[lapabraham]

Greetings,

I'm looking for anyone that has appealed the subsidy that was presented to them before finalization in the state of PA.

We have a date set for finalization of a sibling group and the custodial county presented us a subsidy plan for ONLY 6 MONTHS reducing the amount by 70% (from the foster amount).

Needless to say we are not signing it and are in the process of writing our letter to appeal (we have 15 days).

We have also found documentation that it is very hard to dispute subsidy rates after finalization, so we are waiting to here back from our cw regarding the hearing date.

If you have experienced this in the state of PA, I'd appreciate any insight or help in this matter.

Thank-you,
Laura

[DianeScraps]

I didn't have to appeal, but they did try and talk me out of even applying for it. Are you dealing direct with the county, or through another agency that might be able to help you out?

I would definitely fight it (especially since I read your other post and saw the ages, there is NO way they wouldn't qualify). Make sure you have every type of special service the children will need documented. Include Therapy, school, food, special camps, etc etc etc

[lapabraham]

Hi,

We are dealing with our agency in one county and the kids are from another. Our agency has never finalized an adoption with this county and we are finding out all this information at the tail end.
I am in the process of getting quotes for tutoring for the 14 year old and we submitted pricing information for special camps, but that has been ignored.
They are only proposing to reimburse us for therapy for both kids(which they are both in) for a 6 month period.
There is NO consideration being give for their future education (12 year old is gifted), nor for anything else.

Thanks for your suggestions.

[mommytoEli]

I'm from CA...but DO NOT SIGN, until you are happy with the rate and time...b/c you are right, once it is finalized it will be even harder! My short story is i was adopting 2 kids, they were 10 and 11 at final....and dd(now 12) has a list a mile long of diagnosis...they tried to get us to sign teh rate before we got back the psych eval, and even then we got presented the basic rate for all her issues, plus they were an older minority sibling set from an adverse background. i told them no way, i could not provide for them at that rate. they told me they might move them and i had to tell them do what they need to do. let's face facts, they weren't going to move them....if they were, they woudn't have been in a group home when i met them, they would have been with a family. then, miracle of all miracles, they upped the rate where it belonged...upped over 200 from the basic rate for both of them. i think sometimes they think they've "got you" b/c you are attached to the children, but that doesn't negate the fact that these kids require special care and deserve the rate appropriate for them and their needs until they are 18. fight!

[mallory4]

I see that this is an older post but I'm wondering how things worked out. We are also in PA and found that there was a lot of misinformation going around about the subsidy when it was our turn to finalize. Things worked out fine for us, but I am interested to know if the state/counties are being straight with everyone.

[lapabraham]

Hi,

Every county in PA is different and has a "budget". We ended up negotiating as we could not find a lawyer (I called close to 20) that would represent us.

The kids are from a different county than where we are finalizing and where our agency is located.

We are finalizing in September. We are also experiencing very concerning behavior with the youngest child and have the child in multi-layered counseling.

[misuspotts]

We are in PA (Lancaster Co, but kids were from Montgomery Co). I would really fight that offer. We were offered the equivalent of our foster care rate for the first year for all three, then they wanted to reduce for two of them, on the grounds that they didn't have any special needs. The only "special need" for the one they weren't reducing (other than race, sibling status, and age, which they all qualified for) was ADHD. Since we were confident the youngest would also be receiving this diagnosis we fought her reduction and they agreed.

[MomwithFive]

Originally Posted by misuspotts

We are in PA (Lancaster Co, but kids were from Montgomery Co). I would really fight that offer. We were offered the equivalent of our foster care rate for the first year for all three, then they wanted to reduce for two of them, on the grounds that they didn't have any special needs. The only "special need" for the one they weren't reducing (other than race, sibling status, and age, which they all qualified for) was ADHD. Since we were confident the youngest would also be receiving this diagnosis we fought her reduction and they agreed.

Are these state subsidies or federal subsidies?

[misuspotts]

THey rsubsidy.

[misuspotts]

Originally Posted by MomwithFive

Are these state subsidies or federal subsidies?

State. I'm not even sure what federal subsidies are, to be honest.

[MomwithFive]

Originally Posted by misuspotts

State. I'm not even sure what federal subsidies are, to be honest.

I believe the Title IV-E subsidies are federal vs. state.

[jbee]

we adopted our son from fostercare and the county gave us their fostercare rate (15 something a day, goes up with age) because he is a minority...it was much less than the 40 a day we were getting from our agency as the foster rate. and he gets the state insurance till he's 18. we felt lucky to get the stipend because mom was white and father unknown, so they originally told us he was therefore white (he looks biracial obviously). you can negotiate the rate? we were just grateful to get anything...