A Parent's Guide to Adoption Disruption and Dissolution - AFTER
AFTER DISRUPTION: WHAT NOW? - What will happen to my child after disruption?
- How is adoption subsidy affected?
- What should I do after the disruption?
- Will I be able to adopt again?
- What is wrongful adoption?
What will happen to my child after disruption? The child is placed in a foster home, treatment center, or shelter while long-term plans are made by the agency. If the next adoptive family has been identified, the child may go there directly. In most cases, efforts will be made to return the child to the last foster home where things are familiar.
Disruption is the death of an adoption and the end of a dream, but it is not necessarily the end of love. Adoptive parents often anguish over the future welfare of the children who were once theirs. With most agencies, it is standard policy to give the parents no information at all on the children after disruption. In some states, privacy laws leave the agency no choice; however, when it is possible to give the parents some information, this should be done. It can ease their minds to know what happened to the child, help them in the grief process, and contribute to closure.
The good news is that most children who have experienced a disruption will go on to have a successful adoption with another family.
How is adoption subsidy affected? Adoption subsidy, also called adoption assistance or Adoption Assistance Payments (AAP), is a package of services and monthly cash assistance that follows many children with special needs into adoption. These benefits and Medicaid coverage are made available based on the child's needs, not on the income of the adoptive parents.
As part of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997 (Public Law 105-89), a child's eligibility for federal adoption assistance continues even if the adoptive parents die or the adoption dissolves. Adoption advocates cheered this change because it encourages the re-adoption of children with more severe disabilities.
In the case of teens and severely emotionally disturbed children, a judge will sometimes refuse to grant a dissolution and opt for an alternative that allows the family to remain intact but live apart. In many states, the judge can order the state to take physical custody of the child until age 18 for purposes of obtaining outpatient treatment that is unavailable to the family privately. The family can visit and remain involved with treatment decisions.
When this option is used, the judge will usually require the parents to make child support payments. Federal law allows parents to retain adoption assistance as long as they have parental rights, and contribute in some way to the child's support. Therefore, most families will use a portion of the monthly subsidy to make the child support payments as long as the child is in the physical custody of the state. In one case, the family was required to make two trips a month to the facility and to supply all of the child's clothing. The family retained 35% of the AAP for this purpose and paid the state the other 65% in child support. When the child returned home at age 17, they were allowed to stop paying child support and retained all of the AAP for his expenses.
When figuring what percentage to keep and what to pay, parents should bear in mind the cost of maintaining contact and any income lost because of this contact, the cost of the child's needs for which they will be responsible, and the cost of maintaining the child's place in the home even when he is away. For example, part of the van and house payments, the cost of maintaining the child's bedroom, payments made on the child's band instrument, etc. should all be kept in mind.
Next page: What should I do after the disruption? 1 |
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next More of this Feature •
INTRODUCTION •
BEFORE: Answers to First Questions •
DURING: The Process Glossary •
Adoption Disruption •
Adoption Dissolution •
Wrongful Adoption Related Resources •
Adoption Laws •
Positive Steps for Families in Crisis •
Subsidies/Assistance Payments © Rita Laws and Nancy Ashe. This copyrighted article may be printed for private family use and for one-time reproduction in the print newsletters of non-profit adoption support groups and non-profit agencies with appropriate credit to author and web site. This notice must remain with the printed copy. ALL other uses require written permission.
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