Cost of Adoption In California?

[trekkingirl]

a friend in California wants to adopt a child but says she can't afford it. Does anyone know the cheapest way to adopt a child in California? Any good info I can pass on to my friend?

[rhiandmoi]

The cheapest way to adopt a child in CA is to take a special needs foster-to-adopt. In a lot of cases the adoption is less than $5K (sometimes a lot less) and the child might qualify for ongoing Medi-Cal or other assistance programs.

BUT these are extremely high needs kids, and a person should feel called to take on the demands of this kind of adoption and not do it out of financial motivations.

http://www.cakidsconnection.com/

[Polliwog]

Adoption throught the foster care system shouldn't cost anything. Attorney's fees, if required, are usually reimbursed. And a child may, or may not, have true special needs. My two kids are pretty typically developing.

Kids who end up on photolistings generally have higher need, though. Or are older and/or members of a sibling group who must be adopted together.

[marsupial-mom]

Keep in mind that "special needs" can also often include things like being a minority or a sibling set.

[sagewinna]

We are foster adopting through an agency in California, we are paying for the home study and stuff and the rest is covered by the state or by grants. They estimate it will cost $1500 total.

[Alvenchrst]

ditto to polliwog.

We called 20 fost/adopt agencies before settling on one and only one charged for the homestudy, the rest all were no cost. The most expensive part would probably be for fingerprinting, $150, and maybe a materials fee for classes of $100. You can have up to $400 reimbursed at finalization. You would have to pay for some basic baby proofing for licensing, have a bed and a dresser and car seat, I think that's about it.

During placement foster parents receive a small amount to pay for some basics like diapers/formula, clothes, food etc. The amount goes down after finalization but continues till 18, unless they are not independent as adults then they would continue receiving support from the state. What someone else said about medi-cal is right too, it's basically full coverage insurance and after finalization you can add it as secondary insurance to cover your copays from your regular insurance.

I personally think Cal/fost adopt is an amazing option for families who find other forms of adoption to be cost prohibitive, or even that don't, it's still great. The chance of your foster child reunifying with their birth family is probably the biggest thing keeping people away from this sort of adoption. Some of the agencies will be able to give you stats of the percentage of kids who reunify with birth families each year through their agency. They will often work with you on what level of risk (risk to you of reunification, which if it happens, is a good thing for the child) you are willing to accept in a placement. Our agency specializes in fost/adopt and has 1-2% of their kids reunite with birth families each year. When you think about how biological families are made, there is a lot of risk there too. 1 in 4 pregnancies ends in miscarriage. Being a parent involves risk no matter how it began for you, because love is risky.

I know I'm going on and on, but I really wanted to share what I learned through researching this form of adoption in my state. Family has been trying to start on adoption for 5 years, and I never knew what fost adopt looked like. I always had very different ideas of the fost portion of it. So hopefully that was helpful to you or your friend.

[sagewinna]

I didn't realize the fees were that much less at other agencies. We just got such good recommendations about this one from some friends, it's been around for 27 years and is well thought of by the county I live in... Everyone I have talked to at the agency has given me a good vibe. I know they do not place children with concurrent plans (Hope I have the term right) and work with the children with a low risk of reunification.

How much should the cost factor in? I am second guessing now a little.

[Alvenchrst]

Originally Posted by sagewinna

I didn't realize the fees were that much less at other agencies. We just got such good recommendations about this one from some friends, it's been around for 27 years and is well thought of by the county I live in... Everyone I have talked to at the agency has given me a good vibe. I know they do not place children with concurrent plans (Hope I have the term right) and work with the children with a low risk of reunification.

How much should the cost factor in? I am second guessing now a little.

I wouldn't second guess yourself, if you feel good about where you are, trust your gut! I could see how an agency that doesn't do concurrent planning may charge a homestudy fee. The pool of children they are willing to place with their families is probably so much smaller then some of the the other agencies who do concurrent planning and therefor they receive consistently less reimbursement from the state for their operations. I could see how in that case they may need to charge fees to offset their costs, and in that respect, you'll be getting good service!!

The size may factor in too, not sure. The one agency I found that charged a HS fee had 7 placements last year. In comparison the one we went with had over 500 placements last year. Bigger may or may not be better depending what you're looking for and how good they are. Especially if you've heard good things from friends, that's a huge positive.

The other thing to think about is that the State has cut funding to agencies and they will all respond in different ways, some may have started charging for HS's, changed case load ratios, or lowered the amount foster parents receive each month (our agency chose to do the later.)

In the grand scheme of adoption $1500 is hardly anything anyway. Best of luck to you!!!

[Alvenchrst]

Oh and I just noticed sagewinna, we're both in Sacramento! I actually live in Elk Grove, nice to see someone close.

[sagewinna]

OK, I'm breathing again. lol I had a little freak out over this last night but I'm ok now! Thank you for your response, Ashley. They are a smaller agency (multiple locations but not high volume) and it makes sense that they have to offset the overhead somehow.

[trekkingirl]

wow thanks for the great info. I'm in Marin so it sounds like sac agencies are probably pretty similar to what would be here. So I am going to give her the link that was given, thanks for that. I will tell her it will be $1500 max, and suggest fost-adopt. thanks MDC!

[Polliwog]

Well, it may be the "cheapest" way to adopt, but it's certainly not an easy journey for most people who adopt from the foster care system.