Adoption Subsidy Paperwork

I am filling out the adoption subsidy paperwork for our two kids. I am trying to do everything right, but I keep guessing what to say or do. Our kids are both basic care, but do have some issues. Most of them will probably be covered by our health insurance, but not all. Girl has some tantrum issues, and was once moderate, but she is doing much better, but will probably need continued counseling. Boy is in speech therapy and developmental therapy, and also has a very minor eye problem. Who has filled these out before, and what kinds of things did you put on there? We don't need daycare, as I am a stay at home Mom. I did say that we will now have four children, and just with groceries and clothing alone, the money would help. If we gert nothing, we will be fine, but if we got some, it would help. My worker feels like we will get about $400 per child plus Medicaid and adoption reimbursement. Any feedback would help.

Gosh, I'd be shocked if you get 400 (of course I dont' know their ages or race) Don't let your worker tell you anything cause they don't decide. Ours kept telling us our daughter would qualify above basic even though she was in a basic home (she's tube fed, bilateral hearing loss, neurologically impaired.. has ot & pt) and she didn't. Anyway you could list tutoring, counseling (like you said). I don't think they really consider daycare even if you work.

We just filled ours out with the help of our daughters cw. She had us go high on the amounts for all of the questions. She told us to figure the amounts to each question as if we were paying out of pocket with no other help. This gives them a realistic veiw of what it will cost to raise the child.

I have a question. what is an adoption subsidy? do people really adopt and then get money to raise the child? I guess we've just felt that if you adopt, you need to be able to provide for the child's needs.

Question? do you understand what a health plan will and will not cover? We have adopted two great kids. My son had a high amount of coke in his system when he was born and it has led to many health problems. My daughter was a meth baby born at 24 weeks 1 pound 5 ounces. Would we have adopted them without the subsidy .... you bet your booty, but we are very thankful we have the subsidy to help them get the care they need to overcome the challenges they face.

"I have a question. what is an adoption subsidy? do people really adopt and then get money to raise the child? I guess we've just felt that if you adopt, you need to be able to provide for the child's needs." You may want to realize the tone of your question (I didn't know how to "quote " it) If you are not from TX, have never foster/adopted you may be uninformed, uneducated or just ignorant about the children that come into care & may not intend to offend those of us who have adopted thru foster care in TX. Children aren't taken by the state for no reason - they have SERIOUS issues to be available for adoption (years of court, meetings & finally TPR or voluntary relinquishment) Because of SERIOUS issues not many people want or choose to adopt (again thru ignorance - never met a foster child-they are still human beings that deserve a family/home) The issues may require health care (drug exposed babies have a LIFETIME of side affects in some cases) & the state of TX offers Medicaide to lift the expenses of the adoptive parents. I don't know any parent that wouldn't adopt their child if the Medicaid wasn't offered but it does help. OF COURSE we can afford to provide for our children - the state just has had years (& thousands of children) not being adopted & have offered to help to ensure a child have a family. Since you don't even know what an adoption subsidy is you may want to educate yourself on it & the reasons it is offered thru the DFPS web site. To answer the original posters question - sibling sets are elegible for the subsidy - I think it really depends on who gets your paper work & their mood that day-I got a happy person - phew!!! $400 is the most you can get per child (some people get less) I was also re-imbursed for the lawyer ($1,500.00) & your children are elegible for free tuition in any state college in TX. These children have been thru H&ll & back & deserve everything they get from the state that probably assisted in their abuse/neglect by letting it happen so long before stepping in. There may be some bad apples in foster care (for the little $$ we get) but most of us spend a LOT more than we receive while we care for our children before the adoption-as a fp we know they can be removed anytime before the adoption yet we've invested our emotions & $$ (it's our job & what we signed up for I'm not complaining).

Most, if not all, Have some type of adoption subsidy available, depending on the child or situation. Since you are on adoption.com, please do your homework. [url=http://www.adopting.org/adoptions/adoption-subsidy-negotiating-and-renegotiating-your-childs-contract-2.html]Adoption Subsidy - Negotiating and Renegotiating Your Child's Contract -[/url] [url=http://www.adopting.org/uni/frame.php?url=http://www.nacac.org/subsidyfactsheets/postfinalization.html]http://www.nacac.org/subsidyfactsheets/postfinalization.html[/url] [url=http://www.adopting.org/uni/frame.php?url=http://www.nacac.org/subsidyfactsheets/postfinalization.html]http://www.nacac.org/subsidyfactsheets/postfinalization.html[/url] [url=http://www.adopting.org/uni/frame.php?url=http://www.nacac.org/subsidyfactsheets/postfinalization.html]http://www.nacac.org/subsidyfactsheets/postfinalization.html[/url] Info on Nevada.. [url=http://www.adopting.org/uni/frame.php?url=http://www.nacac.org/subsidyfactsheets/postfinalization.html]http://www.nacac.org/subsidyfactsheets/postfinalization.html[/url]

Yes, I understand all about health plans. I know that once we adopt we can add our child to our insurance and they will cover their needs. We have good insurance though, they've covered all kinds of things for my autistic son.

Yes, I know all about the low 'pay' for foster parents. I'm one myself. and I laugh when people say 'you can make money at that!' @@ however, I know in one particular case and probably others, texas creates problems for itself. I know of two girls that have been in care for over a year and a half and we'd gladly adopt them as we are foster parents in another state. we're even blood relatives but not 'close enough' for them to consider us. it's absolutely ridiculous and quite honestly, they could save a lot of money by placing them with us, we don't want subsidies or even daily allowances as they are family. They don't have 'horrible terrible problems either.' they were neglected by their mom and they've been put in a system that has failed them in their need for a permanant home. just my opinion of course.

Wow, when I started this post, I thought I would just get "Oh, don't forget about this," or "I wish we had done this", or whatever. I never thought it would cause a firestorm like this. We are financially able to care for these children. My worker really encourages all of her families to fill this out. She feels as though this is something that is owed to the child. It is there to help them. If my two bio children had some issues and they told me I could get help, but I would need to fill out a few papers, I certainly would. My husband is an attorney, and I am a stay at home. We first balked at the idea of taking this money, but after hearing our kids' stories and so forth, I am okay, now. Like I said, we are fine without it, but I do not want to cheat my kids out of something. My kids have been in 7 different foster homes in the course of a year and a half. Several of those homes ended up in investigation, and the kids were removed. Their current foster Mom is fantastic, likea majority of foster parents are. But, my kids seem to have fallen in with a lot of bad ones in a row. My daughter has some damage from her young life in bio home, but maybe just as much damage for what was done to her in the system. I just want to make sure my kids get the specialized care they need, and I am working on doing that. We also have very good insurance. We plan to use our insurance for the kids, but would like the medicaid to back us up, just in case that weird thing the insurance won't cover comes up. We are planning to put the money away the kids get for other large expenses in their lives. They will have the college tuition, and I think that is great. My kids will probably fall in love with a great private university, and we will be applying for scholarships like crazy. Then, we can use their money to pay for college. Just try to see the other side of things before reacting. I was once the same way about this subsidy, but have learned so much more about what the kids need and what they have been through.

I see it the same way that you do..if I get blessed enough to adopt my foster children, I will be putting half the subsidy in an inaccessible account for college. The other half is for other needs...growing feet and bodies, food, extracurricular activities etc etc. Don't worry about the tone of some of the posters...everyone has an opinion. :grouphug: In the forum search, you may want to enter adoption and see what pops up. Welcome to the family...there is a lot of knowledge here. If you have questions on something that a poster wrote, you can send a private message. I have established quite a few friends here.

I'm not in TX, but when we did ours what I learned was that, in addition to whatever the standard subsidy is and Medicaid, they would only commit to providing for needs the child came with, current needs, and any needs, known or unknown arising out of congential/genetic conditions, the original abuse and neglect, and having been in foster care. That meant making a list of known conditions--dx, findings of SA, whatever, etc. So, for example, they would not commit specifically to RTC if needed, but did commit generally to providing for conditions arising from a genetic predisposition to MI. Medicaid does not cover everything in every state and can change with every legislative session. You want some kind of backup out of state funds if Medicaid stops providing something critical. Private insurance, that is, employer provided insurance, is often woefully inadequate to the medical, mental, and emotional health needs of these kids. I don't think any, for example, provide for weekly therapy for a few years, residential treatment, special schooling for the emotionally disturbed (which can be very difficult to obtain through SPED; depending on the state, if you can't get it covered, you are looking at either paying upwards of $120K per year or pleading guilty to neglect and signing your rights over), etc. Medically fragile would be difficult on employer-provided insurance, too, I think. Yes, these are risks one would take if giving birth. But you're not giving birth. You're going in eyes wide open to a higher degree of risk and you are providing a home for a child that has already been born and already has special needs. And already needs a good home. The point of the assistance is to ensure the children find a permanent home and the legal security of a family to which they belong. The resources needed to do that may well be beyond the reach of even upper middle class folk, let alone us more humble people. Additionally, there is no reason to limit the number of potential homes by those "who can afford" another child...many loving homes cannot afford another child without help. I'd agree, then maybe they shouldn't make more children, but opening a home to a child already here is not the same thing. Better to place the child in those homes and provide the needed help than to leave the child with no permanency. Not only is it better for that child for whom we have compassion, it is better for our society to have children growing up in a mentally and emotionally healthier way. There is no shame in giving a child a good home but there is in denying a child a good home because of pride.

craftingmama1, This is my opinion but it seems to me maybe, just MAYBE, they aren't placing these kids with you for their best interests. Just because they would "save a lot of money" doesn't mean it is the correct decision for the CHILD! Maybe your family isn't a good match or able to provide these girls with what they need. I am in Texas & I am adopting thru the Texas system. I have to say, they have gone above & beyond to make a perfect match for our son (which was us), & to make a perfect match for US as well. They aren't perfect & there is never going to be a perfect adoption system, they will always have their flaws, just like any system. But we too would be adopting regardless of the subsidy, but the college tuition & medic-aid, will enable my family to be able to afford ANOTHER child after our son is finalized. Without that we couldn't save for college & adopt a 3rd. the subsidy helps families who are ALREADY going to adopt these children.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that isn't the reason they aren't placing them with us. They barely would have a discussion with us about it, haven't met us or read or records because they have promised the foster to adopt parents they are with that they will get them. THAT IS WRONG! Sorry, That is totally wrong to do without truly considering a family placement over strangers.

I should also add that while no, it's not about saving money, the fact that these children have been kept in care for over a year and a half when there are two relatives willing and quite able to take them, they continue to let their little lives hang in limbo and non permanancy. it's sickening.