Please help me Fight..

[Authentic_Mother]

I need a little help and some of you may now where I can find this information.
Now that our adoption is complete, I feel the strong desire - along with my husband - to make some changes in CPS's system. I know its a long road but it needs to be done and SOMEONE has got to do it.
Even our Attorney Ad Litem thought this was ridiculous! She couldn't believe that the subsidy paperwork stated "Not based on Race,Religion,Age,etc" but then the qualifications were as follows. She did say before the adoption that she would be in support of this and would help in whatever way she could. Just currently I need a starting point!
We would like to start with the qualifications for continueing Subsidy post adoption. Currently a child only qualifys if they are:

- Severely handicapped (most states mean that the child must not be able to move on their own, must have at least some form of minimal lifesupport)

- Be part of a Sibling Group

-If they are a minority they must be at least 2yrs of age.

- If they are white they must be at least 6yrs of age.

To us - ALL of the children in CPS's custody have been abused and/or neglected in one way or another. They have ALL experienced the trauma of seperation from the life and family they knew. They ALL have medical futures that are shady (I think the latest statistic I could come up with was 88% of them recieved poor prenatal healthcare as well as poor healthcare postnatally). It is our feeling and belief that medicaid should be something open to ALL these children. Not just the minorities, not just the siblings, not just the disabled. These children are ALL at risk and can have lingering health issues.
Our daughter for instance is a 4.5yr old white child. She had OT 2 times a week for sensory processing disorder. This WAS covered by her insurance but since we adopted and they dont consider this a disabling condition we didn't keep medicaid as a back up. We have great insurance however they do not cover her therapy. We had to stop therapy as it would cost us a minimum of $600 a month.
She also has sleep apnea. Its chronic and non-obstructive. But its not enough.
Both her parents have severe mental handicaps. Her birth father is bipolar, severe ADHD and Schizophrenic. He was institutionalized most of his life.
We are having to get genetic testing for DD due to finding out her siblings both tested positive for MSUD. Which means their bodies do not process certain amino acids in protein and can cause grand mal seizures, mental retardation,developmental delays.
None of this means a thing to CPS. All that mattered to her was the color of her skin.
We would like to fight to get ALL the children in child services equal rights. ALL of these children (no matter their skin color,age,disabilities going in) deserve to have health care. Obviously - those that have actual disabilities should be getting their continued stipends and such. Im not against that at all). ALL these children' may not need the extra money (we dont need the money we actually make a decent living), but ALL should have the health care available to them.
Where and who can I talk to in order to get changes done? I dont even know where to begin.


***Disclaimer - please dont think this is about race. Its not - CPS has made it that way but like I said - All these children have had bad starts to their lives - they deserve to have the care needed to bring them around to healthy, happy, well adjusted and loved children!***

[mariaz]

My adopted son kept his medicaid and gets an adoption subsidy and he is not severely handicaped or of a minority race. (He has SPD and a speech delay and possible learning disorders that will become more clear when he enters school) Our worker actually wanted us to fight for a larger adoption subsidy because she felt like it would be necessary as he got older.

I think you really need to contact you department and press to see if you can get your DD's medicaid back. She shouldn't have to go without OT. I'm not sure if there is much you can do once you sign the adoption paperwork but you really should try.

[Authentic_Mother]

Yes. It sounds like there might be even more going on with my daughter too - I dont understand how they come to their decisions. I felt in the end like they were really rushing things through. I did get someone to put into writing that should something come up AFTER the adoption I could reapply for subsidy. Not sure how much good it would do me though. They just dont consider what any normal sane person would consider disabled.
I wonder if its a state thing?? Maybe I need to get a bunch of people who have children with less "issues" than mine and present it to CPS and ask them why. I never even asked them for money. We dont need the money we need the coverage. I even explained to them that we have great insurance and would rather use ours anyway - the only need we have for medicaid is situations where our insurance WONT cover.
IF she does have MSUD then we are really going to be forking out the money because insurance only covers $1500 a year in formula (there is a special protein drink they have to have to grow properly that wont cause them to deteriorate) and its generally about $400 a month.
As far as I know CPS isn't paying for the medicaid anyway - the state is. And it bothers me that my hubby pays tons in for this and we cannot use it for our DD.

[Authentic_Mother]

Oh - someone just PM'd me too and told me if I could apply for social security benefits and get her approved even for $10 a month that she would automatically recieve medicaid. I may check into that. But regardless - it doesn't change the fact that ALL these children need health care even just as a backup to the healthcare their adoptive parents may have!

[Polliwog]

Subsidy varies so much by state. It's crazy. My son qualified because of the "need to be placed with a known family" criterion for our state. He was 3 3/4 and white when his adoption finalized. He also kept his Medicaid. His sister was 2 3/4 when hers finalized.

Congress and the Senate just signed off on a bill that will, among many other important things, increase funding for adoption subidy. Here's the link: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-6893

The PRESIDENT has to sign off on it, though.

[Authentic_Mother]

Originally Posted by BethNC

Subsidy varies so much by state. It's crazy. My son qualified because of the "need to be placed with a known family" criterion for our state. He was 3 3/4 and white when his adoption finalized. He also kept his Medicaid. His sister was 2 3/4 when hers finalized.

Congress and the Senate just signed off on a bill that will, among many other important things, increase funding for adoption subidy. Here's the link: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-6893

The PRESIDENT has to sign off on it, though.

Our daughter was also listed as "need to be placed with a known family" but we got nothing I guess Texas opted out on that one
Im going to look into this link. I wonder if it works retro??
Thanks for responding!

[BCFD]

Do you mind sharing what state you are in? We adopted 3 children as newborns through our county and two of them receive close to $1000 ($425 being the minimum here). DD2 was diagnosed with severe reflux and spent the first 3 months of her life in the PICU/NICU with severe breathing/respitory issues. And DD3 was tested and just eeked in under the radar on her expressive language to get speech therapy which deemed her "special needs". We're in California and we really had to fight for the increase for DD2, but with DD3 (the adoption went through the state, not the county) and they practically threw the increase at us. We also get Medi-Cal for all 3 children.

There are many things I'd love to change about CPS and have often said that once DD3's adoption was finalized I was going to be an advocate to get some laws changed (mostly how CPS handles reunification plans or bio adoptions).

[alicia622]

It is quite surprising the differences from state to state. DS was approved for subsidy based on 'special needs' due to his birth parents mental health status. I think all children adopted through child welfare qualify for Mainecare- which is a huge benefit Also, the subsidy rates in Maine have recently been chopped, but only for those with the highest needs kids-

[Authentic_Mother]

Originally Posted by BCFD

Do you mind sharing what state you are in? We adopted 3 children as newborns through our county and two of them receive close to $1000 ($425 being the minimum here). DD2 was diagnosed with severe reflux and spent the first 3 months of her life in the PICU/NICU with severe breathing/respitory issues. And DD3 was tested and just eeked in under the radar on her expressive language to get speech therapy which deemed her "special needs". We're in California and we really had to fight for the increase for DD2, but with DD3 (the adoption went through the state, not the county) and they practically threw the increase at us. We also get Medi-Cal for all 3 children.

There are many things I'd love to change about CPS and have often said that once DD3's adoption was finalized I was going to be an advocate to get some laws changed (mostly how CPS handles reunification plans or bio adoptions).

We are in Texas. We went through Dallas County Department of Children and Family and Protective Services. We applied and they just kept saying that nothing going on with our daughter (SPD,2yrs behind on Fine Motor Skills and Visual Motorskills, and Sleep Apnea, both parents with SEVERE Mental Health issues and the possibility of MSUD), was enough to consider her special needs.

[AndVeeGeeMakes3]

While we were able to keep VeeGee's medicaid (through TennCare, here in TN), and she is still qualified for SSI, we don't get any stipend because we make too much money (ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!). It was only $490, but we certainly miss it. Apparently, if we move out of TN, then we might lose her health insurance. That would be incredibly bad because of her special needs. That said, I am just not able to spend the time it would take to try to get any more benefits for her. It's a catch-22 really.

[MCR]

I surprised at how much it does vary from state to state.
Dd was adopted at 14mths (with us at 7mths) and due to drug exposure and maternal history and her family history gets a full assistance and MediCal and she now at almost 4 has no delays we can find, but school is yet to come.
It's just wrong that others with more needs get no help in other states.
From what I can gather from the SW all foster/ adopt in CA automatically get subsidy and medical in CA.
Although we plan to move so will loose it all then.

[Polliwog]

My son's birth parents both have mental health issues (his birthfather is much more severe) but that wasn't necessary to qualify for subsidy. If we move out of state, his subsidy and Medicaid go with us.

[Authentic_Mother]

So it almost sounds like I need to start on the State Level then. Because it seems what is considered "special needs" varies from state to state.:

[Polliwog]

I don't know if you've got this but here's the information for each state. http://www.nacac.org/adoptionsubsidy/us.html

[alicia622]

I just looked at the link Beth provided- it really is amazing the different criteria states use to determine who qualifies for subsidy and the variation in monthly rates is huge.

[queenjane]

I'm in MI, and children in my state generally do not get subsidy unless they are at least three years old (unless they are pretty severely disabled), my foster son's stipend will stop once i adopt him (healthy AA baby)...they WILL give subsidies for babies if they are adopted as part of a sib group (IF the other child(ren) in the sib group otherwise qualify), even if you have already adopted the sibs. So if you adopt a ten yr old w/ subsidy, and a new baby is born, you will get subsidy for both kids if you adopt the baby.

You generally dont get medicaid if you dont get a subsidy. I would love to be able to say "please just give me the medical card" as i dont have insurance (my other son gets the state insurance for working parents), though he will qualify for MIChild (the insurance my son has) once the adoption finalizes. I have heard you can apply for a "medical subsidy" but that its hard to get and doesnt help much. I'm not sure if that means you just get a medicaid card or what.

I believe Ohio has the same rules about kids under three...i saw a sib group of three AA boys under three yrs old, they didnt exactly seem to be issue-free and yet they were trying to place them w/o subsidy. But in many other states those kids would likely qualify for subsidy of 1K+ a month. Crazy. I guess the thinking is, if they can place easier to place kids w/o paying for it, they will. Cutting costs and all that.


Katherine

[Sierra]

I've got to say, California seems like a really unfriendly state for family reunification and the best interests of children. I have been shocked and horrified about the things I've heard about the state's foster and adoption practices. This outrageous subsidy is the nail in the coffin for me (BCFD, you had said some time ago that your kids have no real special needs, right?).

I am all for good subsidies under circumstances where they are needed, but $1000 per child is over the top. I used to receive a $1000 reimbursement for my *teenage* *therapeutic* foster kids who had incredibly, incredibly high needs (for whom I was actually paying much more in "childcare"). I know the cost of living was a bit lower where I was living, but I just can't imagine when you are talking about younger kids with no special needs. Unless the state's goal is to give children a stay at home parent. In that case, why stop at children who are adopted from foster care? Why not do the same thing for other families?

Reform should really start first in California where birthfamilies don't seem to be given much of a fighting chance, foster families are apparently allowed to make pretty much all decisions about other people's children (from medical to breastfeeding), foster-adoption is considered an "easy" route to adopt, and (foster and) adoption subsidies are at a level that would encourage unethical people to "do it for the money."

[alicia622]

You know what else is strange? When we were filling out the pre adoption paperwork with the state, we were allowed to tell them what we wanted for subsidy. We asked for the rate we had been getting when he was a foster child so 16.50 a day. And there were no questions, no justification regarding why we thought that was reasonable...and we got it. The only thing that was said was not to expect the same amount when we went for review.

Of course, the money is nice but the real reason we wanted to get him qualified as special needs is so if in the future he does have bonafide special needs, we can get the assistance he needs.

[queenjane]

I know in some states you do this whole negotiation thing for subsidy amounts, but its my understanding that in my state, you will basically get the foster care rate (as long as the child qualifies for subsidy at all)...

I actually dont have *too* much of a problem not getting subsidy after my baby's adoption...the money would be VERY helpful...but he is completely healthy. There would be people standing in line to adopt him. I can see how its not in the best interest of the State (financially) to pay me to parent him for the next 18 yrs when they would have NO problem whatsoever placing him w/o subsidy.

That being said, i know someone online who adopted an apparently "healthy" two yr old, who--a few years later--has some fairly significant behaviorial and learning issues. Its impossible to go back and get subsidy, and her only recourse is a medical subsidy which she said probably wont be that helpful. So that sucks. A child who is "healthy" at age one or two, might present with pretty severe issues once they reach school age.


Katherine

[Authentic_Mother]

Originally Posted by queenjane

I know in some states you do this whole negotiation thing for subsidy amounts, but its my understanding that in my state, you will basically get the foster care rate (as long as the child qualifies for subsidy at all)...

I actually dont have *too* much of a problem not getting subsidy after my baby's adoption...the money would be VERY helpful...but he is completely healthy. There would be people standing in line to adopt him. I can see how its not in the best interest of the State (financially) to pay me to parent him for the next 18 yrs when they would have NO problem whatsoever placing him w/o subsidy.

That being said, i know someone online who adopted an apparently "healthy" two yr old, who--a few years later--has some fairly significant behaviorial and learning issues. Its impossible to go back and get subsidy, and her only recourse is a medical subsidy which she said probably wont be that helpful. So that sucks. A child who is "healthy" at age one or two, might present with pretty severe issues once they reach school age.


Katherine

That's somewhat the boat we are in. We didn't even ask for money. All we asked for was Medicaid as a secondary insurance in case we had the behavioral issues crop up, or if she does indeed have MSUD and for the OT. We would rather use our insurance anyway with most things because our insurance is much better and easier to get in with WHO we want to. Where as with medicaid your options are more limited.
Her bio father was institutionalized from the age of 5 till adulthood because his mental issues were so severe. Im not exactly sure how we will pay for that should that ever really be needed for dd. We just pray over her every day that it wont be an issue.
That's another thing too - we were told by her pediatrician that with her starvation at such a critical point of growth and development that she could be 5 and all of a sudden come up with heart problems etc due to the malnourishment.
Its all very frustrating. Again, I can see why the state wouldn't just give EVERYONE money each month. But I dont see why they cannot include medicaid for every child that enters the system and gets adopted.