ADOPTION SUPPORT CENTER

Answering Your Questions About Adoption Subsidy
By Lynn A. Smith
Adoption Network Charitable Trust

What kind of financial support and services are available for children after they have been adopted?

The US federal government set up the Adoption Subsidy Program about 20 years ago in order to help families who are adopting US children by providing:

1. Monthly support payments until a child is 18-21 years old.
2. Medical coverage, including therapy, through Medicaid.
3. Reimbursement of adoption related expenses up to a maximum of $2000.

Note: International special needs adoptees are not eligible for Adoption Subsidy, but may or may not be eligible for help only through Social Security (SSI); Medicaid paid therapy may be available if a family's income is low enough to qualify.

The specific payment amounts and eligibility for Adoption Subsidy (also called Adoption Support) vary somewhat from state to state and although most of the funds come from the federal government, each state administrates its own program.

In general the monthly support payments are approximately equivalent to what the child received, or would have received, in foster care and may include "difficulty of care" rates, daycare, respite and/or educational monies, for example. Also individual states may have additional state programs funded solely through state funds, for example an additional therapeutic counseling benefit.

Note: Public school systems are required by federal law to provide appropriate special needs education for each child, or to contract with an educational system that can provide it.

Eligibility requirements for Adoption Subsidy are, in general, that a child be considered a special needs child, or be considered hard to place because of race or as part of a sibling group. All children who are in state foster care are certainly eligible, because they all are considered special needs children since they are in state care because of abuse and/or neglect. However children placed privately are also eligible according to federal law if they meet the criteria. For example, a child diagnosed with RAD, Reactive Attachment Disorder, would be eligible as a special needs child.

Adoption Subsidy should be approved whenever possible before the family finalizes the adoption, however there is a federal provision for post- finalization application and retroactive payments from the date of placement or finalization if the pre-existing special needs condition was undiagnosed, for example, or if the family is denied information or access to the program for any number of reasons. States are required by law to process applications in a timely manner, usually 30 days, and if your request is denied you must be given ALL the reasons in writing with the corresponding laws cited to support each reason. States often deny, sometimes as a matter of policy, especially in post-finalization cases and private agency cases, where in fact they are leaving the burden of proof of eligibility on families. You don’t have to take no for an answer; there is recourse built into the program through administrative hearings.

Individual states have various track records on correctly administrating the federal law, so parents are often required to advocate for their child's rights. The funds are part of a federal entitlement program and therefore families' incomes may not be considered in the application for these funds (Unlike SSI which is "means tested" and has different special needs eligibility parameters). Adoption Subsidy funds "follow" the child only. Families may decline the funds if they are not needed, but we encourage families to always apply, and get approved as a safety net for the child.

It is worth noting that there are available federal Medicaid benefits for children on Adoption Subsidy that are not always utilized, such as Medicaid Personal Care which can provide in-home caregiving and home helpers for not only Developmentally Disabled children, but also behavioral/physiological special needs. Medicaid can also pay for specialized therapeutic counseling, including intensives and multi-hour sessions. Your child has the right to "effective" therapy. For example, if your child is RAD and you are offered case management, play therapy, and/or traditional 1 hour/week psychoanalysis (particularly if the child’s parent(s) is not always present and involved), these are very unlikely to be effective; you have the right to insist on attachment therapy and if your state’s mental health system can’t provide it locally they must get it. States don't always know how to assess children and process these services so family advocacy is a must.

If you are a foster parent interested in adopting your legally free foster child, please be aware that states can "miss-understand" federal law by telling foster families that the child will be moved if the family wants Adoption Subsidy funds. If the child has established ties to your family, the state cannot legally deny you the ability to adopt or deny the child's right to Adoption Subsidy solely for the purpose of finding a family who will adopt without the subsidy.

Get to know your child's rights! Your child is worth every effort!

The Adoption Network Charitable Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit advocacy organization which helps give families information about foster/adoption and Adoption Subsidy.

Lynn A. Smith, Adoption Network Administrator, is the adoptive parent of a child placed through a private agency with social/emotional special needs who receives Adoption Subsidy as the result of an initially denied post-finalization retroactive application. Her child also receives Medicaid Personal Care, and the family has a multi-hour specialized family attachment therapist brought to them from out of state which is paid for by Medicaid and a state funded Adoption Support therapy program.

Please email Lynn Smith at adoptnet@whidbey.net for a consultation in exchange for a tax deductible sliding scale charitable contribution to the Adoption Network Charitable Trust.