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We don't know each other on here so hopefully we can all chat openly about subsidy and what we receive for what issues. We took a newborn in December 2010, although mom was incarcerated baby still had drug exposure issues. He was severely hypertonic. And we did PT for that. He also has two floating toes (second toe is higher than the rest and kinda sits ontop the others) this will be surgically corrected down the line. He was our first thru adoptions and I had no clue what to ask for/what I would need. So we asked for 450 and we were granted that. Another foster parent and I were chatting later and she said never go under 500 for drug babies because of possible life long later presenting issues. She has two adopted drug exposed babies that she recieves over 500 for. Now.....here is my issue, adoption is fast approaching for our almost 5year old foster son. He has/and continues to, put us thru the ringer. He needs Adderall XR daily to just be manageable. He is non verbal, but very bright. He continues to work with OT for some sensory issues, he attends speech therapy as well. Basically between 4 therapies, a pill regimin (he takes a Tennex in the evening if we have big events as the Adderall is done working about 6pm. He has sleep issues. Alll and all just EXTREMELY high maintaince. How do I go about figuring out what amount I will need to make sure I can properly support all of his needs. They told me we can't ask for the full monthly subsidy (690-715) my husband wants as high as we can get since we might need respite occasionally. I am just lost on this....we are in Ohio BTW, if that matters in amount differences. Help!
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We were just told we needed a attorney for final, prior to this meeting we were told we did not need one. They said county changed in January. I see pp suggested attorney for negotiations for AA would this be the same attorney that finalizes adoption? Do they charge separately or do you have to get them on retainer? When would you get this attorney?
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$348 a month plus medical card. This is for a sibling adoption and is the same as the monthly foster care reimbursement amount. AS1 had significant medical needs, was born with a birth defect and hospitalized for first 4 months of life, but as most issues were resolved by adoption, he wouldn't have qualified for medical special needs despite significant prenatal history and possible future complications from his birth defect. Like someone else said, I condsider any $ a bonus because he is my son and if he were biological I would be raising him with no assistance. Obviously kiddos with significant medical needs may *need* their subsidy for anyone to be able to afford to adopt them, but in our case, I would have adopted without the subsidy.
We are adopting from DC and will be getting the maximum subsidy for multi-handicapped. That rate is currently $41 per day, coming to $1,230 per month plus medical card. I think DC is one of the highest in the nation.I guess I should add that our STBAS does have multiple medical issues that require private duty nursing, many many Drs appointments and surgeries and has an IEP. So it wasn't a hard argument to get the level 4 classification. The number sounds quite big till you factor in how many hours I miss from work and such. It helps offset a bit of that lost income.
We are in Florida, but receive California subsidies since that's where we adopted from. We were getting $880 a month for our RAD AD; we were approved for (and now receive) $1254 a month- I only requested that the subsidy be not much less than the foster rate- they came back higher and all I had to do was submit a letter stating the extra care AD requires. But AD has quite the reputation out in California... ETA- Had we adopted her brother (whom we disrupted), we would be getting an adoption subsidy of nearly $3000 a month just for him.
We fostered through an agency and were receiving higher stipend then county gives. When we were finally able to adopt our fs last year(after 91/2 years of him as our fs) we were told the county could not give us more then their highest rate. When we requested subsidy we requested our foster care rate but were only approved for the county"s highest rate which was about $7 a day less then we were getting. our 15 yr old as has mental health issues. Two years ago when we had 6 psych hospitalizations in one year and were facing rtc I tried to get an increase of his subsidy. I listed all; the reasons like my husbands lost wages, gas was killing us constantly going an hour or two away for visits and therapy, and the amount of stuff destroyed by him. Because our expenses were not medical we could not get an increase.
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We recieve the basic foster care payment rate for two of our children ($500 month each) plus medicaid. They were both drug exposed but do not have pervasive developmental delays. Our third child receives a higher tier two rate ($700 month) plus medicaid due to ODD, ADHD and attachment diagnosis. She would not have recieved a subsidy at adoption without the additional diagnosis because she was under five and caucasion. What I have gleaned from varous resouces is that Title IV federal monies provide states $ for adoption subsidys to "special needs" children - those over age 5, part of a sibling set, belonging to a minority group or having a qualifying mental or physical permanent diagnosis. I have also heard the medicaid is only provided if at the time of entry into custody both bio parents weren't working (???). For me personally I want first and foremost to the Medicaid card because our children tend to have so many health needs. If that is not available to you I would certainly be fighting for the highest level subsidy possible.
I love our adoption worker. She asked me several questions and told me what they qualified for.One is diagnosed with mental retardation, ADHD, and is very impulsive. He also is aggressive and has almost no vocab. We get the maximum of $3006. We private pay respite and his psy and medications because of his medical card does not cover them..His two brothers are ADHD and get $800 each. One has sensory issues and both have behaviors. I look at other states and are thankful for our worker. Our assistance allows me to stay at home and for that I appreciate all the help.
Happy123
I love our adoption worker. She asked me several questions and told me what they qualified for. One is diagnosed with mental retardation, ADHD, and is very impulsive. He also is aggressive and has almost no vocab. We get the maximum of $3006. We private pay respite and his psy and medications because of his medical card does not cover them.. His two brothers are ADHD and get $800 each. One has sensory issues and both have behaviors. I look at other states and are thankful for our worker. Our assistance allows me to stay at home and for that I appreciate all the help.
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TRas: our child is a regional center client and thus qualifies for the higher rate. It was actually much higher and they have changed it in the last several years. Regional center clients have developmental disabilities. Its not due to a shortage of homes, but is based on the child. Our child is classified with mental retardation and thus is a regional center client. The state figures what it would have to pay for a facility to take care of the child. But, by offering the extra assistance, regional center children have a better chance of finding homes. When we adopted our child, we never realized that extra help that would be offered.
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I am in NJ and our stbas has no issues right now. He's a very talkative and smart 2 yr old and we are getting a subsidy of $800 a month that will increase as he gets older. I was shocked that we were getting this but I was told that his birth family on both sides have a long history of mental illness so it is likely that blondie will suffer from something. I said we didn't need it but the CW said we're getting it anyway so that money is in a savings account for Blondie.
Another thing to look at also is the possibility of the child qualifying for disability. If that is the case than the child would most likely get more based on his special needs vs. the subsidy. They talked about this in some of our adoption CE courses especially with children with special needs adopted from foster care. However, you would not get both the subsidy and the disability you would get the greater of the two at least that is how it is in my state.