Question: We are close to adopting two kids from foster care. Is there somewhere that shows the possible options for things we should ask for in adoption assistance? I don’t want to rely just on the child welfare office to hopefully tell us all the possible options.
Resources:
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Question: We are close to adopting two kids from foster care. Is there somewhere that shows the possible options for things we should ask for in adoption assistance? I don’t want to rely just on the child welfare office to hopefully tell us all the possible options.
Resources:
This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them. Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
Please leave us a rating or review RateThisPodcast.com/creatingafamily
Please leave us a rating or review RateThisPodcast.com/creatingafamily
- Welcome, everyone, to Weekend Wisdom by Creating a Family. This show is our opportunity to answer your questions. It's short, we will answer them in five to 10 minutes,
so let's jump in. Today's question is on what to ask for an adoption assistance when adopting from foster care.
All right, today we're gonna do something different. We're going to have a guest expert to answer this question. This is the expert I always... go to when I have adoption assistance questions and it is Josh Kroll.
He is the adoption subsidy resource center coordinator at Families Rising, which was formerly NACAC or the North American Council on Adoptable Children. And here is the question.
We are close to adopting two kids from foster care. Is there somewhere that shows what the possible options are for the things we should ask for? for in adoption assistance? I don't want to rely just on the child welfare agency to hopefully tell us all of our possible options.
If it makes a difference, we are in North Carolina, and that question is from Rebecca. Josh, you are the person I go to for adoption assistant questions, so what would you say to Rebecca?
There are a lot of wrinkles throughout the states and what is possible. And anybody can give me a call anytime. In general, usually the adoption assistance agreements are boilerplate language.
It's like a form that there's some entry on. There could be some services that are added into that depending on the state, but a lot of times there's not. Specifically for North Carolina,
for Rebecca, the two things I would bring up is one, did they tell her about vendor payments? Those may be able to help. cover costs that aren't covered by anything else up to 2400 a year.
That's not something that needs to be in the agreement, but something that she should be aware of that may be available to provide some extra help in the future. The thing that she really needs to know in North Carolina,
they have one rate based on the age of the child in adoption, unless the child's HIV positive, however, However, children who have therapeutic needs or special needs,
higher needs may be able to get a special incentive fund, higher payment than just the age rates if they're not HIV positive. Not all counties participate in that.
So the county she's adopting the children from, if they have higher needs, she should ask, could they be eligible for higher than children? the basic rate? That's a specific to North Carolina issue.
That's why I preface this whole thing, if people are hearing this and thinking, well, what about my state? Yeah, well, let's expand that and make it more general. Okay, so that's the answer for, and we're not going to be able to answer it for all 50 states.
First of all, you mentioned that you can answer questions. How would people reach out to you? The easiest way is give me a comment. call 800 -470 -6665.
My direct extension is 115. I'm with Families Rising. We were formerly NACAC. Currently, my email, which will be changing at some point, is joshk,
so that's J -O -S -H -K at NACAC, N -A -C -A -C dot, N -A -C -A -C. o -r -g. Okay, excellent. Anything in general,
you could say that it's so hard to speak in generalities when we're talking about anything that has to do with foster care, because every state, in some states it's every county,
every state has different rules, but you said already that in many states, and I would say probably most states, it's a boilerplate, and you are told specifically that look,
we're not negotiating. Is that pretty universal, do you think? - I mean, in terms of like trying to add specific services, either they're a possibility or they're not, there are states that do negotiate the rates.
And if anybody needs help with that, they can't be higher than the foster care rates, but the negotiation can be a contentious process, depending on the state. If the state is offering you the foster care rates,
rate the child was already receiving, that's really gonna be the limit for that child in negotiation. Gotcha, okay. It doesn't hurt to ask questions. If they do say some services are available,
they may be like a handful of states provide childcare. One of the questions I would ask, especially if you're a more mobile family, maybe someone that's in the military or maybe you've got an elderly parent or maybe someone that's in the military or maybe someone that's in the military or maybe someone that's in the military or maybe someone that's in the military you might move closer to at some point to help care
for them is if you're getting some of those other services, do they work if you relocate outside of the state? Like Vermont as an example does provide childcare,
but it doesn't work if you live in New York. But some states it might continue on. So it's one of those things, if they're talking about benefits, like does that work if I go to another state?
So it's one of those things, if they're talking about benefits, like does that work if you move closer to outside of the state? Okay, that's a good one. Another question that we often see is they're adopting an infant or a very young child who is not currently displaying any special needs and we hope for that child that they don't.
But there is also the possibility, especially if you have suspicions that the child has been prenatally exposed to alcohol or drugs or was born premature or whatever, that you may anticipate that the child child doesn't have needs now,
but they may start developing needs and you would like to have the assistance so that you can make sure that you can hire the extra help or provide the tutor or whatever it is needed. So what do you do then?
So the first thing is you're probably talking about young kids probably under the age of five. Probably even younger than that, yeah. Yeah. I mean, the first question is like what state are we dealing with? Because there are a couple of states that have it a really young age,
Illinois. is one. Any kid over one is considered hard to place and they qualify for adoption subsidy. In Indiana, it's two. Those are the two lowest states for age. So the question is,
do they qualify for any other category or sibling? If they don't and the state saying the child is ineligible, they may offer, I would say a large majority of the states,
but not all states do what's called a high rate. risk dormant deferred future needs, zero dollar agreement that provides hopefully Medicaid and maybe reimbursement.
And that is a crucial safety net for families. And it's easier process for families and parents if problems arise later,
because if you didn't get that adoption assistance prior to finalization, because it's a state that doesn't do one of these high risk, you can apply after finalization, the state will deny you because federal regulations require the agreement be in place prior to finalization,
you can then appeal the denial, you may or may not be successful, that's going to be a delay in the benefits starting, and it's not a guarantee in the benefits starting, and it's a lot longer and stressful process versus versus I have zero dollar agreement.
I now have an FASD diagnosis. I'm going to provide that to the adoption unit and they're going to start the payments. That's like way easier, way faster, way better for everybody.
That's why I raise it. I think it is important to think of that, particularly when you're adopting a very young child or an infant. Well, thank you, Josh Kroll, for answering our adoption assistance question today.
You're welcome. Before you leave let me tell you about creating a family's interactive training or support group curriculum for foster, adoptive, and kinship families.
It is a terrific resource if you're running a support group, if you're attending a support group, you can mention it to them, or if you're running trainings. It is an interactive participatory,
lots of of discussion, but it is a video base, so it's extremely easy for the facilitator. You can get more information at parentsupportgroups .org.
That's parentsupportgroups .org. Thank you for listening to this week's Week in Wisdom. If you liked it, please tell a friend to subscribe at the creatingafamily .org podcast.
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