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For those of you who have been down this road, I need to pick your brain again! ;) I called the attorney we were referred to by another foster family and our caseworker. To set up a meeting will cost $50-80 up front. The receptionist said this cost will go toward the retainer fee if we decide to use his services. I was under the impression that cost was handled by the state, since Baby J is a foster child and has special needs. So I am a bit confused. Should we expect to pay all the costs and get reimbursed afterward? Is this initial meeting cost a normal thing that we have to pay? I honestly feel like we're walking blind in new territory.
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from what i heard, yes, you are expected to pay upfront and get the reimbursement from the state after the adoption. that's what i was told by my atty when i adopted last year.
there are a few attys like mine, who waived all upfront fees except for the adoption filing fee and the cost of paying for my new birth certificates on adoption day. in the end, they only charged the $1500 reimbursement and waived all other fees. they did the filing for the reimbursement and from what i am to understand the check went directly to them.
i thought they were great, both women, referred to me by word of mouth. they came to my house for the initial meeting, which was great so i didn't have to find a sitter for my boys.
if i had one criticism it was that since they did not have a huge firm and worked out of their house with one assistant i believe, you might not get an answer to a question the same day you ask it, and sometimes you have to bug a little, but they were friendly, worked quickly and got the job done. they handled both of my adoptions and with my first child, mom was tpr'd on march 17th and i had an adoption date of april 26th.
the other thing you should note is that they tend to prefer to do adoption hearings on the last thursday of every month, because this way, you are still getting your foster care per diem almost up to the date of the adoption. if they didn't do it this way, i think you lose the remainder of the month and the adoption subsidy does not start until the first day of the next month following your adoption.
pm me if you would like their contact info. they tend to stay fairly busy since they are so flexible on the payment stuff, so i would definitely call them sooner rather than later, lol.
hope this helps!:flower:
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We are using Kirsh & Kirsh. Joel handles the foster care adoptions and is great to work with.
We paid zero to retain services. Just talked to him and since it was going to be an UNCONTESTED foster care adoption, he agreed to handle. We had to pay $221 out of pocket when they filed adoption petition which covered paternity filing and birthcertificate and a few other things.
He will do the fostercare adoptions for the $1500 that State pays and only that if you don't get the non recurring adoption fees. State pays them. Once they are paid they will send us a refund for the $221.
I know several other foster families that use them and they were happy with them. Our CW said they are her favorite attorneys to work with ... told me after we chose them. Said she has only worked with one attorney who was faster than they are,
We used Kirsh & Kirsh as well for our adoption last year. Only paid out of pocket the filing fee which was refunded after they got paid from State. We did end up having to pay about $40 out of our own pocket which could not be refunded but it was because our daughter was born out of state and there was a larger processing fee. Also, Kirsh and Kirsh go thru the Hamilton County court system vs Marion County so you get quicker court dates. We initially filed our petition for adoption March 2010 and adoption finalized in May 2010. Marion County court would have been sometime in Fall 2010 had we used another attorney. They are great!! Planning on adopting again and will definitely use them. Good luck!!:hippie:
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