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Financial Obligations

You will be required to actively support the ICP’s fund-raising events this year.  These events will include: a carnation sale at area malls. Also, at our benefit concert in April, Host families are also asked to contribute items to be included in our silent auction.

Health Insurance Coverage

Because Great Britain supports a system of socialized medicine, the visiting children DO NOT have medical or dental coverage when they leave the United Kingdom.  To compensate for this, we require all the children to visit their doctor and dentist prior to leaving Northern Ireland, and we require insurance coverage during their stay in the United States.

Host families are required to provide this insurance coverage at their expense.  The ICP will handle the purchasing of travel insurance policies with the help of our Belfast board. Some host families may find that their existing medical carrier will add a visiting Northern Irish child as a temporary foster dependent to your policy, sometimes at no cost to you. The ICP will assist you in obtaining this coverage by providing the necessary applications to the major health insurance plans in the Rochester area.

However, if your current medical insurance carrier will not add the visiting child to your policy, you must provide insurance through our carrier.  Last year the cost for this coverage was approximately $60.00.

Since all medical insurance policies do NOT cover all expenses, it is possible you could incur incidental expenses, such as the cost of a prescription.

Other Host Family Costs

Your other financial obligations are associated with the support of your child while he or she is in your home.  Obviously, there is the cost of food for the child.  Other than meals, an exact amount is difficult to quantify, but imagine hosting a niece or nephew for five weeks.  Host families often try to squeeze most of their normal summer activities into the five weeks of the visit.  So your cost may depend on your family’s specific plans for the summer.  And there is also the cost of attending some of the ICP events.  Except for the opening and closing picnics and the meeting in between, these events are not mandatory, although we encourage you to attend as many as you can.  Remember one of our objectives is for the kids to build relationships with the other Belfast kids that they are traveling with.