March 8, 2007 UC Families Newsletter Circulation: 941 Moderator: Karie Frasch email: ucfam@lists.berkeley.edu Website: http://parents.berkeley.edu/ucfamilies Post a Message or a Reply: http://parents.berkeley.edu/post_ucfam.html ----------------------------------------- * Contents ----------------------------------------- New Postings *Repost: divorced parents and the academic job market *Horrible changes to subsidized child care! *Muralist seeking to expand to East Bay market *Fall rental needed Responses *Parenthood and residency *Health insurance for high risk pregnancy New members ----------------------------------------- * New Postings ----------------------------------------- Repost: divorced parents and the academic job market ------------------------------------------- I'm working on my PdD and would like to hear from other parents who are divorced or who have never been married to their child's other parent how they handle the academic job market. What if the only job offers I get would require for me to move out of the area, thus making it necessary for me to seek legal permission from the courts to move out of the area without losing custody and renegotiate the children's schedule with my ex spouse? I love my children dearly, and I want my future career as an academic to be a blessing to them rather than a burden. but I keep turning over in my head these two opposite scenarios: the happy dream of getting a local job offer so that our children can keep the same schedule with me and my ex and stay at their great school and keep all their friends while our quality of life goes up because I have a job; and the terrible nightmare of getting a job somewhere far away, so that the children possibly end up with much less time with one of us, or having to give up on my career in order to be there for the children. My ex is fairly aggressive and hostile, which doesn't help my morale much when I think of the nightmare scenario... Thanks in advance for your responses. Thanks! Horrible changes to subsidized child care! ------------------------------------------- Title 5, Child Care Program Regulations on Need, is being amended to cut off subsidized child care for students after 6 years of educational ''training'' OR (and this is really the kicker) 24 units after the completion of a BA. That leaves PhD and most Professional Students out of luck! This is completely unacceptable for a State with some of the best universities in the world. The moment to act is NOW, since written comments are being accepted until March 16th at 5:00 pm, and the Public Hearing is that morning at 10 am. Student Parents will be PUNISHED for wanting to reach HIGHER LEVELS OF EDUCATION and IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THEIR CHILDREN! Please forward this info to friends and family... anyone in the State who you think will take the time to call, write or just raise some general noise. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Contact Info for Complaints: Debra Strain, Regulations Coordinator Legal Division California Department of Education 1430 N. Street, Room 5319 Sacramento, CA 95814 FAX: 916.319.0155 EMAIL: regcomments@cde.ca.gov Cecelia Fisher-Dahms, Consultant Child Development Division PHONE: 916.322.4883 EMAIL: cfisherd@cde.ca.gov Connie Diaz, Regulations Analyst 916.319.0860 Sarah Muralist seeking to expand to East Bay market ------------------------------------------- I have been developing a mural painting business in the South Bay for the past two years and am seeking clients in the East Bay and San Francisco. Have painted mostly children's rooms but will design artwork for any room of the house. Commercial work welcome. View my website at scottwillismurals.com for more information. Contact me at 408-981-0849 or scott@scottwillismurals.com for a free consultation. Scott Willis, parent of Cal freshman Fall rental needed ------------------------------------------- My son and his Cal roommate are looking for a rental apartment for the fall. They are two quiet boys -- both are juniors majoring in engineering. If you know someone who needs reliable tenants, you can email my son at bryancondy@calmail.berkeley.edu Jondi --------------------------------------------- Responses --------------------------------------------- Original post: parenthood and residency ------------------------------------------- Hi, I have a 10 month old son and will have to face returning to work this July. Back in 2005, I postponed residency to have my baby. I just finished interviewing at 12 different programs across the country. They all went well and I am really excited to get back into medicine. BUT I am terrified that I probably have forgotten EVERYTHING! Yes, I plan to review my textbooks, etc for a refresher course...but if anyone has had similar experiences, advice, feelings on this matter--please share! Thank you! viet Vu Response: residency after time off ------------------------------------------- It is great that you took time off. I did too and my kids are doing great; it was worth spending time with them when they were young. You could consider taking a board review course or go to conferences. Sometimes conferences are free and often you can get a student discount. Maybe you could be proctored with a local doctor or at an emergency room. (I do not know what area of medicine you will be going into.) You will probably remember things pretty quickly too. Judy Response: Parenthood and residency -------------------------------------------- I'm in my last year of a 4 year residency and had a similar circumstance - I took a 5th, extremely light, year of medical school - more or less like taking a year off - when my daughter was born. Although I had similar concerns about starting back, after a few weeks it was like I hadn't taken off any time at all. The learning curve in intern year is so steep. Almost all 4th year med students are feeling pretty rusty when they start up and everyone expects it. Enjoy time with your family before you start. Barbara Original post: Health insurance for high risk pregnancy ------------------------------------------- I am over 40 and trying to figure out the best health insurance for what is considered a ''high risk'' pregnancy. I am drawn to Blue Cross Plus (POS) because of the combined HMO and PPO aspects. However, I have heard some horror stories. One woman told me that Brown and Towloand (through Blue Cross Plus) approved some tests/procedures at Pacific Fertility Center. the woman did the procedure and then B&T they disapproved it. She said she's also heard of others where this happened. I am also considering kaiser, health net and pacific care HMOs. Anyone who can help through this complicated mess of insurance would be greatly appreciated. I need to sign up by end of day tomorrow, so time is of the essence. Eve Response: Health insurance for high risk pregnancy ------------------------------------------- I think Brown and Toland is just hopelessly confused. I got an IUD a couple of years ago. The person at the front desk called B&T before I made the appointment to make sure the proceedure was covered. They said it was. When I showed up for the appointment I had them call B&T again just to be super sure that it was covered. They said it was. A couple of months later I got a letter from B&T telling me that they would not cover the IUD. I contested their decision based on the fact that I had checked TWICE to make sure it was covered. They said okay they'd cover it just this once but only because I received innaccurate information. They enclosed a description of coverage so I could check for myself next time I wanted them to cover a proceedure. There, within their own description of coverage, in a bulleted list of things that B&T DOES cover was an IUD. Go figure. ----------------------------------------------------------------- - Post a message * http://parents.berkeley.edu/post.html - Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Address Changes, Help * http://parents.berkeley.edu/subscribers.html