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, because most, if not all, of the information you will need to successfully adopt an older child will be free to you. Be wary of for-profit adoption consultants or organizations that charge exorbitant fees or make unrealistic promises.
If you feel that you do need a paid advisor, select such services very carefully and make sure you will be receiving services, information or support that your agency, a parent support group or a nonprofit organization isn’t already offering. Many public agencies and nonprofit organizations can match you with experienced adoptive parents or adoption professionals who will help you navigate the adoption process from beginning to end, at little or no cost.
Before deciding whether domestic or intercountry adoption is best for you and your family, become familiar with the process, requirements, costs and post-placement services available in your state for both types of adoption. Also, learn about the different needs of children adopted domestically versus internationally. For example, older children adopted from non-English speaking countries face language, cultural and educational barriers. They may also have different health problems such as malnourishment, cleft palates or bone malformation, as well as significant developmental delays and attachment difficulties.
Intercountry adoptions to the United States increased after World War II and reached their peak in the 1990s. After World War II, a number of children, both orphans and children of parents in the military, were adopted from Europe to the United States. The next big wave was Korean adoptions after the Korean War. During and after the Vietnam War, a number of families adopted Vietnamese children. After the fall of communism, thousands of children were adopted from Russia and Eastern and Central Europe. At the same time, due to its one-child policy and the value of male children over female children, China became a major country for intercountry adoption of mostly females. Intercountry adoption started as a humanitarian response from families or individuals in other countries (typically high-income or western industrialized countries) responding to the needs of children left
