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Life as a Writer, Disney World Cast Member, and
Big Sister through Foster Care & Adoption
Life as a Writer, Disney World Cast Member, and
Big Sister through Foster Care & Adoption
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Welcome back to Taylor Talks! Whew, are my eyes tired! I spent hours tonight filling out forms and reading guidelines & handbooks with information I needed to know before starting my new job....and I'm still not finished! Even though my eyes are bugging out from staring at the computer screen and reading a ton of text, each page of information built up more excitement inside me and I can't wait for the next step in this whole hiring process. I know the date that I'll be going to finish paperwork in person, and I have an approximate date for my orientation into the Disney Company... it's all becoming so real!
Filling out forms for taxes makes me think about dependents, and how many family members you have. How many times must foster parents change tax forms as their families increase and decrease in size? I mean, think about it for a minute; most families only grow once in a while with the addition of a new baby. What's the size of an average American family? Two kids? Three? Four? I know with six kids we're considered a large family, and that's obviously not counting all of the brothers and sisters whom I've said good-bye to over the years. Foster families are constantly dealing with the addition and loss of children (and therefore, dependents) in their homes. One month you're responsible for supporting five children, the next you're only responsible for supporting two. It's amazing how different the family make-up can be in such a short period of time, depending on whether you take in emergency placements and short-term placements, or even provide respite care. Friends and extended family probably have a hard time keeping up with what kids you have in your house if you are a foster family; if you don't see them very often, your family members are probably different each time you get together. I would also just like to mention that as a wonderful surprise, I got to talk to my best friend on the phone tonight!! He's super busy with school and work, so we usually just get to text once in a while, but tonight we were able to talk for almost an entire hour, which was fantastic! We keep talking about the possibility of him coming down to visit at some point, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll be able to come down sooner rather than later. I would give anything for a hug from him! Thank you so much for your continued support! I look forward to sharing more stories about my experience with foster care, and hopefully hearing from readers who have questions or similar stories to share. I'm always willing to answer questions and hear about other experiences! Please don't forget to like and share my Facebook author page as well! I’d greatly appreciate it if you would share this blog with friends and family through your favorite social media sites. If you’re sharing on Twitter, don’t forget to tag me (@TayTayK02) and use the hashtag #TaylorTalks. Thanks! Taylor
4 Comments
mom
10/29/2015 12:30:40 pm
Just FYI for you and your readers....foster parents do NOT claim foster children on their yearly taxes. Foster children are wards of the state in which you are fostering. Foster parents are considered a temporary placement to allow a child taken from their biological parent to live and thrive in a family environment. Foster parents receive a small stipend each month to help with room/board expenses, therefore the child is NOT a dependent of the foster parent. Just wanted to clear that up. If you adopt a child, through any means, that child is a legal dependent, just as any biological child would be.
Pam
10/29/2015 10:40:58 pm
Re: Mom's comment. In my recent PRIDE class they said that if we had the children for more than half the year, we were allowed to claim them on our taxes as dependents. On some of the other blog's I've read, they also have done this. I am wondering if it is different from state to state, although the taxes are federal which would mean it should be the same across the US. It's not important to me, but I guess I will eventually find out. At the very least, it was just one more thing I hadn't thought about. Thanks!! 10/29/2015 11:08:56 pm
Ha ha, thank you Mom for the clarification, and thank you for sharing some information as well Pam! I had to go back and re-read my blog post... sometimes I think that my mind works faster than my hands can type. I actually didn't mean to say that foster children were claimed as dependents, but that when you adopt a child that's when they get added. I had actually just been thinking about the fact that foster families change so often, and that foster parents are responsible for so many children and their well-being, not necessarily that they're involved in tax information. I should really edit my blog posts more carefully before publishing them, I guess! It's funny, because I actually remember having a discussion about taxes and dependents along the lines of foster care one day (I don't remember with which parent this conversation took place), so I can't believe that this was the topic that I butchered! I'm very lucky to have a mom who pays attention to what I'm doing and get me out of the holes that I dig myself into!
mom
10/29/2015 11:58:56 pm
you've done a great job at most of your posts, everyone needs an edit once in a while....and I needed one on my comment, so thanks to your reader, Pam, I will edit myself. I should've stated that any comments that I make or facts that I add are strictly from NY state, where I was a foster parent for 18 years. Leave a Reply. |
My family has been doing foster care since I was three years old. I'm the only biological child in my family, though I now have five permanent siblings. Having nineteen siblings over the course of my lifetime has been an incredible experience, and I'm hoping that by sharing some of the ups and downs of being the only bio kid in a foster family, other foster families or people looking into doing foster care will be able to learn a bit of what life can be like. I also like to share what life is like on my journey to becoming a published author, as well as where my schooling and career choice are taking me.
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