After several presentations for Internet safety, many adults have commented that they are unaware of the dangers on the Internet such as not even having virus software or understanding how children/teens can circumvent control programs. Many older adults serve as caregivers for grandchildren and other people’s children and their lack of knowledge could lead to abuse for children. Teaching them provides much needed information in preventing issues for children in their care.
A mother contacted Knox County Child Advocacy after an Internet Safety program to say she found her teenage daughter was sending inappropriate types of texts. The mother was able to install an app on her phone to monitor her daughter’s phone usage. The mother was grateful for the knowledge she learned in the KCCAC session
There were two new campers this year that are siblings and have been diagnosed with severe autism. Both campers really struggled learning the routine and boundaries. They required intensive 1:1 supervision. This is also required at school on a daily basis. After week two of camp staff were able to fade the 1:1 supervision and they only required monitoring at certain times of the day. Both of these campers have made such great gains this summer at camp.
Recently, one of our participants received a $154.00 dollar phone bill. This participant knew that they did not owe this amount, but after two phone calls they were unable to resolve the issue on their own. This participant was in tears saying “They won’t listen to me.”
The participant contacted the local Money Management Coordinator, Lori Link, and related the problem to her. Lori met with the participant the next day and spent two and a half hours on the phone with the telephone company. Once the situation was resolved it was determined that the participant’s correct bill was actually $28.78. The amount that this participant was originally billed and told that they owed to the phone company would have created a great financial hardship for this person for the month, impacting their ability to afford groceries, medicine, and other essentials.
Navigating automated phone systems is frustrating for all of us. However, it is beyond frustrating for seniors, with hearing, vision, cognitive or other impairments. This story serves as a reminder that occasionally this frustration can result in more than a simple inconvenience and without an advocate like the Money Management program, this person may not have had this issue resolved in their favor.
Recently, the local Money Management Coordinator had a program participant who had to provide additional documentation to the Department of Human Services and the Inspector General’s Office to prove her eligibility for Medicaid. This has been an increasing occurrence recently as Illinois is scrutinizing benefit applications very closely. This participant is legally blind and would have had great difficulty locating the required documents for the history of her pension payments and an annual annuity payment on their own. With the help of the Money Management Coordinator, they were able to secure all of the necessary documents and paperwork. Without this assistance this participant may have very well ended up losing Medicaid benefits that they depend on. We often provide stories here of Money Management participants who are in financial crisis. However, one of the very important things that our program also does is to help seniors and disabled adults to navigate complicated benefit programs and to help them access crucial benefits that improve their quality of life.
A young mother of three children contacted our office after her husband became mentally, physically, and verbally abusive towards her. Her husband had pending criminal charges for domestic battery and had an outstanding warrant for breaking into her home. With our assistance, this woman was able to obtain a divorce, custody of the minor child, and $554.24 per month in child support.
An elderly man was denied Medicaid coverage after submitting all requested paperwork. DHS claimed that our client was unwilling to provide the required information. When our client's nursing home received a letter from DHS, they were going to charge our client for his stay at the nursing home, however our client did not have enough money to pay the total cost.
Our office communicated with DHS to determine which documents were needed to re-evaluate the client's case and where they should be sent. DHS then determined the client eligible for Medicaid coverage and his benefits were continued which allowed him to stay in the nursing home.
A man contacted our office requesting help with a Power of Attorney for Healthcare. He had just been diagnosed with brain cancer and the prognosis was not good. The man was preparing to start chemotherapy the next day and wanted to be sure his sister could make decisions for him if necessary. With our assistance, the man was able to execute a Power of Attorney naming his sister his agent before any major medical treatments were started.
The most important gift we can give to our children is a love of reading.
