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:grouphug: Hi, I hope I am posting to the appropriate thread. My name is Sharon, I have 3 daughters [28, 25 and 17] My youngest child is adopted, her birth mother is one of my sisters. My child was born with birth defects and endured many surgeries as an infant/toddler. She had a tough beginning to avercome and she is a wonderful daughter. I couldn't be more proud of her, she is a joy. I adopted her in Massachusetts but now we live in North Carolina. I had to apply for Medicaid for her earlier this year as she needs extensive orthodontic work, jaw and nasal surgeries [which I cannot afford]. When I applied for medicaid her case worker asked if I got child support. I said "No, she's adopted." and she asked if I got an adoption subsidy. I told her I didn't know what that was, she directed me to contact DSS in Massachusetts. Which I did [Feb 2008] After many conversations with the Adoption Subsidy Unit in Boston, I finally got them to open an adoption subsidy account for us and they paid arrears back to when I first contacted them last February. :thanks: I spoke with a well known adoption advocate in Ohio and he advised me to ask for a Fair Hearing to try to get subsidy payments from Jan 1998 through January 2008. At this time he is preparing a brief to present to the court. The reason we are trying to do this is because Mass. DSS was negligent in informing me of my right to apply for and receive adoption subsidy money. At the time of the adoption my child was receiving SSDI through her birth father's Social Security claim. This was temporary, DSS told me my child would get SSDI for LIFE. This turned out to be NOT TRUE and her benefits ended in late 1997. So we are asking for adoption subsidy payments beginning fiscal year 1998 through January of this year [2008] I submitted the facts of the case to the Director of Fair Hearings Boston DSS and he found that the Department had been negligent and directed me on how to bring my case in front of the Superior Court asking for the arrearages to be paid in full [we are talking about a huge sum of money] My question to all of you is this: Have any of you ever heard of a case/claim like this before? If yes, what was the outcome[?] or the complainants name and state so I can research it please Thank you so much :thankyou:
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I've heard of fair hearings from another fost/adoptive mother. I was the 6th placement for my 2 little ones. As a result, there were constant meltdowns, fighting, suspensions from school and having to change daycares. the foster care cw discouraged me from filing a fair claim hearing as the agency is investigated when this happens. good luck with your case!!
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hope872007
hello my name is megan i am new to adoption it is a direct placement the baby is due in Feb now will i be able to receive subsidy for adoption or does that only apply for foster care see the birth mother is a close personal friend of mine.
Hey yah um I just wanted to give you an update I have not been on here in so long baby was born healthy over 42 weeks came out very alert he is very smart well his name is Jonathan Hunter I call him Hunter he was born Feb 27th 2010 7lbs 15 oz 20 1/2 inches long birth mom stayed til March 16th then she went back home I try to keep in touch with her at least 2/3 times per week usually do not discuss Hunter unless she brings him up herself I imagine it is still very hard for her even after a year but I know she does not regret letting me her best friend adopt him because he is very much loved we have a big family. it is just unreal how fast they grow up.
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I can relate to negligence with DCF. I adopted 2 children in 1995 and 1999. A girl (12 months old) a boy (2 years old). They happened to be biological siblings. 2 huge issues of negligence with DCF were with subsidy and more importantly health of the children. SUBSIDY: when my son turned 8 his bio dad died. DCF social worker called me with "exciting news". She said I should go down to the IRS office and apply for SSI payments for my son. She said, " do it right away because we all could use some extra money". So we did and received a second payment for my son slightly less than what I was receiving from the adoption subsidy. 2 month later, after spending huge amounts on updating kids needs because of the "extra" money, we were told we were going to lose our adoption subsidy because of the SSI payments. The worker failed to outline the rules on that. Thus causing us financial ruin. HEALTH: a year after adoption of our second child, DCF found out BIO mom was HIV positive. Never told us of the issue and never instructed us to get our children tested. My son did not contract it but my daughter did. One day she got really sick and it would not go away. After a month, she was finally diagnosed with AIDS. She died 8 weeks later. DCF wants to place kids thus they don't test for HIV as this would make it more difficult. They don't want to pay money and if they can trick you into SSI, they will.
shebraqtynat
a year after adoption of our second child, DCF found out BIO mom was HIV positive. Never told us of the issue and never instructed us to get our children tested. My son did not contract it but my daughter did. One day she got really sick and it would not go away. After a month, she was finally diagnosed with AIDS. She died 8 weeks later.