[aedems]

I am WAY ahead of myself here, BUT I have a question. We are licensed foster/adopt, but really just got into this to help kids until they found their forever home (whether RU or adoption). We have three bio children, one leaving for college in a few years. My husband will be retiring in a few years (but getting at least a part-time job or else )

I have been a foster mom for 2.5 years. These are my
8th and 9th placements. All others before went to relatives...never had to cross the "possible adoption line" before and I HATE it and I LOVE it!!!

My husband and I are questioning whether we should adopt or not. These kids have come SO FAR with us, have such personalities, and we've fallen in love.

The question I have about adoption subsidy is just one of a list of questions my husband and I are asking ourselves while making our decision, and we have no idea how it works. There are two children, under 2, Caucasian. No "medical" issues, but one has speech-language delay. Mom has history of mental illness, as does dad. Would they qualify for subsidy? If so, is there a "typical" subsidy rate?

[Withay]

Whether or not the kids would qualify depends a lot on where you live. Where I live the subsidy rate is generally in the neighborhood of 70% of the foster rate.

I don't know about other areas.

[DoYaReallyThink]

Might want to check with your local area. WHen the government chopped a cool million from every government agency Jobs and Family Services were also hit. Our agency lost 16 workers and adoption subsidies were decreased as well.

[greenrobin]

I'm in Texas. In 13 days we'll finalize the adoption of our kids.

They are also a duo, Caucasian, but Bubba has some issues--mild RAD, ADHD, whispers of possible bipolar but too yound to diagnose. She is poh-fect. She'll tell you herself! Mom and dad are addicts, he's in prison, she has a borderline personality disorder and mild retardation. Don't know anything else about dad except that he seems to have difficulty staying out of prison. He's 24 and has had something like 33 arrests. This is his second time in prison.

Okay, history's finished.

They qualified for adoption subsidy because they are a sib set over the age of 2. That was important because it moved them into the older child adoption category. If we had been forced to wait until Bubba's 6th birthday, it would have changed their category again.

Our adoption worker filled out all of the papers and helped us make the numbers reach the point where the kids were awarded the full amount of subsidy which is a whopping $400/mo each. As foster kids they received $705/mo each.

I'm not refusing the subsidy. And I really am grateful that there is some monetary help available. I'm just put off by the way their lives were quantified in dollars. I found the process kind of distasteful somehow. But, hey, that's $800/mo that we can spend on our kids, so I sucked it up!

[mommytoEli]

it does depend on your state. in our old state, virtually any child in care received a subsidy equal to the foster rate. they said by virtue of being in care, they were special needs. one of my children gets a subsidy for having "adverse parental background." other than that, he is healthy, white, and adopted before age 2. i just moved, and in my new state, the rules could not be more different. hardly any child qualifies for a subsidy. try looking at this site and see if your state's info is on it:

NACAC | Adoption Subsidy

[shy_bear]

We live in CO and each county is its own service area; so for us it depends on the county you live in. Our son was drug/alcohol exposed, has had MANY issues and DID NOT qualify for an adoption subsidy. Our licensing worker thought we should have fought it, but we were told if we did we would have had to delay finalization. So he is now 2 and still has many issues. We have great insurance b/c DH is military so we left it alone. I would count on nothing and go from there.

[triciansil]

we have 5,3 yr old sibs and they have no special needs diagnosis except for the fact that they are siblings which puts them in the special needs catagorey. They will receive subsidies until they reach 18. Per child in our state they each get aprox $19.89 per day so it averages to about $1233 (give/take) a month. We also have the option of having daycare and afterschool programs paid for as well (both parents must work to qualify) and they will also get state health/dental care until 18 unless we choose to put them on our plan.

[Longing2bMom]

As others have said, it depends on where you live. Here in California, virtually all children adopted from foster care qualify for a subsidy based on "adverse parental background". The basic subsidy is around $450 per month and it goes up from there based on the child's individual needs.

[mckmom10]

It depends on your State we are matched with a sibling group of 3. They will keep their medical care 0 financial. We are excited and moving forward

[wannafostersoon]

In NY virtually every foster child that goes to adoption qualifies for the subsidy. It is around $450 for most children although special and exceptional rates are available for more specialized children. It isn't set in stone but it is far less likely to NOT get a subsidy than to get one.

[myForeverkids3]

The only person who can answer that question is your CW. I know it feels weird asking, but they do this every day and think nothing of it. I was nervous about asking and when I did, the CW was like "oh my gosh, I didn't tell you that in the beginning? And you just took the kids without knowing that?" Yep, we didn't care about the subsidy. Once we adopt,they are OUR kids and WE will take care of them. But, the subsidy WILL allow us to do A LOT more extra things (like sports camps, lessons) so we are very thankful to have it. The medical is important though, especially to cover mental health.