Federal Adoption Assistance provides an essential source of support that enables parents to provide permanent families for special needs children.
Federal adoption assistance enables adults of ordinary means to provide permanent families for abused and neglected children. Let us suppose that a state child welfare agency places a sibling group of three children for adoption with the Smiths, a couple in their late 30s. Each child was severely abused and neglected. The two oldest have been diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder, a failure to bond in infancy. As a consequence, they are extremely manipulative; affectionate with total strangers, but unable as yet to love and trust the Smiths. They lie, steal, destroy property and hurt other children without remorse. The youngest sibling is already starting to display explosive anger and poor impulse control that may be precursors of the disorder. Mrs. Smith has resigned from her job at a bank to focus her energy on providing the first stable home the children have ever known and to work with the therapist to forge an emotional attachment with the children, which many experts believe is essential to the development of conscience. With early intervention, these children will have a chance at a normal life.
The couple made a comfortable living, but now with the loss of Mrs. Smith’s salary, family income will be reduced by approximately thirty five percent. The Smiths feel a strong calling to provide a permanent family for the three children. They are also well aware that responsibilities of adoption will involve an intense emotional investment and unknown expenses. Is there anywhere they can turn to for support?
Adoption Subsidy Programs
Each of the children is very likely to be eligible for the Title IV-E Adoption Assistance program. Congress created the program in 1980 with the passage of the landmark “The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act.” Adoption assistance or adoption subsidies (the terms are used interchangeably) provide monthly financial support, medical coverage and support services to families adopting special needs children. Subsidy programs serve two related purposes: 1) subsidies increase adoptions by removing financial barriers that would prevent otherwise suitable parents from incorporating an additional child or children into their families and; 2) subsidies offer a supplemental resource to help adoptive parents sustain stable, nurturing homes for children who have been traumatized by abuse, neglect and the disintegration of their birth families.
Adoption Assistance and Special Needs Children
By the time abused or neglected children become available for adoption, the legal rights of their birth parents have been terminated. As legal orphans, there are only two options for them, foster care or adoption.
Adoption assistance is an investment in permanent families for children who would otherwise remain in foster care. Foster care not only ends at age 18, but it is more expensive than adoption. As parents with young adult children will attest, the need for support does not end at age 18, or even 21. The presence of a caring family often determines whether a young person makes a successful transition to adulthood. Many young adults aging out of the foster care system suffer high rates of unemployment, incarceration, homelessness and out-of-wedlock pregnancies. (See ABC News, Primetime, A Call to Action: Saving Our Children, June1, 2006).
Special needs adoption is both a transforming and challenging experience. Adoption assistance is intended to make such dedication possible for families and single parents by providing a crucial supplement to existing family resources. Adults interested in adoption should explore adoption assistance programs much as parents seek the best health care for their families. The North American Counsel on Adoptable Children provides a valuable starting point for information on adoption subsidies.
