy, but like a CPS worker actually comes with a family and you know, helps them with the the thing and they're just right there. And then can you fill this form out, you know? Or they're available by phone so I can fax them a form or whatever, but the

That's the biggest message is oh the placement papers. And now since we can use it for ID, that's even better. Yeah. And then the only thing the foster parent would have to do is bring the child and the proof of address. Cool. How how far booked out are y'all? I mean, are y'all the all I mean, if I called today, am I gonna get an appointment by Friday? Is it next week? Is it dependent? It depends.

What has helped is the technology when we're able to issue benefits remotely. Yeah. We can see more certifications. Sure. So but we really try to get everybody in within 10 days. But infants, I mean, it's policy and you have to. I mean, they have to have formula. I mean, you can't go to another community agency and get a bag of food for an infant because I mean that formula is hard to find. Yeah.

if someone has questions, do they should they go to the website first or and then call, call for if they just if they're just not sure about something? I would call. Yeah. And that way you can talk to someone. the website is great. I mean, there if you they even have like recipes because some people get their WIC foods and they think, What do I do with you know, all this food? And we they have like

recipes and cooking demonstrations and how you can prepare a meal for your family using WIC foods and and we even have not all the time but sometimes we have a cooking class and where we have someone live and people watch on zoom. We have breastfeeding classes, gardening classes on Zoom, because we found over the years that since we have technology

People would much rather do a Zoom class than load the kids up, load the diaper bags, formula, everything, and come to the book office, the stroller. Yeah. So these online Zoom classes are very, very popular. Yeah. We still do have group classes, but honestly no one signs up for Yeah. We offer in case somebody really wants, but rarely do people, you know. So they'd much rather just do it online. And especially the younger generation, I mean, is

It's just amazing. I like I said, I didn't think the applying for WIC on the website was going to be that popular, but I was so wrong. Yeah. I mean, we come in and there's new referrals all the time. People do it, I guess, when you know their kids go to bed and you can get on the WIC website and you can look about and see what the income guidelines are. There's frequently asked questions. There's even videos on shopping experiences. So if you're unsure how to use your WIC card after the first time.

You can watch videos on this woman navigating through the grocery store. That's cool. It's really come such a long way. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Well, Shantel I thank you for coming in and talking. I think that this is just I think this is just another conversation that's really valuable for families and and my hope is that more families will

Be aware of it and use it. you know, that's it is a lot to try to take care of all the different things. And so any any support mechanisms that are that are out there, we you know, we want families to know about certainly. And I really appreciate the opportunity to if nothing else people know to bring their placement paper across when they got If they just learned that one thing, that'll save me so much headache.

And to call as soon as you you can. You know, that I think just doing little things will make the process smoother for the foster families and for us even. So I was really excited when you asked me to do this because I think it's gonna help, you know, both ends. Yeah, sure. Hopefully streamline the process for y'all, streamline the process for the families. Yes. Well, thank you again so much for coming. guys, thanks again to Leslie out there at Pullman Diesel for your sponsorship.

Guys, make sure to like, share, subscribe, comment where you listen to this from and just keep sharing, keep raising awareness. There's a there's a lot of folks out there that need this information and we want to get it into as many hands as we can. So thanks and have a great day.