update on Fl. murdered couple with many disabled children

[ensho]

(yesterday's post -
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=6095576)


the Sheriff is now calling the investigation a 'high stakes poker game' ??? whatever that means.

also that the recovered safe has an electronic lock that records the history of openings.

and that there is now a way for people to contribute money for the care of the children. I thought this couple had tons of money. why are donations needed now?!

last night CNN had on two people talking about it all (one was the Sheriff) and the other was a guy telling us that the casket viewing room and church 'had the scent of flowers'. duh. and that the funeral cortege was long but the video didn't show that. he said there was a large gathering at the cemetery. didn't look all that large from the videos. but it did show colored balloons tied together with long strings from each balloon with a paper tied on which where letters from the kids to their parents. this bunch of balloons was let go to rise to heaven. I've never seen this done before, have you? who wrote the letters for the disabled babies I wonder.

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with that many disabled children there had to be a lot of people in the house during the day and a number in the house at night to care for the children.

that couple didn't care for the children all by themselves.

some of these workers must have lived there. and the others drove in every morning.

lots of grass surrounding the house that needed mowed by someone and at least once a week pool care.

and that large house needed housekeepers.

there had to be a lot of people in and out of that house all the time.

the safe: supposedly had the children's medicine in it. I can see the medicine kept in a locked cupboard so the able bodied kids didn't get into it - but locked in a safe, which had to be opened everyday?

disabled babies/kids: where did they come from? all of them from the County the couple lived in?

foster parents get county/state money for caring for kids. do adopters of disabled babies get money for adopting and or care?

are there stats of how many disabled babies are born in a County and State? and stats on how many of the babies are given up by the mothers and stats of how many are taken away from the mothers by the County/State?

are these disabled kids part of the 'high stakes poker game'?

the plot thickens.

[Christa]

1. "The plot thickens."

Indeed. I smell a rat here.

I also wonder if adopting parents get state money for adopting disabled kids.

[mudplanet]

4. what plot?

Disabled children receive money under social security, and some states provide additional support to caretakers of disabled children.

People who take the role of foster parents for children in protective services also get money and food stamps to help care for the children.

All of this is as it should be and none of this has anything to do with the price of tea in China.

We don't have a clue what actually went on here, so why are we speculating? How about giving these folks the benefit of a doubt, assuming that they were what they appeared to be (nice, charitable folks who loved children) and let the journalists (let's hope there are still some left in this country) and law enforcement do their jobs and then, if we're still consumed by gory interest, we can start posting gossip.

[Christa]

16. As far as I know

Foster parents get $1300 per month in NC and more when the child is disabled.

Having 17 disabled children sounds more like a business than charity, imo.

[WolverineDG]

15. They may not get money directly

but when adopting children from the State (which gets a bounty for every kid they throw into foster care & even more for adopting out, thanks to a well-intentioned law signed by Pres. Clinton that has now been put to nefarious purposes by the various state Child "protective" services), you can negotiate things like Medicaid until age 18, free tuition at state colleges, therapy paid for by the state, & so on.

It's nice to know they gave these kids a stable, loving home, but others just look at the kids as dollar signs.

dg

[hlthe2b]

2. Demonizing people who took in/cared for the most desperate kids

is something I will NOT do until there is evidence...I have seen none to suggest these parents were involved, responsible, or otherwise deserving of blame.

[democraticinsurgent]

3. Foster care takes a lot of hits in public perception

...and partly because the foster parents do get compensated.

I worked with foster parents for a couple of years in Indiana and learned that the payments from government rarely meet the high cost of caring for kids. No idea about the Florida formula but I doubt it's much different there than anywhere else.

As with anything there are bad eggs who think they are in it for the money, but overall, i have never seen more generous or kind people anywhere.

[ensho]

5. I was not bad mouthing Foster parents

was asking about payment for adopting disabled children

and I'm not bad mouthing that either.

[Ms. Toad]

9. Adoption assistance is capped at $5000/year

or the amount that would otherwise have been paid to care for the same child in foster care.

Medicaid - if family insurance doesn't cover the child.

http://www.adoptflorida.com/assistance-program.htm

You're right - for any child with a significant disability, it would not even come close to covering the costs associated with providing care.

[AlienGirl]

17. Florida foster care/adoption/child welfare

I was a case manager in Florida, so I saw first-hand that the amount of compensation given to foster parents there barely covers the expenses of having the child. There is money available for adoptive parents also, but it's not much. Foster parents and adoptive parents aren't getting rich.

There is actually a shortage of foster and potential adoptive parents in Florida, so houses being over capacity isn't uncommon.

[glowing]

7. The reason I think there's something funky about the situation is that

its Escambia county.. Pan Handle ... Joe Scumbag country. White Supremicist headquarters.. It could be really very simple murder... but I doubt it, not with a spread like that.. somewhere someone paid for them to die.. Follow the money when it comes to rich white fucks.

[FarCenter]

12. However, she said Byrd "always dealt with shady characters."

From http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31980213/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Here's what is clear so far: Known around Pensacola as "Bud," Byrd Billings spent his early years in Mississippi and Tennessee. He owned a car dealership in Mississippi in the 1980s, and incorporated a boat company in 1976. The corporation was dissolved in the 1980s.

In divorce records from the end of his second marriage, in 1993, Billings reported a net worth of just $1,400, including total cash assets of $100 and a net monthly income of $1,190. Four months after the divorce, Melanie became his third wife.

They were living in a $700,000 home — opulent by Pensacola standards — and associates say they employed several people to care for the children. But how they got there is unclear.

Byrd's background also includes a strange criminal case. In 1990, he and his second wife, Cindy Reeve, pleaded nolo contendere — which means they did not admit guilt but agreed to a punishment — to charges they doctored birth records and tried to obtain a newborn for $2,100. They both received two years probation which was later amended to a year.

Reached by The Associated Press, Reeve said she wanted to be left alone and the adoption "got blowed out of proportion."

However, she said Byrd "always dealt with shady characters."

[glowing]

6. I'm not sure about adoption? But I do know that foster parents of disabled

children get more money than a non-disabled child. They also get FL kid care and all medical needs paid for by the state.. but I'm not sure about adoption. I thought if the children were adopted, the care was up to the parents.

[lpbk2713]

8. It may take months to get the estate settled.

The children have needs that must be met now. Tons of money
under lock and key won't do them a bit of good right now.

[ensho]

10. doesn't a judge appoint someone and releases some money

for the care of children until a will is settled?

[FarCenter]

13. What makes you think that these people had any money?

At least money that comes from legitimate sources, is traceable, and will be part of an estate?

[inna]

11. same fellow who called the murder a "humdinger"?

very, very odd.

[noamnety]

14. This is becoming Natalie Hollawayesque

I'm seeing a murder case that needs to be investigated, but not one that has compelling public interest except in a tabloid sort of way.

Am I missing something?