[yanknrebel]

For those of you that have adopted a baby or child through your local social services or Dept of Children's services, (foster or straight adoption), how much did the adoption cost you? Or better, yet what did you have to pay for? I had originally been told and read several times that adopting a foster child usually only entailed paying for a new birth certificate. Now, it seems that we are expected to find a lawyer. I have asked three different people in our DCS office and NO ONE knows the answer. They keep referring me elsewhere. HUH?

[mj77]

In OR, we had to pay only $6 for an extra copy of the adoption decree--our choice. DHS paid for EVERYTHING. Even the attorney. We got to choose an attorney from thier vendor attorney list or have $450 credited toward our own attorney. We had a great vendor attorney.

[Love_um_all]

IN Tx, there usta be a credit of $1500.00 to help with attorney fees. They took that benefit away and now, only special needs children get that money. We had to get an attorney. so far, it has cost 2000. We could make payments. We still have not seen the bill, so we maybe making payments now that all is said and done. We are told that it should cost around 1500.00. Most family law attorneys will take payments. Talk to other foster parents in your area who have adopted and ask about their attorney's and if they would recommend them. That is probably the best way to find an attorney. It costs whatever it costs. If you have a baby naturally, it cost money. If you adopt through an agency it cost a whole lot more. IMHO, it is the best 2000 I ever spent. I heard it said, people think nothing of spending 100,000 for a house and at least 20,000 for a car, so, what is 2000.00 for a child, which is WAY MORE VALUABLE.

The attorney will file the paperwork with the courts to make the adoption legal. You really want a professional to do this, you don't want something missed and risk the adoption. Sometimes, if things aren't done right, then your adoption may not be legal.... And I promise, that will cost a whole lot more if you have to go through a mess like that. So, it is a good thing to hire a professional.

[leenab]

Here in NJ the cost of the attorny is covered ONLY IF IT"S CONSIDERED a SPECIAL NEEDS/HRD TO PLACE. And then NJ has a list of attorneys who accept their fee/voucher for service. We have used 2 different attorneys on their list and have been very pleased with the results. My only complaint is with Raj's adoption we changed his name and his adoption decree only lists his new name and refers to him as "said child shall now be Raj....." I believe O's will be worded differently. It's made it difficult to get things done here in terms of new SS card & Passprt & PIO card. I have to wait for the birth certificate now. So I'm hoping it comes soon.

-LeenaB

[nursie]

Every child in foster care should be classified as special needs.
In MN, we don't pay anymore than about $30 for some type of fee and then we can get that back. I am not sure that we even need to have a lawyer from my understanding. They have pretty much said the County covers all costs. I spoke with the adoption worker in our county and that is what she said.
I can't believe if you are adopting from foster care that you have to pay anything !! Not that I wouldn't , the money would definitely be worth it but I assumed that it would be the same. Maybe it is different if you are adopting thru County vs Private agency foster care ?

[yanknrebel]

I was just told that it will run anywhere from $500 to $800. Beleive me it's not the fact that it costs money. It's just that we were expecting to do this around Christmas (hoping) and if that is the case , we are going to have to find this money somewhere. We have never been told there was a fee. In fact, all the individuals that we know from our foster care association, have all said it did not cost them a thing but the birth cerificate. Maybe it is because this child is a singleton and not special needs. Others have adopted sibling groups of two or biracial children. Anyway, we are going to have to allocate some of the Christmas funds for this or have to wait until the first of the year to do the adoption. After all of this time waiting and praying for this day, it seems such a shame to have to wait. It is just a shock after being told there was no cost to adopt through our DCS . Thanks for all the input.

PS. After ALL the money we have paid for IVF cycles that did not work (10's of thousands of dollars) and a private adoption that was already paid for in full and the mother decided to parent (only to lose that child 2 weeks later to DCS in LA because she was back on crack). As well as all the miscarriages and the ectopics I have had. SO the money and having to pay is not the big deal. We would give EVERYTHING we own and have for this child (As well as our bio and twins) . Just the timing and the surprise is the problem. OH, well. I'll stop whining now. My children are the most perfect things in my life and we will do anything we have to to make her a permanent part of this family.

[pugsooie]

In AR when you adopt a child that you are fostering you only pay for their birth certificate and that is it.

[lovemy6]

Adopt this year and you will get it back next year on your tax credit!

Congratulations!

[L-A-J-C-R-C]

Hi,

I say use the Christmas money to adopt! The only people you have to worry about giving a nice Christmas are your own kids, everyone else would understand. What a great Christmas present this child will be to your entire family anyway!!!

Best of luck.

Michelle

[punchkin]

Yanknrebel

I see that you are in TN as well as myself. I recently attended a meeting at Dcs about this very matter. We were informed of several things.

1. monthly stipend will increase by 3 dollars to 6 dollars.
2. that we have the right to call a meeting about our children. we dont have to wait for say the 12 month meeting.

3. We are required to have cw's beeper, cell, and home #'s, as well as their supervisors. they gave everyone there all the #'s they needed right then and there. Unbelieveable

4. The state will be paying for all it's foster adoptions. (all) the caseworkers won't be able to tell you much. once tpr happens, the file goes to the adoption center. that's where you'll get all the info that you need. they will also give you a list of lawyers to choose from. [they pay]

5 they are also talking about giving monthly allotments for the child/ ren after adoption as an incentive for more people to adopt. Not sure if they've made a definite decision yet. If you are in the FC association call someone from there. they can give you a ton of info.

hope this helps

[nursie]

that the child is entitled to. All children should be eligible for an adoption assistance and the basic minimum is $247/mo until age 18.
The tax credit lasts over 5 years or until it is gone and was $10,160 when I last read about it.
The website for NACAC is a great resource of all adoption info for every state and they also have contact people for support , info ,etc.
www.nacac.org

[reeseshaven]

Here in FL we have to pay $255 per child for a filing fee. Which we should get back next year. I just found out today the fee cost today our adoption date was set yesterday for 1/4/2005!

[Rainbow mom]

In Colordao the fee is 350.00 but is totally refundable including the first copies of your child's BC. Once the adoption is final you are refunded for all out of pocket expense.

[LeslieP9]

In my state, we have to pay for the attorney. If we apply for adoption assistance, I have been told by my social worker that we will automatically get $1,500 toward the attorney. Adoption assistance used to be automatic for all special needs adoptions, which nearly every foster child was considered to be, but is now needs based and they are making us jump through some hoops to get it. I will believe them about the $1,500 when I see it. I am not sure that this will come through.

We are adopting our foster/adopt son late this year or early next year. Because we worked through a private agency, we paid our own homestudy fee and a placement fee once the parental rights were terminated and we were approved to adopt.

All of this will be reimbursed (plus some because he is considered to be special needs) through tax credits.

[HappyMomAnna]

You need to be very careful about thinking the state will pay for all the costs and that any child adopted from foster care automatically is considered 'Special Needs" Each state has their own critiria to define SPECIAL NEEDs and the funding for special needs children is a federally mandated and funded program.

The Adoption Tax credit is based either on the costs you paid to achieve the adoption or the full amount for "SPECIAL NEEDS" children....NOT all children adopted from foster care will be entitled to the full credit on the taxes.... ONLY the special needs children do....so any family adopting a child from Foster Care needs to be VERY VERY sure that child is classified as Special needs before the take the full credit....otherwise an audit or something down the line could really hurt.

Usually special needs is defined as a child over the age of 3 (some states it is older) a Sibling Group (some states say of more then two) or a child with medical or emotional needs....and minority children as defined by the Affrimative Action laws we already have in the Federal Government those minorities who fall into the 'selected class' will be special needs adoption.

Caseworkers will generally not know or are not able to talk about these issues due to the legal matters and the tax implications....They cannot give tax advice so generally you need to contact the place that provides the adoption subsidy.

When I called the State of Oregon to ask how do I prove our children are special needs for TAX reasons I was asked do they recieve a subsidy? If they recieve an adoption subsidy in our state they ARE special needs if they do not recieve a subsidy then we would have to use the actual costs we paid to accomplish the adoption and NOT---NOT the full $10,226.00 Tax credit....

Yes, it would seem logical that all of the children in Foster Care should be special needs....However, many MANY newborns are being placed into Foster Homes where they later are adopted....and many of these little ones have few if any real special needs that an older child might have--or the stress the family who adopts a sibling group might have.... There are also many rather healthy--well adjusted young children who do very well with their adoption and are not in great need.

Families adopting a child from Foster Care need to start right off when a match is made and find out what classification the child is. In Oregon as of this past year the Pre-Adoptive families no longer recieve Foster Parent compensation if the child is classified as special needs....the preadoptive family opens the subsidy within 60-days even if they are not sure of what the exact needs are yet--TIP try to get the subsidy opened as soon as possible... and find out if there will be any problems getting it in the first place...It is next to impossible to have an adoption subsidy started after an adoption is final....

There is a HUGE difference in adopting a child from Foster Care and adopting a 'Special Needs' child.... Financially it could be very damaging to think you have adopted special needs just because you adopted through Foster Care.....