Foster Care

Adoption Advocacy has a unique program for families who are willing to open their homes and hearts to children are currently in foster care, but are looking for a “forever home.” With the advent of the Safe Families and Adoption Act of 1997, approved families are encouraged to seek and find their own adoptive placements, regardless of their state of origin. In keeping with the spirit of this law, Adoption Advocacy helps a family with the home study and preparation phase of the adoption process. The agency also works with the family in cooperation with several national data bases of waiting children to find an appropriate referral. In addition, the agency assists the family in meeting inter-state compact regulations, post placement supervision requests, and finalization in the state of South Carolina. Thus far, the agency has worked with over 23 states, placing 323 children from foster care.

There are 130,000 children in the U.S. foster care system eligible and waiting to be adopted. Children are removed from their families due to neglect and/or physical, sexual or emotional abuse. Slightly more than half of children who go into foster care return to their birth families. When parents are provided with help and they are still unable to parent safely and their children remain in foster care for 15 of the most recent 22 months, the state terminates the parents’ rights. The children then become available for adoption. They wait an average of nearly 4 years to be adopted, with 21% – one out of every five, waiting, just waiting over five years.

Thus, many children languish for years in the foster care system frequently relocated, not belonging to anyone – feeling unloved, isolated, unwanted, undeserving – afraid to reach out to anyone, to trust, to believe in or to plan a future.

Each year, 38,000 of these children “age out” of the system when they reach their eighteenth birthday. Without financial or emotional support from anyone, many of these young adults struggle to belong and gain a place in society, to become productive citizens of our communities.

Of all youth aging out of the foster care system, national statistics indicate:

56% are unemployed and face poverty within two to four years,
They represent 70% of all homeless youth,
They constitute 88% of incarcerated youth and young adults,
40% receive welfare within two to four years,
40% do not graduate from high school, and
60% of the teenage girls will have a baby within two years.

Financial Assistance:

Although there are thousands of suitable parents, many do not start the adoption process for fear that they are not up to the task of parenting an adopted child or because they think the adoption process is costly and unmanageable. Parents can receive support in the form of training, adoption subsidies and Medicaid.

Adoptive families are assisted in meeting the needs of and caring for their child/children through:

State and Federal adoption assistance and subsidy programs determined by the child’s needs. There’s also a one-time payment for limited adoption expenses.
A federal tax credit of $11,650 per child is available for adoptive parents. Parents have up to the next five years in which to claim the credit.
Most families who adopt children with special needs are eligible to receive Medicaid to help cover any medical costs for the adopted child.
Employer or military benefits: Many private companies and the U.S military offer various benefits and expense reimbursement. Check with your employer for details.

Definition of a Special Needs Child:

Although adoptive placement resources may be limited for children having one or more of the specific factors or conditions of special needs children, the definition requires that all three of the following stipulations be met:

The State has determined that the child cannot or should not return to the home of the biological parents.

The State has determined that the child cannot be placed without an adoption subsidy because of a specific fact or condition.

The specific factors and conditions in South Carolina are:

An African American or biracial child, six years or older.
A member of an African American or biracial sibling group of two children being placed together, one of whom is at least six years of age or a member of an African American or biracial sibling group of three or more children of any age
A Caucasian child, 10 years of age or older
A member of a white sibling group of three children being placed together, one of whom is at least six years of age, or a member of a sibling group of four or more white children of any age.
A child with a physical, mental, or emotional handicap because of genetic or environmental conditions.
A member of a sibling group being placed together, one of whom is a special needs child.
Reasonable, but unsuccessful efforts have been made to place the child without subsidy expect where it would be against the best interest of the child because of such factors as significant emotional ties with prospective adoptive parents while in their care as a foster child.