[shannobananno]

I am looking into adopting a child from the foster care system. I understand that some states will pay the adoption fees and some won't. Is there a website which list the states that do pay this fee (about $7,000)? Do you happen to know some states that do? Thanks so much!

[hkolln]

When we adopted our daughter thru Idaho foster care we hired our own attorney here which charged us 2700. The CPS locally didn't charge us but to get our fingerprinting done (22). Idaho after the adoption gave us 2k towards the adoption expenses. Plus my company has a reimbursement adoption program so it cost me 0 to adopt her. Some states do pay you for adoption legal fees. Not sure about any other states but Idaho paid up to 2k (and that was for legal fees, travel to get her, etc...)

[MommyAlysia]

NACAC | Adoption Subsidy

this might help some.

[shannobananno]

Great, thanks ladies. I can't remember, what is that fee called? If I could remember what it was called, I could easily google my answer. Its the main fee involved with a cross-state adoption through the foster care system. At my agency, the fee is $7,000 but they said several states will cover this fee. Anyway, thanks so much!!

[mommytoEli]

Originally Posted by shannobananno

Great, thanks ladies. I can't remember, what is that fee called? If I could remember what it was called, I could easily google my answer. Its the main fee involved with a cross-state adoption through the foster care system. At my agency, the fee is $7,000 but they said several states will cover this fee. Anyway, thanks so much!!

icpc??????

[peregrinerose]

I think it depends on what state you live in. As far as I know, most states cover fees when you adopt children in their state. Inter-state adoptions are going to vary by state.

In our adoption in PA, with a 16 year old that is a PA foster child, everything was covered, we get a fairly good stipend for being foster parents, once he's legally adopted, that stipend continues until he's 18 (we've been putting it in a bank account to use for his college education). The only thing I've paid for is Child abuse, state, and FBI clearances. I also get re-imbursed for the attorney fees, plus a huge tax credit for adopting a child with special needs (I believe it is just over $11,000 right now) and even though he'll be covered under our family insurance plan, his medical assistance will still be there as secondary until he's 18.

[mommytoEli]

p.s. if it IS the icpc you are talking about- the interstate compact, it does not cost 7k. i agree with peregrinerose, that while it does depend on your state, if you go through the county to become a licensed fost/adopt parent, and then adopt in or outside your state, many of your fees will be covered or reimbursed. i have adopted 4 children from foster care over the years, and only spent money on taking cpr classes. had i chosen to use an attorney to finalize, we would have been reimbursed for most of that as well. even the icpc is often covered. we just did one, and it cost us nothing. before you committ to paying 7k, you may want to check into just going through your county. if you want to chat about that, feel free to pm me.

good luck on your journey and your research! i hope you find all the info you need.

[shannobananno]

I found out it is called purchase of service (POS) fee, whereby some states will pay the fees that my agency charges which is $7,000!!! Urghhh.

[peregrinerose]

Originally Posted by shannobananno

I found out it is called purchase of service (POS) fee, whereby some states will pay the fees that my agency charges which is $7,000!!! Urghhh.

I believe our agency charges $8000 for it. As a PA resident with a PA foster kid almost adopted, ours was covered. I know NJ, some counties in OH, and a few other states have agreements with PA to pay that as well, but we only looked in-state as we wanted an older child (teenager) and geographically speaking, transition is easier with in-state adoption.

I can say that our agency earned their $8000 big time. Their support and information has been fantastic. I'm a royal PITA when it comes to getting information and resources for our son, and they've been great in putting up with me, the training was very good, case workers are at our house at minimum monthly to see how things are going, I get emails from them at least several times a week offering help if we need it, there's a 24/7 on call number in case of emergency which I had to use once. We've been with this agency since June 2008 and although I've had my complaints, overall they have provided us all the support we've needed to make this adoption work.

[amelie38]

I believe that in many places, if you go through the state rather than an agency, there are few fees involved.

[sunnymommy]

Yeah, I never heard of a fee to adopt from foster care. We got through an agency here. But all the agencies are non-profit and paid by the state not the foster parents! The only thing we had to do was get a lawyer to do up the final adoption papers and the social worker gave us a list of lawyers who customarily work on state adoptions and we picked one who does it for the fee the state pays which is $60. If we had picked one who charged more than that we would have had to pay the difference. But, that is all we've ever had to pay. The agency offers the CPR classes etc for free. Our fingerprints and clearances done in the training class were paid for by the state. I am not familiar with anything that crosses state lines though.

[shannobananno]

Yeah, I think its different here. We don't want to be foster parents (there's only a need for families to foster teenagers in my county and we're not ready for that). We want to do straight adoption from the waiting children in the foster care system across the country. Even if I could go through the state (which might be possible), they would probably be a lot less helpful. I think about half of the states will reimburse us for the fee so...hopefully we will luck out.

[crick]

We used an agency as well and while our agency was no where near that much, it was also 7 years ago so I'm sure the fees go up.

Even if you pay the 7k to your agency (and I assume this fee covers POST PLACEMENT services? If not, find another agency, I kid you not) the tax credit will help you later.

[hkolln]

Originally Posted by mommytoEli

icpc??????

Our ICPC did not cost us anything to do. It was the attorney here locally that charged us to finalize the adoption as we decided to finalize here locally instead of travelling a third time to Idaho. And our agency only charged us 22 for the fingerprinting. I wonder if the OP is doing a private homestudy and adoption? I know we were thinking about doing a private homestudy (to speed up the process) but we were told by CPS they may possibly NOT accept it (which means we would have spent that 2k for nothing) afterall. So we opted to use the agency instead.

I always thought adoption from foster care were practically free? Wow that is crazy to charge that much for foster care adoption.

[mamachell]

Originally Posted by shannobananno

Yeah, I think its different here. We don't want to be foster parents (there's only a need for families to foster teenagers in my county and we're not ready for that). We want to do straight adoption from the waiting children in the foster care system across the country. Even if I could go through the state (which might be possible), they would probably be a lot less helpful. I think about half of the states will reimburse us for the fee so...hopefully we will luck out.

Just slightly off topic, I still believe you will be licensed as a foster parent even if you are placed with a child that is free for adoption. In many places you have to have your child for a certain amount of time (around 6 months) before the adoption can be finalized and I think during that time your child may be considered foster but in an adoptive placement. I could be incorrect through the agency I've used that's the way it is. Plus, in CA they don't usually TPR parents until an adoptive home is found because they don't want to create legal orphans but in some states they will TPR regardless of the child's current placement. This might also make a difference regarding attorney's fees because usually it is free to adopt a child from foster care (you would be reimbursed attorney's fees). Also, I believe many attorneys work with the adoptions units all the time and they only charge what the state reimburses parents so that it is free for the parents. So, a lot of attorneys here only charge $1000 to file adoptions paperwork because that's what we're reimbursed.