How Many Others Like This?

[Georgina]

[Today we went to CAMP, they told us that they will remove the CMU from us, we are class as inactive because we don´t work in France and my husband income is not grate enough to pay contributions, his income from a small buisnes in England, we will not be able to afford any private insurence as we are a family of seven , two adults and five children , any body knows anything about it, we don´t want to go back to England, the children are settled down here , what do we do]

 

The above was posted on another popular forum this week.  I wonder how many more like this??  Poor kids I say.[:(]

Georgina

[Dick Smith]

Cheap jokes about the gene pool come to mind, but you are right. Poor kids.

[Clair]

I'd like to think it's a wind-up, but you never know how daft some people can be.

It's one thing taking chances when there's two of you, but to put children through this...[:'(]

[Just Katie]

Don't you just want to slap them for their bare faced cheek!![:@]

[Panda]

Did anyone respond to the question Georgina?  Surely it's a wind up..

[Georgina]

Sadly I don't think it's a wind up.  I think it is pure ignorance.  We have all seen those No Going Back programmes where they all pour into two caravans, eight kids six dogs and cats etc.  to Spain usually.

 

Georgina

[Georgina]

I'll go back and have a sneek peep.

Am I allowed to post the link?

Georgina

[Georgina]

It gets worse:

 

my husband has not got a lot of income from his buissnes , he has been so silly that he has not payed national insurence contribution in England just his taxes, we fill all the tax forms here and the rest income and every thing we have to fill here in France but because our income in general counting everything is not great we are not to pay taxes or national contributions here in France either we just as we say survive and at the same time we are trying to get a job anyjob which we find so difficult, there isn´´t any, now we have been told that we will not be intitle to cmu anymore, so what do we do, we don´´t want to return to England because of the children, they are happy here and doing very well at school, we phoned the British Embassy and told us that what they told us it was correct and it would even affect pensioners who will have to pay the 30% top up, so we get more and more confused all the time.

(BTW it's Normandy [;-)])

Georgina

[Georgina]

It gets worse:

 

my husband has not got a lot of income from his buissnes , he has been so silly that he has not payed national insurence contribution in England just his taxes, we fill all the tax forms here and the rest income and every thing we have to fill here in France but because our income in general counting everything is not great we are not to pay taxes or national contributions here in France either we just as we say survive and at the same time we are trying to get a job anyjob which we find so difficult, there isn´´t any, now we have been told that we will not be intitle to cmu anymore, so what do we do, we don´´t want to return to England because of the children, they are happy here and doing very well at school, we phoned the British Embassy and told us that what they told us it was correct and it would even affect pensioners who will have to pay the 30% top up, so we get more and more confused all the time.

(BTW it's Normandy [;-)])

Georgina

[Catalpa]

I don't think it is a windup. I've seen it too. And there have been quite a few replies offering advice and next steps, most of them helpful.

Yes, the woman that posted it obviously isn't the brightest colour in the rainbow but not everyone is at the front of the queue when the IQ or even the common sense quotient is handed out. It is cosy for us to sit here clucking about the poor children, but for all we know, she / they moved here in a (probably mistaken) attempt to give the kids a better life. I've made some mistakes in my life... but any of us sitting in judgement here have the common sense (I assume?) not to make enormous mistakes. Aren't we lucky.

In this instance, where someone is obviously very worried about the decisions they've made while no doubt thinking they were the right ones at the time, I'm not entirely comfortable about treating the family as if they're the latest arrivals in a tv soap - and mocking them, however compassionately.

[Cat]

No need Georgina, anyone interested enough to follow the story (wind-up or not) can find it quite easily by sticking the first line of the post that you quoted in inverted commas, and running it through Google.

 

[Russethouse]

I have read the thread elsewhere too, I think the kindest thing for someone (who is a member there, I'm not) to do is to get the person in question to post here and hope that one of the more knowledgeable members will help without everyone else being judge mental.

 

[Clair]

[quote user="Catalpa"]I don't think it is a windup. I've seen it too. And there have been quite a few replies offering advice and next steps, most of them helpful. [...]

In this instance, where someone is obviously very worried about the decisions they've made while no doubt thinking they were the right ones at the time, I'm not entirely comfortable about treating the family as if they're the latest arrivals in a tv soap - and mocking them, however compassionately. [/quote]

Assuming this is not a wind up (still not convinced...)

The family is in France, they have no health cover and not enough money to pay for one.

• Did they arrive before 23 Nov 07?
• Do they have a E106? (probably not if the father is self-employed)
• Are they in receipt of an allowance from CAF?

[KathyF]

Having also read it, I too don't think it's a wind-up. There's a note of desperation there which would be quite hard to fake. If their only (and declining) income is from the UK business, they will have been hit very hard by the recent rapid fall of the pound against the euro. They could also have real difficulty in selling quickly in the present market, if they decide to go back..

I feel sorry for them.  They saw and grabbed an opportunity to buy a house, probably in the country and big enough for the 7 of them, to give their children the kind of life they could only have dreamed about in the UK.  Now it all seems to be going pear-shaped and they must feel like they are living in a nightmare. [:(]

[Will]

Having seen the original post - and commented on it on another forum - I think most of the replies given to this person have been helpful and well-intentioned, even if some of the advice has been a bit off the mark.

Taking on something - particularly where children and their education are concerned - without giving due consideration to the practicalities is, unfortunately, not the sole preserve of those who move to France with little money and less knowledge. I was reminded of these Normandy unfortunates - who, believe me are far from alone - when listening to our local radio station in England earlier this week. A well-to-do, articulate couple from my home town were interviewed about the result of the secondary school allocation for their twins (boy and girl). We are in an area where single sex education remains the norm at secondary level, but rather than choose the perfectly good schools in the town, they had opted for two different schools, about 15 miles apart. And got their first choice for each child. When it was pointed out by the interviewer that the logistics of the school run might be a little difficult they agreed, saying that they had gone for what they thought they wanted, intending to sort out the practicalities later.

Sorting out the practicalities later is exactly the same attitude displayed by many who come to France. And is that neccessarily a bad thing?

[Russethouse]

I guess that depends on your mental strengths and financial resources.

I guess that being able to physically cross the channel to France doesn't always enable you live successfully there in the same way that being able to have a baby doesn't automatically make you a good mother - we all just have to do our best.

[Will]

Nice answer RH. It looks as though some can do it, others cannot.

[sackville]

My impression was that perhaps English is not the first language of this lady

[Russethouse]

I 'm not sure about that, my feeling is that it may be her first language but she is not used to writing on forums or even perhaps dealing with paperwork etc.

To be honest I think the primary concern is the welfare of her children, what would happen if they were unwell etc, would they hesitate to ask for help ?

[Btuckey]

[quote user="Russethouse"]

...without everyone else being judge mental.

[/quote]

Many judges are mental, but this statement itself could be considered to be judgemental. [:D]

Cheers!

 

[Georgina]

Hey don't be judgemental about judges!!!![:)]

 

Georgina

[Georgina]

There is a fine line between giving an opinion, which is what this forum is for I think, and being judgemental is there not?

Georgina

[The Riff-Raff Element]

A British family we knew vaguely just quit our commune to return to the UK. They arrived here two years ago with no jobs, not a lot in the way of spare capital and even less in the way of French language. Their children loved it here, settled in well and really had no inclination to return but financial realities were such that they had no choice. They were the second family to depart this village in these circumstances in recent years.

It was sad thing to see happen, but telling people they would be advised to wait a few years before upping sticks and moving lock, stock & barrel to the depths of rural France usually draws accusations of negatively or (my favourite) comments that we are trying to keep a good thing to ourselves, so, personally, I now just go all evasive if I am asked directly whether I think such a move is a good idea or not. I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this. I feel a bit of a heel but I can't any longer be bothered with the abuse that is, almost inevitably, the response to honesty.