June 17, 2011 7:27 PM

Did Michele Bachmann "raise" 23 foster kids?

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Campaign 2012

NEW ORLEANS - After her speech at the Republican Leadership Conference, I asked GOP presidential candidate and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann about her repeated claims that she has "raised" 23 foster children, a comment she reiterated in an interview with CNN following her speech.

Writing in the Daily Beast this week, Michelle Goldberg quoted Kris Harvieux, who worked as a senior social worker in the foster care system in Bachmann's county, who said at least some of Bachmann's placements were likely short term.

"Some of them you have for a week. Some of them you have for three years, some you have for six months," he said. "She makes it sound like she got them at birth and raised them to adulthood, but that's not true."

According to Goldberg, the Minnesota Department of Human Services reports that Bachmann's foster care license allowed her to care for at most three children at any one time; she had the license for 7 1/2 years.

Asked to explain her situation with her foster children, Bachmann said "we took children in as teenagers."

"Their family was facing a challenge and they weren't going to be able to be at home with their parents and so we took them in as teenagers," she continued. "And our job was to see that they graduated from high school and were successfully launched into the world."

Asked how long they lived with her, she said "it varied."

I asked Bachmann to explain the parameters of how long the children lived with her - was it as short as one week? As long as three years?

"It varied, it really varied depending on the children," Bachmann responded. "And we've never gotten into specifics about the children because we've always wanted to observe their privacy and that of their families. As I'm sure you can appreciate."

Michele Bachmann: I'll bring the voice of the people to the Oval Office

More from the Republican Leadership Conference:

Haley Barbour: Tea Party must stick with GOP
Newt Gingrich vows to win his way; Can it work?
Huckabee: Don't put social conservatives in a box
Herman Cain: "I have a dream"


Add a Comment See all 356 Comments
by politicallyincorrect1160 August 14, 2011 12:59 PM EDT
As someone who has taken in a number of "rescue" kids in the neighborhood while my children were going through MS/HS...I can tell you that the term "raising" has a broader meaning. Yes, I raised my biological children from birth to adulthood, but the dozen or so I took in over the years (recommended by the school or asked by a family, etc.) whose "stay" lasted anywhere from several months to a year, consisted of heavy-duty, loving, caring, structure, support, and RAISING! Living with an active family from day-to-day, 24/7, gives these kids a chance to see how "normal" can be defined -- from either laughter, spills, or spats at the dinner table...sibling issues and resolution...grocery shopping/budgets, etc...and normal daily occurrences that fall under "raising." I give the Bachman family an A+ for doing what they did, and having the open heart and home they offered. Don't ever think that the time she and her family devoted to those 23 additional children did not fall under the heading of "raising!!!"
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by idealot July 13, 2011 10:10 PM EDT
#9: Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness

"We're not going to break the truth, we're just going to bend it a little." I'm sure she can explain it to Saint Peter on That Day.

She's a liar, thus a Commandment breaker, and thus a religious hypocrite. But what's not to like?
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by KampungHighlander July 13, 2011 9:51 PM EDT
According to the data I have seen she would have received about $700 per month, per child. If she was taking in 3 kids at one time that would be $2100 per month.

http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/downloads/foster-care-maintenance-payments.pdf
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by msbuddy October 27, 2011 1:42 AM EDT
To KHighlander--sounds like another scam on her part--paid off her student loans::If a child stayed 1 week she probably got a check for the month up front!!I had an aunt and uncle who had a foster son from the time he was 11 until he went to navy after high school::Their 2 children were gone from the home as adults!! He needed a home--they loved him like their own--he was with them when the biological kids couldn't be!! Was nice to see!!Uncle worked nights--someone home with Auntie!!
by defeese July 12, 2011 9:33 PM EDT
It documents that she has compassion, something the Leftists alway claim when the want more redistribution of other people's earning, but nothing they can ever document.

Cretins!
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by whjohnsonjr July 13, 2011 2:39 PM EDT
Forgoing hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to help the poor as a community organizer could be considered compassionate. Foster parents are paid well per kid in my state; probably Minnesota as well.
by bree1345 July 12, 2011 4:00 PM EDT
Excuse me but what does fostering children no matter for what length of time have to do with running the United States? It should be based on what and who can handle the corruption and disarray in congress that we have now and how it can be fixed so we get out of this mess the US is in.
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by pjbfny July 13, 2011 11:39 AM EDT
Could have something to do with her misrepresenting facts, which has a LOT to do with whether we want someone as a presidential candidate.
by philagumbo July 12, 2011 2:56 PM EDT
I'm not a Republican and i'm not supporting any candidate. My comment is about the obvious bias of the media. Starting with Hillary, they have systematically attacked any and every challenger to their chosen candidate. They aren't supposed to have a chosen candidate". They are supposed to be journalists.
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by philagumbo July 12, 2011 1:48 PM EDT
Did Obama really work for ACORN? Was he really involved in the Fanny May debacle? Did he really attend a church for twenty years that practices negative preaching and teaching against America?
Is Brian Montopoli really a "senior political reporter" for CBS?
He sounds more like a middle school reporter. As usual you ignore the elephants in the room with Obama and bend over backwards trying to find or create a scandal with his opponents. This is not news. This is unfair and biased "reporting" ( I use the term very loosely).
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by peterpun111 July 12, 2011 1:56 PM EDT
What!?! This article is about Bachman and her variations on the truth. Where did this usual toxic republican spewage come from?
by duude2u July 12, 2011 1:28 PM EDT
Anyone who assumes any statement mentioning raising 23 foster kids means its from cradle to adulthood is ignorant of what raising foster kids really means. Rarely, will a baby be picked up as a foster child. Babies are in big demand to be adopted which is the better alternative. Foster children are parented for a limited period of time. That's the system of raising foster children. Any one thinking it means something else is just ignorant.
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by sharon3780 July 12, 2011 12:24 PM EDT
I work in foster care in CT and I know the person who licensed her (we work on the National level for foster parents as well). She did what she needed to do to get licensed, but at times she took kids in for as little as a few hours while they tried to get the child into another home because she didn't have the "time" Many other times, she wasn't physically there herself
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by coriolana July 12, 2011 12:00 PM EDT
Sure she did. She also flew her Dyson to the Moon and back.
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