In addition to photo-listing waiting children, public agencies may host events where prospective adoptive parents and waiting children can meet and get to know each other in a group setting. These events may be held in conjunction with National Adoption Month (November) and National Foster Care Month (May) to increase the number of prospective adoptive parents of waiting children. If you are interested in attending such an event, call your local child welfare agency to find out if they are holding one.
You may choose to forego using photo-listing services altogether and instead allow your agency to guide the matching process. Your agency may direct you to their own public photo-listing site of waiting children, or ask you to view private listings available only to clients of that agency. Some children are never photo-listed and you simply learn about them from their adoption caseworker. Based on your application materials, your adoption caseworker may talk to you about specific children he or she believes would be a good match for your family. It is especially important that agencies engage teens during the matching process. A good match between adoptive child and parent can decrease the risk of adoption disruption. When choosing an agency, ask whomever you speak with how the agency matches waiting children with prospective parents.
You will only get a few details about the child from a photo-listing service; the in-depth information you need will come from the child’s case files. In order to cope with your child’s needs, issues and problems, you must make every effort to learn all you can about a child’s history of maltreatment, foster care or group home placements and behavioral issues. Your adoption caseworker may review the child’s history with you verbally but you should also examine the case file yourself. The file may include hand-written notes and should date back to his earliest involvement in the system. If you see content that is redacted (blacked out), ask why. After examining the file, ask your counselor additional questions about the child’s behavior, history of maltreatment, relationships with biological family members and foster care placements. Having as much information as possible about your adoptive child can greatly help you be the best parent to that child.
You may also want to speak with the child’s current and/or former foster family to get a more current picture of how he is functioning in a family setting. Beware; some foster families may not be completely forthcoming with information or even willing to speak to you at all, for any number of reasons including lack of interest, a desire to adopt the child themselves or a desire to paint a rosier picture of the child’s behavior so he or she is adopted into a permanent home more quickly. Most foster families will be forthcoming and very helpful. In addition to the foster family, you may also want to try speaking with others close to the child such as teachers, mentors or extended family members.
Many prospective adoptive parents of older children are concerned their agency will withhold information about the child or that the agency will not have a complete case history. Unfortunately, some adoptive parents do report that they did not receive accurate or complete information about their child. There even have been instances of adoptive parents suing their agency for allegedly withholding information. While the majority of agencies and adoption professionals are honest and competent, as in any profession you have some people who cut corners, are unethical or do not place the child’s best interests ahead of their own. If you are not happy with your adoption caseworker, ask to be assigned to someone different.
If you are interested in getting to know a specific child you have learned about from a photo listing or your agency, ask your caseworker to arrange a meeting with the child. They most likely will be willing and able to do this. During the meeting, ask the child what her interests are, what she enjoys learning in school or what she wants to be when she grows up. Your child’s caseworker will have ideas about which questions to ask her. Engage her in a conversation to try to get a sense of what she is like but don’t be discouraged if she seems shy or is short on words—it can be overwhelming for a child to be considered for adoption by a complete stranger. Don’t make commitments but do try to get to know the child.
ADOPTION COSTS
Adopting an older child in the United States is much less expensive than adopting an infant. Specific costs you may incur as you move through the adoption process include agency and legal fees. Because the government has decided to invest in special needs adoption by providing subsidies to families who adopt children from the US foster care system, adopting an older child can cost little to nothing for many families. In 2012, AFCARS reported 92 percent of families adopting with public agency involvement qualified for an adoption subsidy.16
Prospective adoptive parents participating in fost-adopt programs receive monthly payments from the child welfare agency for providing foster care services, but once foster parents adopt a child in their care, financial support may change. Some foster parents are concerned about legally adopting children in their care because they fear losing subsidies that help them care for the child, but new federal programs are ensuring that adoptive parents of older children continue to receive support. A major source of support for foster parents adopting the children in their care comes from the federal Title IV-E program. States vary in determining eligibility for payments through this program so parents should ask their agency if they qualify. Title IV-E benefits may be negotiated or renegotiated.
See http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/monitoring/title-ive-reviews for additional information.
Families that adopt children from foster care also are eligible to receive the federal adoption tax credit regardless of how much they incurred in adoption expenses. The credit, however, has been made non-refundable, meaning that because it is based on tax liability it does not benefit lower and moderate income families as much as higher income families. The adoption tax credit can be confusing, so you should ask your agency or a tax preparer how to go about claiming the credit. The North American Council on Adoptable Children has some of the most up-to-date information about the adoption tax credit on its website.17
Adoptive parents also may receive one-time or recurring payments from the county or state (again, rules vary by state and on a case by case basis). Pre-adoptive parents can negotiate with public child welfare agencies about how much support they will receive for the child’s care. Some adoptive parents receive deferred subsidies, sometimes called “dormant subsidies,” for the future care of an adoptive child. If a child has inherited a mental or physical illness that is known to manifest in adolescence, adoptive parents may ask for dormant subsidies to cover the costs of expected therapeutic or medical services that will be needed. Pre-adoptive parents should research what payments and benefits their adopted child is entitled to receive from the county or state for medical care, higher education and other services.
It may be more difficult to obtain financial support for needed services or adoption subsidies from a different state if you are adopting across state lines. There may be a lack of understanding about services you are eligible to be reimbursed for or receive for free (e.g. counseling services or medical expenses) on the part of the local child welfare agency or the private adoption agency with which you are working. Most children in care receive health benefits through Medicaid, which may continue after adoption, but state rules and regulations vary so you must become knowledgeable about what coverage the child’s home state allows. A child may be eligible for other benefits, such as higher education tuition reduction from the state where he spent a number of years in foster care, but he may become ineligible for such benefits once he is adopted by a family in a different state. To ensure that you receive as many benefits, subsidies and other supports as possible, you need to ask your caseworker a lot of questions and do your own research.
Should you find that you need additional support in helping you pay for adoption-related costs, you may be eligible to apply for private grants or loans. Another source of financial support for adoption may come from your employer, so be sure to find out what your company’s policies are.
HELP NAVIGATING THE ADOPTION PROCESS
Navigating the adoption process can be confusing at times and you may feel as if you need someone to walk you through each step. We do not suggest that you hire an adoption consultant when adopting an older child,