It's another early morning for Linda West Conforti, RN. Much like the many other mornings in her nursing career except this particular morning Linda isn't clocking in at the hospital. She is clocking in at home. Certified as a Foster Parent for Medically Fragile children and an Independent Nurse Provider with the State of California, Linda's workday begins and ends in her own home; a comfortable setting for Linda and the medically fragile children in her care. This commute to work doesn't require paying the high cost of gas, the stress of a crowded morning freeway or the search for that elusive parking space. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fourth of July, birthdays and other special holidays are now celebrated with her family at home rather than in the hospital working a 12 hour shift.

In the time she's been a Foster Parent, Linda has brought a number of micro preemie babies back to health. These babies present special challenges because they are uncomfortable with touch and stimulation. Linda uses kangarooing cuddlers to help with the babies' bonding process and facilitate their sensory development. Linda has also provided care for children with heart defects who require specific monitoring and an educated eye toward potential problems. Then came Sammy - a 24 week micro preemie (18 ounces!) with hemangiomas (swollen blood tumors) both inside and outside of his body, and short bowel syndrome due to Necrotizing Enterocolitis (tissue death of parts of the bowels).

The futures for these children were bleak until Linda removed them from institutional- like settings. Now, a short three years later, the children have transformed medically and are in healthy, loving, permanent homes; well on their way to a more promising future.

How does this transfer to a paycheck? Linda is compensated by the Family Foster Agency for caring for the child and bills the In-Home Operations Section of Medi-Cal as an Independent Nurse Provider for up to 12 hours a day for her in-home nursing hours.
Seeing the benefit for the children and for the alternative nursing lifestyle, Linda and her husband Mac have created a foundation called Angels in Waiting. One of their missions is to move medically fragile foster care babies and young children into private residences under the care of Registered Nurses and Licensed Vocational Nurses as their foster parents.

The certification process for becoming a Foster Parent varies from county to county and foster agency to foster agency but can easily be completed while maintaining the nurses' current employment. Call your county Department of Children Services and/or a local foster agency and make sure the Foster agency contracts for Medically Fragile foster children. The approval process for becoming an Independent Nurse Provider can take several months to complete. The application is on the Medi-Cal web site www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/Pages/IHO.aspx under "Medi-Cal Provider Application".

Angels in Waiting has set up a unique way to truly impact the life of a needy child beyond the hospital setting and provides a great alternative lifestyle for the nurturing souls of nurses who don't want to miss their own families in the process. Angels in Waiting needs dedicated, experienced registered nurses and licensed vocational nurses to reach out to the Foster Care system and bring these children home.

Angels in Waiting
P.O. Box 1221
Blue Jay, CA 92317
(909) 336- 3058

California Department of Health Services
Provider Enrollment Branch
MS 4704
P.O. Box, 997413
Sacramento, CA 95899-7413
1 (800)  541-5555

Independent Nurse Provider

I am an Independent Nurse Provider. I have the education, ability and desire to take an abused, forgotten or medically fragile child from the hospital, group home or social worker into my home where they can reach their potential, surrounded by love. In my family environment they can play in the garden, run with a puppy, ride a pony, go shopping, see the ocean, laugh at Disneyland and enjoy a life secured in the knowledge that Mommy will fight the dragons while the child is just that - a child.

I will tuck this child into their own bed at night and be there again in the morning to help greet the day. The child will know love, care and consistency.

As a Nurse I will provide for their medical needs and bill Medi-Cal accordingly from the comfort of my own home. I will run their IV's, administer their medications, feed them through their stomach tubes, change their dressings and advocate for them at numerous doctor visits and through hospitalizations. The child will never again face doctors and procedures alone; never again cower in a hospital crib or sleep sitting up out of fear.

As their Mommy I will nurture, teach, encourage and praise their abilities and efforts, giving them a foundation of love and hope on which to build their lives.

Some of us will leave our hospital jobs or decrease the number of hours we work at the hospital in order to take these children into our homes. Some of us will adopt our child. Others will provide the love and skills necessary to heal the child and then let them go on to a permanent home.

Charla Kingsley, RN, INP