I’m sure if you have even peripherally thought about
becoming a foster parent and/or adopting a foster child one of the first
thoughts that have come to your mind is… “What
is this going to cost?” It is natural. We believe being fiscally responsible is not
only important but an example we are given repeatedly in the Bible that we
should faithfully follow. I am not at
all surprised that this is one of the first things that come up when discussing
the reality of achieving the title of foster parent.
So what does the
financial picture of adopting from foster care look like? I’m going to try and answer that here and
also give you an idea of what to expect in getting the process started.
First things first we need to contact our local DCS office
in our county and get the ball rolling.
If you visit the
DCS
website you will find links to
Foster
Parent Requirements and frequently asked questions…and most importantly the
Online Inquiry Form.
(Outside Indiana you will need to Google your
state name and DCS.)
In broad terms then
what you are going to need to do is fill out a lot of paperwork, answer a lot
of questions, endure a home visit to fulfil the home study and schedule a doctor’s
appointment.
During this process you
will also be invited to informational meetings and classes aimed at getting you
up to speed in how DCS works with foster parents.
We were a little surprised to learn that the state pays for
our training.
They pay for an agency to
complete your home study.
They pay for
just about everything.
In this process I
think the only thing that David and I had to pony up cash for was our
fingerprinting.
(It runs in my mind that
was like $27 each.)
Oh yeah.
You have to be finger printed as part of the
local/national background check they will run.
We were given vouchers/codes to register for
classes that required payment such as from the
Foster Parents College or to the
Red Cross for CPR & First Aid.
Okay…so let’s fast forward to the day your home is certified
as a foster home. What then?
When you have a child placed in your home there are pieces
of information that will be provided to you about the child. One of those things is their CANS score. This is a score achieved looking at the child’s
needs physically, medically and other factors including age. Using the CANS score a Per Diem (daily) rate is
established. Then, as the foster parent,
you will bill the state at the end of each month for the days in the prior
month this child was in your care. This
money is to be used to offset food, clothing, child care, school supplies and
any other expenses you may incur having this foster child in your home. (Book fees and lunches in public school are
paid for by the state also!) Whatever
remains is yours to apply to your family budget as you deem necessary.
Let’s say that you work full time and have a foster child in
your care that is not yet school aged.
You are probably going to spend most of their per diem in child care
expenses.
However, if you are stay at
home Mom and have that same child…you are essentially being paid by the state
to perform that child care yourself.
If
that child has other siblings each one has their own per diem rate.
(We had NO idea this was the case when we
started the process.
We were very
surprised.)
You can see a spreadsheet of
the
current
CANS per diem rates here.
The rate
runs across the top and the number of days in care run down the side.
So you could check totals for partial months
or for a whole month.
Remember if you
have multiple siblings in your home then you would add those altogether.
It can run into the thousands of dollars a
month.
I had no idea.
As
I have spoken about before there is also their
Medicaid.
Doctors,
Dentist/Orthodontists, Eye Doctors/Glasses/Contacts, Therapy/Therapists and all
their medications are covered.
Zero out
of pocket for the foster parent…and the adoptive parents moving forward
post-adoption!
That Medicaid will go
with them until they are at least 18 years old.
It is my understanding that Medicaid can then be extended at that point
depending on their circumstance; those circumstances are reevaluated as the
child nears 18 years of age.
There are also special allowances made by DCS. Each child has a special occasion allowance
that can be billed for birthday and holiday gifts…and other unusual
things. I believe it is something like
$50 for birthday and holiday gifts and then a total of up to $300 a year for
other things that are specified by DCS.
Okay so we are starting to get a good idea of what we are
dealing with during the fostering period.
Now what can we expect moving forward?
Once a child or sibling group has become eligible for adoption and they
are in a pre-adoptive placement it usually takes a minimum of 6 months to work
through to the point that you will get a finalization date.
There must be visits each month from the
Family Case Manager and possibly from a
CASA or
Guardian Ad Litem. These are members of your child’s team.
They are the ones responsible to report back
to the judge each quarter and let the judge know how the placement is going. In
our case it took ten months from placement to finalization…however we had a
minor hiccup of moving mid-placement so some extra time was taken to ensure that
the boys had a smooth transition into our new home and their new school.
As the time draws closer for finalization you will be
prompted by your child’s Family Case Manager to find an attorney. The state reimburses you up to $1500 per child for ‘non reoccurring adoption expenses’ aka attorney fees! There are many attorneys who are willing to
take these cases for what the state provides.
In our case we found an attorney in the boys' home county who took our
case. He was a juvenile prosecutor. LOL He
told me he loved doing these cases because they were FUN after what he does for
his ‘day job’. He could have charged us
$3000 for his services…but he did not.
He only charged his actual time and it came up to something like $2500…which
included reimbursing for court filing costs!
So the state paid him directly what he billed…and we had not one red
cent out of pocket for his services. We
did pay a total of $20 on finalization day when we applied for the boys’ new
birth certificates with their new names.
Ten dollars each. I’d say that is
worth it.
I touched on this before.
Let’s talk about the
Post Adoption Agreement.
This is one of the things that your attorney
will be working on for you.
The state
and your attorney will negotiate the child or children’s post adoption per
diem if they are designated a Special Needs Adoption.
The SNAP program is there to assist adoptive parents caring for children with special needs but also older child adoptions and any sibling adoption qualifies also by definition. Depending on
the child’s physical and emotional needs it will be greater or smaller.
A child who has long-term physical or emotional disabilities is obviously going to need more going forward than a child with no disability.
In our case
our boys have pretty severe Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/Effects.
Elijah in particular has very poor eye sight
from being exposed to drugs and alcohol in the womb.
He could potentially lose his eye sight all
together as he progresses through adolescence.
Nate’s struggles are more social and educational.
With Nate we face the reality that he may not
ever be able to fully be independent.
These
are things that are taken into consideration.
In the end we were able to negotiate a rate that works out to a bit more
than $25,800 a year. You read that
right. …and all the income from foster
care is tax free. Did I mention
that? It is a ‘reimbursement’ for care…so
it is not taxable. That is crazy. I am able to be home to care for my children
(and teach them!) and still bring in a pay check of sorts. I did not have any idea that would be the case
when we started this journey. We were
only obeying what we knew God was pressing on our hearts to do. What a blessing.
Speaking of taxes there is also the Adoption Tax Credit! That is a nice shot in the arm come tax time!
All of this has allowed us to pay down debt. We are able to live in a large home on a
large piece of wooded land and the kids LOVE IT. The most amazing thing is that because of
that we have more bed rooms, more beds, a large 14 passenger van and the
ABILITY to do even more than before. We can
continue to be foster parents to even more children. God has multiplied what we humbly came to him
with…the desire to do more…and he just keeps growing it exponentially!
My ultimate point here is this... Financially there is no reason not to get involved and make a difference in the life of a child or a sibling group. We have no excuse.
Are you excited? Are
you ready to get out there and be the change you want to see in the world? Do you feel strongly that being a foster
parent might be your personal ministry?
Are you prepared to see and experience God’s blessing on your life? Are you ready to be stretched and grown
farther than you ever dreamed you were capable?
Has God already been equipping you for this very moment? Are you willing to seek only His will and not
necessarily what you want in the moment?
Then I’d say…you are ready to take that next step!
Pray. Seek His
guidance. Then STEP OUT in faith.
You can do this!
