In Santa Clara County last month only 251 children were in County Licensed Homes. 14%... The rest were in shelter care, group homes or private FFA agency homes. everything - all of the other options costs the state an enormous amount more than a county licensed home- yet the Governator has a 10% cut to foster homes reimbursement written in his budget for next year. It does not make any sense. In the long run it will hurt the state, and of course- hurt the children.

I'm wondering if the budget committees are banking on the fact that we as foster parents are too tired to complain, petition or protest these cuts.

I think people who have never fostered, looked into fostering, etc. constantly hear about the rare few who are "in it for the money".

This makes those uneducated in the system think that foster parents receive more than what it actually takes to care for a child. I believe the majority of law makers fall into the uneducated in foster care category.

In rare instances, a foster parent can "come out ahead" with a foster child but it is very rare. Most of society has no idea the therapy, travel, dr visits, medical, and child care not covered by the system that foster parents are willing to pay for to help the children in their care. Nor do they understand the energy, effort, communication, and time we put into the care of these children or they would be SCREAMING for us to be compensated more.

I agree with Bay Area~~it will hurt the state and the kids and most definitely the foster parents who choose to stick it out.

Kim

I would like to relate this to adoption of foster children in Michigan. Many are probably not aware that foster care payments are related to adoption support subsidy.

According to statistics received from the State of Michigan, there are approximately 6,200 children in the foster care system whose parents’ rights have been terminated. Of those, about 4,300 children have a goal of adoption. On average, over 2,500 children are adopted through Department of Human Services’ offices and private adoption agencies each year. Many of these children have educational, physical and/or mental health/emotional issues due to the abuse and/or neglect that they have been subjected to. Often times the foster parents and/or relative caregivers are unaware of the subsequent effects that these issues have on the children they are caring for.

The adoption support subsidy is intended to assist with the expenses of caring for and raising an adopted child. It is not intended to meet all of the costs of raising that child. Adoption support subsidy eligibility is based on specific criteria and the basis for this policy is taken from Michigan law. At the time of eligibility determination, the child must be a child with special needs. This means that the child must meet certain factors as determined by DHS adoption subsidy policy. Not all children in foster care qualify to receive adoption support subsidy, which is unreasonable and an injustice to children in foster care. All children should receive, at a minimum, adoption support subsidy.

Based on the criteria, several children will meet the qualifications for adoption support subsidy; however there are also many children that will not. This simply should not be. Factors one and two are usually not disputable. In order for an adoption to occur, the child is under 18 and parental rights have been terminated. A child only has to meet one of the eight factors or conditions, but there are children that slip through the cracks and are found ineligible to qualify for adoption support subsidy.

Perhaps the largest debate about who should receive adoption support subsidy and who should not is the fact that no one knows what the future holds. No one knows what the long-term affects for a child under the age of three that does not qualify for adoption support subsidy because of the age factor. Some children may suffer long-term affects such as behavioral issues or learning disabilities that do not become evident until they are in the elementary school years. Other children learn about the past of their biological parents and then begin to have emotional problems because they cannot cope with the fact that their biological parents used drugs or abused other siblings. Why should the adoptive parents of these children be deemed ineligible to receive adoption support subsidy simply because they adopted a child before he/she was three years old?

While the government must have guidelines and policies in place when it comes to funding issues, a child’s well-being should not have a dollar amount attached. Children in foster care are not the average, run-of-the-mill children. They have been removed from their parents for abuse and/or neglect. They did not ask to come into a world and be exposed to such trauma, but they were anyhow. They deserve loving, stable homes and those that adopt such foster children should be eligible to receive adoption support subsidy despite criteria factors. If the State of Michigan is not willing to allow all children to be eligible to receive adoption support subsidy, perhaps they could revise their criteria so children do not slip through the system without the proper long-term support.

Michigan is actually lucky in that adoption subsidy is at least CONSIDERED for each child. In the state of Arkansas, you much adopt 3 or more from the foster care system to be offered a stipend or subsidy of any kind. Adopt less than three and you receive no state funds of any kind.
Kim