A member of our church has adopted three children. He paid for the child whose mom gave him up, and he gets a check from the government for the other 2 who were taken away from their parents until they turn 18. What determines this? I would be adopting from the state of Tennessee. I want to adopt but my husband and I are verage joes with an average income, not enough to support adopted kids plus our own. I couldn't find any info on the DCS website.Why do some adoptive parents get paid until the child turns 18 and others must pay to adopt the child?
When so many mothers lose their children to foster care due to POVERTY alone (which is classified as ';neglect'; in social worker policy manuals), it is ironic that the money paid to people who foster or adopt these children would easily have enabled the mother to keep her child.
I know many moms who had NO money to care for their children and no way of obtaining such: jobs were unavailable, paid too little, gave them LONG hours for little pay that kept them away from their children, or daycare was NOT available so they could not work. ';Welfare Reform'; has led to a spike in children being lost to foster care and adoption due to poverty.
Punish the poor mother by taking her child because she is penniless. Reward the person who adopts that child by giving them money. There is a huge problem in our system
Why do some adoptive parents get paid until the child turns 18 and others must pay to adopt the child?
If you go through a private agency, you pay the agency. Usually people do this if they want an infant or very young child without issues. Private agency children were given up by their parents at birth. If you go through the state (DCF) then you may get children who have been neglected or abused or abandoned by their parents. You also get what is called a subsidy check if the child meets certain criteria which makes them hard to place...Hard to place children are usually part of a sibling group, african american or biracial, over the age of 8, or have significant behaviors or medical conditions. Any one of these things can make a child qualify for a subsidy along with medicaid. You must make enough money to support the adopted children without the subsidy because the subsidy is not guaranteed. At any point the government can decide to no longer write the subsidy check and you are S.O.L. Now that has never happened but it could.
What could be happening is assisted adoption. When adopting ';higher'; needs children from foster care, at times they assist with the costs of the medical needs. It depends on income and needs of children. For example, my child has lots of medical issues and takes medicaiton, sees a child psych etc. I make enough that I would not qualify for assistance. Others who may make a bit less may qualify for SOME (not all) subsidy. The idea is to assist only with extra medical needs of the children to not be a hurdle if the right family is able to adopt. This money will never come even close to the price of raising children and average expenses, however, it will ensure that a child gets all the help they need to recover from their primary trauma, or wahtever it is they experienced.
Actually, it will vary state by state, but in MOST states, if you adopt a child from foster care, who has ';special needs'; which could be as insignificant as being over a certain age, ADD, ADHD, you will be paid a monthly allowance until the child reaches 18. In some states, including Texas, those children also receive a free education at a state university, and the allowance continues until a later date.
The one they paid for is probably an infant adoption, either private or thru an agency, and they wanted womb-fresh.
Thanks for asking this question. It is important that people understand that adoptions can be about the money, in all respects. And that adoption welfare exists.
you might be confusing two terms. adoption and foster child. you can take in a child from the state and the state will pay you a certain amount
a month to take care of the child until they reach adulthood. the child still
belongs to the state. when you adopt a child you do that through a legal process. when you adopt you take the child as your own and the state is no longer responsible for their support.
It's a program that helps people adopt children out of foster care. These are the people that are willing to take older, disabled, special needs, or multiple children. These are the kids that have a difficult time getting adopted. Babies, on the other hand, have no trouble finding homes so a person who insists on adopting a baby has to pay for the privilege.
Like one before me said,
';Punish the poor mother by taking her child because she is penniless. Reward the person who adopts that child by giving them money. There is a huge problem in our system.';
Richer get richer and poor get poorer.
It sounds like he is just a foster parent for the other 2. He hasn't actually adopted them, he is not their parent and he is just taking care of them that's why the state is giving him money to help take care of them.
when adopting thru foster care the children are considered special needs, therefore the state gives a check every month and medical coverage till the child turns 18. This may vary by state though.
There are provisions in some states for children that are adopted. Contact your local Human services department to start. I adopted thru being a foster parent. The child had a slilght heart mumur so they gave me a monthly payment plus her medical..
Another possibility - do the children he receives government help for have any kind of disabilities? That could explain the monthly check too.
Sly has it right. You can read about NY's adoption subsidy program here:
http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/adopt/subsid鈥?/a>
I don't have any facts but I do know that foster parents get paid and when you decide to adopt the child permanently the $$$ stops.
He gets an adoption subsidy for the children adopted out of foster care.
If you can't afford to parent more children, then you shouldn't have anymore or adopt any.
I guess it depends where you are. Some areas give tax breaks, some areas have different financial incentives to adoption to get the children out of the system.
In Alberta Canada, as a foster parent with Child and Family Services (DFS, DCS...) they pay a monthly amount for the maintenance of the child. For the infant we had that was about $800 a month, tax free, and the amount would grow as the child got older and naturally had larger expenses. That is designed to cover all expenses for the child from food, clothing, over the counter meds, toys... There is also a yearly amount (about $450 or so) to cover recreational expenses (swimming lessons, school sports fees...) as well as a similar amount for annual vacation expenses. Of course, there are other smaller fees and such that are covered but that is essentially the major stuff.
In addition to the monthly maintenance amount there is also what they refer to as a ';skill fee'; payment which is about $350 a month (also tax free) and is designed to compensate the foster parents for ';their time';. Of course, with costs being what they are today, if you are doing it right the whole monthly amount goes towards the maintenance of the child.
Once a child is adopted through CFS however that skill fee portion ceases since technically, as far as that child is concerned, the foster parents are no longer ';working'; for CFS. The monthly maintenance fee remains however and it is now referred to as ';supports for permanence';. This is a relatively recent change, within the last 2 years or so, and as with the earlier payment the supports continue till the child is 18, is tax free and grows in amount as they get older. The Govt did this for two somewhat related reasons. First off, since many of the children adopted through CFS have issues such as FASD or behavioral problems there was often a financial strain on the families who adopted them and in some cases this caused such hardship that the parents found they had to rely on other programs for support. Also, in some cases these children ended up returning to the system which also caused more upheaval in their lives as well as strains on the system. By continuing these support payments, from a strictly financial standpoint, it was cheaper on the adoption system then having children either returned to the system or not adopted in the first place because of the financial hardship it would cause these parents.
Now, some will jump all over this stating that if parents can't afford to adopt these children then they shouldn't adopt in the first place. My stance is that if they don't then even more children will remain in foster care and the system will end up even more overburdened then it already is.
Keep in mind as well that I am not referring to private adoptions. I'm referring only to adoptions through the Department of Social Services in this area. Children who have been apprehended due to dangerous situations with their birth families.
The first two posters are probably correct. The person that you know who is getting support checks for the children are either fostering the children, or the children have some sort of problem (mental, physical, or emotional) that requires support (i.e., they adopted foster children). When you adopt a child-in-need (from a foster care system), many times the parents will get support for that child so that the care of this child will not impair on the family's circumstances. The parents are not paid for their services to this child. Once an individual reaches 18 they are no longer consider children in a legal sense. So the support stops since the program that provides that support only supports children and not young adults.
Adopting through your state's foster system is the cheapest route for adoption since the process cost nothing but the time you put into the process. But if you don't feel that you can afford to raise an additional child, then you need to rethink it. To help you get more info call your State's DCS office and find out when their next introductory foster care seminar will be (and location).
You could also talk to private agencies in your county that provide foster care services.
Talk to this person in your church and ask questions. I'm sure they will be more than willing to answer any questions that you have about adoption.
There are several YahooGroups that include adoptive parents, foster parents and those parents considering adopting. Join one and ask the Group members.
EDIT: I posted this before I read any other posts.
There is such a thing as adoption subsidy/adoption assistance. That can include different things...such as medicaid, attorney fees up to a specified amount and a possible monthly adoption payment. In my state, families who adopt children with chronic and ongoing medical or severe behavior needs, families who adopt relatives (grandchildren, nieces/nephews, etc,) families who adopt minority children over a certain age, famileis who adopt two or more siblings together and families who adopt any child over the age of 9 (I think)....can apply and receive a MONTHLY PAYMENT when they adopt through the state. The money does not necessarily stop once a foster child is adopted by the foster parent. Medicaid assistance is in place until age 18 and attorney fees are paid for any child adoption.
Now, this money comes from a Federal Program...sometimes Title IV-E money, sometimes it comes from the state money, it just depends. In my state, parents are not paid that much (300-400) but I have heard some states pay quite a bit.
Also, in my state, this monthly assistance payment/ medicaid and attorney fees is not allotted based upon the a/families income. I work with many families who have accounts set up in the children's names and the money is depostited every month. This money is earmarked for each child when they reach adulthood.
To my knowledge, some relative adoption s which are done privately can somehow apply to get this assistance.....as stated it comes from government programs and their are requirements.
You would need to go to your states website and poke around to see what kind of adoption assistance is offered to families who adopt SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN and what the requirements are. By federal definition, any child adopted through the state, is a special needs child.
Good luck and I throughly expect Uncle Thumbs to come on out......
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