Washington Asks Foster Parents to Give Back Subsidies

What a great idea in light of the starvation report  released in late October! Not!

Reformatina says “AND once they place kids in new adoptive homes, Washington gets Federal money for those placements. What a crock.”

“The department recently sent letters to more than 9,000 families, asking them to make a voluntary reduction in their monthly support payments.”

“”The department asks that you review your family’s financial situation to determine whether your family can accommodate a reduction in your current adoption support monthly payment,” the letter states. “The amount can be any amount you determine is feasible.”

Those who agree to a reduction are asked to fill out a form and return it to the state’s Adoption Support Program.

Adoption support payments are governed by contract, so mandatory reductions are unlikely, but Clark County adoptive parents Joe and Sarah Perry were alarmed when they found the letter in their mailbox. They fear the letter may signal an erosion of support for adoptive families.

“I don’t have a problem with them asking,” Joe Perry said. “My biggest concern is, if they’re asking for volunteers, how long until they make reductions mandatory?”

“I can’t afford a reduction,” he said. “I’m trying to provide for my family, which I am, but it’s difficult. We are a single-income family. We need my wife to stay home because of the kids’ behavioral issues.”

Support payments range from about $400 to $1,400 per child and total about $91 million this year, DSHS spokeswoman Chris Case said.

Costs are split 50-50 with the federal government. Special needs children include those with mental, physical emotional disabilities, minorities, sets of siblings and older children.

“What we’re trying to do is find permanent homes for children that are hard to place,” DSHS spokesman Thomas Shapley said.

The request to adoptive families to cut their own benefits was ordered by the Legislature this year as lawmakers looked for ways to cut state spending in the program. The request was part of a law that reduces adoption support in new contracts to no more than 80 percent of foster care maintenance payments, effective in July 2013. The current amount is 90 percent, down from 100 percent in 2010, Shapley said.”

Washington asks parents who adopted children with special needs for voluntary cuts in support

[The Republic 11/5/12 by The Associated Press]

“House Bill 2657 required that DSHS request that families who can afford it agree to a reduction in benefits. The bill also reduced the maximum amount a family could receive in adoption support payments. Families currently can receive as much in adoption support payments as they would receive in foster care maintenance payments, which can range from $423.68 to $1,377.60 per month per child, depending on the extent of the child’s needs.

Under the new law, new contracts could provide adoption support of no more than 80 percent of foster care maintenance payments, effective in July 2013.” [Is that because adoption cures?  ]
Request alarms local adoptive families

[The Columbian 11/4/12 by Paris Achen]

REFORM Puzzle Piece