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Originally Posted By Cheryl

Hi, In our state when a foster child is placed for adoption the Attorney General's Office has already terminated parental rights (TPR). Or the last court date is near and the other court appearances do not indicate the child will go back with the family. The child is placed in the home of the family wishing to adopt and at that time the "trial/waiting period" begins. Here it is a minimum of 6 months. When the social worker recommends the adoption be finalized we receive a letter from DHS indicating that we need to acquire an attorney. I also tells the attorney the steps he/she needs to take to get the necessary records for DHS . Also, the agreement at that point is that because this is just a formality (the hard part has been done during TPR courts) DHS will only pay $500.00 to finalize. The attorney agrees to this, requests paperwork from DHS, receives the paperwork in a matter of a few days. Then the petition for adoption is written up and we sign it. Then a court date is set. It is easy in our county because the Chancery Court Judge also has an adopted child. Our daughter had to sign the petition and decree because she was already 18. As for assistance, hers continues as long as she stays in school or turns 21. New law. In this state if you adopt a child that is 15 years or older you receive adoption assistance. Otherwise the younger children, I guess, just are not as expensive to maintain!!! I guess if the child has severe disabilites then the assistance issue would be different. Hope this helps.