[mallory4]

I am going to post this to the fost/adopt board, too, since it gets more traffic, and I am hoping someone somewhere can clear up my confusion.

My understanding of the law re: adoption subsidies is that they are based only upon the child's eligibility as a special needs adoption. We were told at orientation that all the kids adopted thru the SWAN program (the state's special needs program) are eligible.

Now, my adoption worker, through the agency who licensed us as foster parents, informs us that even though that is the law, the county that actually has custody of our fost/adopt son (not the county we live in) routinely uses the adoptive family's income to determine susbidy.

How can they do that, if the law says otherwise?

And, does anyone know what their guidelines are? Our income is our income and it isn't going to change, but I would like to know going into the "subsidy negotiations" if they are going to think we are poor, average, or loaded.

According to my adoption worker, since we have more income than a "granny on Social Security with no other income", the county is going to look at us like we are loaded--but it seems crazy to me that they would expect families to be at poverty level before providing a subsidy, since that would hardly encourage more people to adopt special needs kids, which I thought was the reasoning behind the subsidy in the first place?

I would greatly appreciate hearing from others via post or PM what their experience was with the subsidy process. Thanks!

[ajjhmf]

Well, in our case, J was/is Title IVE. Therefore it's the feds who determined his subsidy amount based on his parents situation at removal and his dx at placement. (I think I got that right.) Our income never actually factored in on the initial agreement.

Now, if we ask the county for MORE money for post-adoption services then they will look at our income.

I don;t know if that will help, but that was our experience.

Blessings,
Jenny

[mallory4]

Jfenner, thanks for your reply. I think R is also Title IV-E. He is a member of a racial minority and receives services for developmental delays.

That is why I thought the subsidy did not involve our finances. I also think it is odd that we have to fill out all this financial paperwork for the subsidy application when they already have it for the homestudy.

I emailed the state reps for adoption subsidy info that I found on the NACAC site link another poster sent me, so hopefully they will be able to give me some state-specific help.

I hate this kind of thing.

[leaabc123]

You may want to speak with a lawyer who is familiar with foster care adoption to see if they can help clear up your confusion as well as possibly help you negotiate the subsidy.

[mallory4]

I emailed a couple of subsidy contact people for my state. What they have said is this:

Whether the child is eligible for a subsidy is based entirely on the child meeting the state criteria for special needs, not on anything about our family. That is the federal law.

However, once they say yes, this child is eligible for the subsidy, THEN they can use the resources and income of the adoptive family, as well as the special needs of the child and costs that may be related to those needs, to determine the amount of subsidy they are willing to provide.

Apparently, some states and some counties consider the adoptive family's income and some don't--it is up to them.

In other words, they can do an end-run around the intent of the federal law.

Basically, the advocates seem to be saying put on your poker face and go into it with every intent of getting the subsidy, and just don't settle for less. They haven't given me any details about how the process actually works. I'll post again when I know more.

[DinPAis2adopt]

They are not supposed to be able to use your income as a basis (I live in PA too)...

However, as in our case, you may want to, to show them how much money you have lost due to the constant taking off from work to make all of the appointments with Therapists, Doctors, Caseworkers, etc., etc. ! Anyone that says they are in this for the money is just plain lying! The subsidy doesn't even make up the difference in what you lose in other areas. And in our case (son with RAD, Bipolar, ADHD, ODD, PTSD... alphabet soup!), it's really a full time job just caring for him!

[Lylac]

They don't base subsidy on income here either

[Bearcat4444]

I may have more info later. We are adopting 3 children whom we have fostered for 2 years. According to DSS, the children will qualify for a subsidized adoption since they are a sibling group.

Now here's an interesting piece of information. We ran into a woman who used to work for County adoption services. She told us that the amount authorized for subsidized adoption in our state (MD) is set by the state. She said that we would never hear that figure from DSS and that what the workers have been told is to start with a lowball figure and negotiate up. she said they had recently had problems because adoptive parents who received subsidized adoptions had begun talking to each other and discovered they were all getting wildly different amounts; and they were starting to call and complain and demand similar disbursements. Her advice to us was, "find out what the current figure is at the state level and when you begin negotiations with the Adoption unit tell them this figure is what you want and expect and that you will settle for nothing less.' In the end, the qualification is based on the children, not your income and the children are entitled to the full amount. This is very important to us as I will be forced to take early retirement in a few years and we will have a significant drop in our income when that happens. The children are young and by the time I retire they will just be entering their teens. The counties will often do this to save money that they then can use for other needs. I feel for them... but I have my own kids to raise...

We're starting the process of finding an adoption attorney to handle the details and I'll keep you posted on how the money thing works out.

This may all be a moot point as our current governor has stated on record that he thinks the whole adoption subsidy needs to go away. Not that he knows what it's like to stretch to make ends meet.