[Eighty8Keys]

Hello everyone! I know I haven't been posting here long, but I had to share - we got a phone call late yesterday from a social worker telling us we were chosen to be the adoptive family for a sibling group! We had interviewed over a month ago for them and didn't think there was any way they would be placed with us (they are many states away).

I am going to call their caseworker today to find out all the details of transitioning, viewing all files, etc. I want to call her now, but because of the time zone difference I know she won't be in her office for about an hour at least.

In the meantime, here are the basics of what we know (not sure what I can and can't share...any help with that??)

-6 year old boy with ADHD, no IEP - going into 2nd grade
-6 year old girl (yes, they are twins) with IEP for speech only - going into 1st grade bec. she is a few months dev. delayed
-3 year old boy - no behavioral or dev. concerns - appears "on target"

We are not sure because it's been several weeks and we have had other staffings in between the time, but we think they are NOT Title IV-E. What exactly does that mean?? Are they ineligible for any assistance?

We are SO excited to say the least!

[SuzBerg]

Congratulations ! You must be so excited! I don't know anything about Title IV-E, so I don't have any advice, but I'm sure there are others here who can help you with that question . Good Luck and Best Wishes -Suz

[Faith65]

Congrats! And can't wait to hear more! Welcome to the journey!

[pez collector]

Congratulations.

We also just received word that we were chosen to adopt a sibling group from out of state!

I have some of the same questions as you do. I just started a thread to get some answers to my questions.

Enjoy this special time!

[shy_bear]

I am so happy for you!!! I know you have been waiting for this moment. Make sure you keep all of us updated!!!!
CONGRATS

[hotspice58]

Are they from foster care? I thought all adoptive parents of kids from foster care got subsidies.

[sltgjt]

This is so exciting. Congrats!!!

[Eighty8Keys]

I am still so excited I don't know what to do with myself!

Thanks for your encouraging replies! I called their caseworker but she wasn't in - haven't heard back yet. I want details! lol!

The kids are from fostercare - the fact that they are a sibling group and two of them are at least 6 we thought that they would automatically be classified as IV-E. Anyone know how this works??

I'll post more when I know more!

[MtnMama]

Congratulations! I don't know alot about subsidies, but from what I've read most states offer some type of subsidy even if the children aren't IV-E eligilble. IV-E is Federal. Check out the website of the state you are adopting from. There's also a website that shows what all the states offer. I can't remember the name of the site, but I'll look for it.

[MtnMama]

I found the site. It's NACAC.org.

[roselee]

Congrats!! It doesn't appear they have extreme special needs as far as school is concerned. I am really happy for you. They should qualify for title IV funds. I heard that if they don't qualify then the state makes up for the difference. I could be wrong - this is not my area of knowlege really.

[Lylac]

Congrats!!! Eighty8Keys & pez, ya'll can add me to the journey we found out last week, we were chosen to adopt a lil boy 3 years old out of state. Since they are a sibling group they most certainly will qualify for subsidy.

I know the feeling about not being able to "know what to do with yourself"

This is what our state says

1. Tennessee's legal definition of special needs is as follows:

One or more of the following characterize the child: (a) Caucasian child age nine and above; (b) any child with minority heritage, age five and above; (c) any child who has a severe physical or psychological handicap as diagnosed by a licensed physician, psychologist, or licensed clinical social worker; (d) sibling groups of three or more who are placed together for the purpose of adoption at the same time; (e) any child who is HIV positive; (f) any child whose life experiences include neglect (which rises to the level of severe child abuse as defined in T.C.A. 37-1-102 (b) (21) ), physical abuse and/or sexual abuse.

[roselee]

Wow, Tennessee is tough!

[Lorraine123]

3 siblings should make them special needs classification. I would look into that. You may need all the $ you can get. Qualify for it now, its harder to get it later.

Oh, and, congratuations.

[Barksum]

Title IV-E is not about the child's special needs, per se. One of our kids is not Title IV-E eligible because the cw didn't do the proper paperwork when he came into foster care at birth. It has to do with the bio parents' finances, housing, blah blah blah. I'm not really up on it, but it has to do with federal funding for foster and adoption costs, not state funding alone. (States get matching funds or something.) For us it isn't really a big deal because we adopted from our home state so there was no inter-state compacts or only federal funds supporting the adoptions. Was that confusing? Do you now know that I really don't understand anything about Title IV-E funding? LOL