[Tunay4754]

Can anyone tell me the usual process for birthparents to voluntarily surrender rights after the child has already been in foster care for some time? We are wondering about the time frame involved for adoption once surrenders are signed and if we will be able to qualify for any type of subsidy. We are in IL.

Tunay

[jackiesbooks]

if both surrender then it would only be a few months. Not sure about Il, but I doubt you will qualify for any subsidy. In MD, healthy children under 6 do not qualify.

[hesabanana]

Don't rule out a subsidy. In NY, our son qualified because he was in care over 12 months....he is perfectly healthy and adopted at age 2. He also has Medicaid until his 18th birthday.
Good luck!

[Tunay4754]

Here is what I found on the web for our state and it looks to me as if he would qualify since he is over 1 year old:

1. What specific factors or conditions does your State consider to determine that a child cannot be placed with adoptive parents without providing financial assistance? ("What is your State definition of special needs?")
A child with special needs is defined as a child that has at least one of the following needs or circumstances that may be a barrier to placement or adoption without financial assistance:

1. One year of age or older
2. Member of a sibling group being adopted together where at least one child meets one of the other criteria listed here
3. Being adopted by adoptive parents who have previously adopted, with adoption assistance, another child born of the same mother or father
4. Irreversible or non-correctable physical mental or emotional disability
5. Physical, mental, or emotional disability correctable through surgery, treatment, or other specialized services

Tunay

[Tunay4754]

Here is the link to that info:

NACAC | Adoption Subsidy

I guess I don't understand if they have to give you the subsidy or if its all subjective.

Tunay

[makarios79]

Originally Posted by Tunay4754

Can anyone tell me the usual process for birthparents to voluntarily surrender rights after the child has already been in foster care for some time? We are wondering about the time frame involved for adoption once surrenders are signed and if we will be able to qualify for any type of subsidy. We are in IL.

Tunay

Both of my boys parents did voluntary surrenders in June 2007 and we didn't finalize until Nov. 2007.

The biggest hold up was the agency dragging their feet...I had done everything I could possibly do on my part..but the cw didn't submit all the subsidy paperwork and they drug their feet on everything and because they waited more than 90 days from when I initially submitted the paperwork..some of the stuff..(i.e. physicals) had expired and had to be redone.....we should have been finalized by August....but it took 5 months to complete after the voluntary surrender....

btw..I'm in Fl

[Tunay4754]

I was thinking maybe a month or so but another foster parent I spoke with tonight told me it would probably be more like 3 months so that is a bit disappointing but as long as it does eventually happen I won't complain.

Tunay

[ranoutofnames]

Our timeframe we were faced with:

A1 was TPR in April, adoption in October.
A2 was TPR in March, adoption in December.

We had problems with cw dragging their feet, quiting and waiting on a new cw to be appointed, expiring paperwork including the homestudy and background checks, etc.

[Tunay4754]

Wow! Those are long time frames. I will try to keep on top of things as much as I can and I'm pretty sure we will hire a lawyer and maybe she can keep things moving as well.

Tunay

[hesabanana]

Our conditional surrender occurred in 1/06 and adoption was not until 8/06. Good luck!

[MomwithFive]

We had:

TPR in June 2007 and Adoption in December 2007.

[punchkin]

We had tpr in late Nov. 04. Finalized 1st week of Feb.05.
we will tpr again late Jan.08, and we will finalize 1st week of March, 08. Pending all goes according to plan of course. We don't forsee any problems, but it's not over till it's over.
Best of luck, and Gods speed!

[Tunay4754]

I hope I will be able to talk with someone tomorrow so I can find out more about when to expect things to happen. I put a call in on Friday to our caseworker and I also have a call in to the lawyer we plan to use. If I don't hear from either of them I will try to call the permanency specialist at our agency. I'm just so excited, I want to know what to expect of the process.

Tunay

[AKMama]

My girls' birth parents voluntarily surrendered at the one year mark. They were headed towards tpr so OCS already had most things lined up. We'd already done our adoption homestudy, so everyone was ready to go for the adoption. We finalized six weeks after the relinquishment was signed.

As for subsidy, the girls kept their Medicaid and will have it until they are 18. We also have a $0 subsidy, which means we do not receive any subsidy payment now, but if the need arises in the future (because they were young at the time of the adoption and did not have any diagnosed medical conditions) we can request a subsidy from the state. We were told it is much easier to get a subsidy later if you need it, if you already have written in an amount, even if that amount is $0.

Good luck to you! How exciting to know adoption is coming soon!

[Tunay4754]

Our caseworker called us back on Monday and said she would need to get more details from the permanency specialist (who is on vacation until Thursday) but that she had spoken with the head of the foster care program at our agency and been given some general information about the process.

Since the parents want to sign specific surrenders so he can go only to us, it must be done in court so we need a court date. It probably won't need to go to legal screening (I don't even know what that is) and can probably be completed in January. However, hearing all of your timelines I am taking this info with a grain of salt.

The caseworker has not yet approached the birthfather (who is uninvolved) because she wanted to give it a few days to be sure the Mom will not change her mind again. So far so good.

I have contacted a good lawyer who used to be a GAL but have not heard back from her yet because of the holidays. Maybe today we will hear something from her.

Thanks for all of your replies. Will keep you updated on what happens.

Tunay