Adoption professionals......?

Question

Maybe you can give us a little insite....

I'm sure where many have a problem, with adoption social workers and even more for the directors of the agency, is were does the money come from and go?

Would you be so kind an to provide us with some insite.... We can sit around an assume , but you can probably tell us with pretty good accuracy. When I questioned the costs with our agency, they gave us an "if you have to ask, you can't afford it...... If you love your son like you say you do, you'd pay whatever we tell you" TYPE OF ATTITUDE. You know what I'm talkin' about. Although this may not describe you, it's out there and we all know it.

So here's my Q's

1.) what's with a placement fee? and why is it usually based on income, does it cost more to place a chid with a wealthier couple? Are wealthier couples moved to the top of the "list" because of this?

2.) How has the adoption tax credit effected the costs of adoption?

Answer 1

1. A written Adoption Homestudy report with prospective adopting parents, which includes extensive interviews and assessments with potential father, potential mother, any children living in the home, any other adults living in the home, any adult child in the family, as well as joint family interviews with everyone living in the home.

2. Education and training related to adoption and parenting issues.

3. Assessment and referrals for on-going support for identified parenting or adoption issues – loss, grief.

4. Complete assessment of family structure and physical home, community, and environment, including background criminal and child abuse checks, professional and personal referrals, physician reports, medical insurance, etc.

5. Initial contact with birthmother and assessment of her needs.

6. Availability of 24 hour/day on-going, as needed, birthmother/birthfather support and contact.

7. Legal work for all aspects of adoption process

8. Assistance with any other legal matters if priority (restraining order for abusive person, etc.)

9. Birthfather diligent searches, in state and out of state, in country, out of country.

10. Birthfather or relative private investigation if needed.

11. Public records research.

12. Birthfather legal publication, process serving, service by citation

13. Birthmother Termination Hearings

14. Birthfather Termination Hearings

15. Attorney Ad-Litem for any absent birthparent.

16. Attorney for the child.

17. Medical care throughout pregnancy.

18. Hospital delivery of baby.

19. C-section or other advanced medical care and interventions for birthmother.

20. NICU or other advanced medical care or intervention for baby.

21. Birth parent transportation to doctor appointments, hospital, agency, WIC, etc.

22. Hospital stay, including a private room for birthmother privacy.

23. Infant formula, diapers, clothing, groceries, emergency housing for any home visits made to women in community.

24. Birthmother rent throughout pregnancy and two months after delivery.

25. Utilities, groceries, clothing, transportation, day care, phone, for birthmother and her children for entire pregnancy and two months afterwards.

26. Medical assessments and/or treatment for older infants/children before placement.

27. Psychological assessments, dental exams and treatment for older children

28. Car seats for women in community and infants at discharge.

29. Written reports/interviews, supervision and assessments of adoptive placements.

30. Continuing counseling for adoptive parents and birth parents.

31. Written review and audit of adoption file in preparation for Finalization Hearing

32. Agency adoption attorney.

33. Staff salaries

34. Foster Care

35. Office Rent

36. Office Utilities

37. Office phones and Cellular Phones

38. Travel to birthmother assessments

39. Office supplies, postage

40. Advertising

41. Legal litigation to contest disruption of birthmother’s adoption plan (can be 1-2 years of court hearings and expenses.

42. All of the above expenses for birthmothers who make a decision to parent after services have been provided (can be 11 months of full support, medical care, legal work, case work).

My answers to your questions:

1.Sliding scale fees make adoption more accessible.  Ethical agencies would not move ANYONE up on ANY list, but there are agencies that would.  Some agencies refuse to have lists, instead having ALL approved families available to ANY birthmother!

2.Don’t know how the tax credit has really impacted adoption fees yet.

3.Never heard of folks being put through and then denied based on a known health issue alone unless the agency needed to do a full assessment to see if the health issue was going to impact their parenting ability.  Then a homestudy fee only would be charged though.

4.I have never seen this at any agency, but I am sure somewhere it exists.  No one gets a bonus or anything like that, if that’s what you mean!

5.Yes, agencies are only allowed to give financial support for a birthmother considering adoption, or one who has made an adoption plan.  So if a birthmom decides she is definitely not parenting, then the agency helps her transition into self support, like any other parent.

6.LAWYERS.  They're mostly men.  Let’s face it, the majority of adoption professionals are women.  And Social Workers at that.  Ever looked at Social Workers salaries lately?  And MOST of the money an agency makes goes to….drum roll…..advertising!!!  

7.Most birthmothers are offered foster care first!  It saves the agency a lot of headache.  But FEW will even consider it.  And fewer will take the baby home.  It has been tried over and over by small agencies who do not have foster care.  

8.No, private adoptions are not particularly looked down upon except that there is a KEY ingredient missing from private adoptions, usually, not always.  Counseling.  We do homestudies for people doing private adoptions, refer people to lawyers when they need one, counsel people who have done private (no fees).  Maybe some agencies do, of course look down on private adoption. We just figure, less work for us!

9.People should read about the agencies history with the licensing authority in their state.  Every agency has one.  Did they have any major infractions?  Also look at the personnel.  Are they licensed social workers, lawyers, adoptees, adoptive parents or birthparents?  (Yes, that’s right.  Some birthparents and adoptees own and run and work at agencies, too.)   Also, ask what the policies are regarding fees.  There are still agencies around that retain NO fee with a failed placement.  And there are still some agencies that charge NO up front fees.

Answer 2

Most of the money goes to lawyers who pocket it......this is a for profit industry, private adoptions that is.

Foster care you are required to pay $80. criminal background check and child abuse clearences homestudy $1500. and $900. to finalize

If any agency is NOT explaining their costs line for line then you can bet that money is going in someone's pocket!!!!!!!!

Would you hand me $25,000 with no explanation?

Answer 3

Joslin's answer is eye opening.  

However, I don't see much there that benefits the adoptee.  Where is the 24/7 counseling for adoptees?  What provisions are made for the search for the adoptee's public records?  What provisions are made for the additional costs for adoptee's medical treatment because they have incomplete medical histories?  

I could go on and on, but I won't.

Answer 4

First off, I hope you understand that not all agencies are unethical. Some of your questions seem a bit ridiculous when I even think about an agency similar to the on we used doing any of these things. I'll answer a few anyways based on what I know about the adoption agency we used.

1) Our agency charges a flat fee across the board and lays it out on their website. They don't hide anything. They would never charge a wealthier couple more. They also charge the same price for any baby no matter the race or gender or medical condition. There are no "discounted babies".

3)They don't take money from people who have existing medical conditions that prevent them from adopting. That's ridiculous. Just the other day, they had a potential adoptive parent who seemed overly concerned with how the birth mother looked (they thought she was ugly). They refunded all their money because they didn't want them adopting through their agency. If they were so scandalous, they could have easily kept their money and just never matched them, but they are not those kind of people.

5)The government regulates how much they can spend on a birth mother. They have to itemize it all out. Our adoption agency nearly lost their license because they spent too much money on my son's natural mother. Financially, no they don't support a mother who decides to parent. The government does not allow them to. However, they have given emotional support as well as a lot of other resources to the girls who have decided to parent. They definitely did not just give up on them. Also, they still help my son's natural mother and he is nearly a year old. They are always trying to set her up with jobs/housing to help get her out of the cycle of poverty and abuse.

6)Social workers in small agencies barely make $30000. Most make around $25000. The director of our son's agency barely makes over $30000. The social worker makes around $25000. Our son's social worker babysat him one time. She lives in a 40 yo 2 bed 1 bath house that's about 1000 square feet. Obviously she isn't in it for the money. I can't speak for large adoption agencies.

8)I resent people who do private adoptions because I believe they do it because it is cheaper. I don't know about adoption agencies. I haven't talked to ours about that specifically.

9) A lot of research and talking to couples who have previously adopted from the agency.

Hopefully through my answers you can see that it is possible to find an ethical agency. It took a lot of research and talking to other couples who adopted through them. It also is better to adopt through a small agency I think. They don't make very much money so they are in it for the right reasons. I also learned a lot by keeping in touch with my son's agency. I can see first hand how they treat other natural mothers and adoptive couples. I also can see how they continue to treat my son's natural mother. I would have no issue adopting through them again because I know they are ethical and care a heck of a lot about the natural mothers.

ETA: Our agency also does not retain a final payment fee on a failed placement (this is around $6000). The other $15000 already paid out is used as a credit for your next adoption. I would NEVER work with an agency where you would lose all your money on a failed placement. This was one of the first things I found out when I started researching our son's agency.

Answer 5

Wow, J's answer was really enlightening.  I had often wondered how on earth a single baby could cost upwards of $20,000 when those from foster care were essentially free.  It makes me wonder how much in tax money is being spent on each child....  obviously alot!

Answer 6

Well I am a socail worker in england, and I am not actually allowed to discuss information you are askinf for.

I can tell you though, that out agency is government funded and most of the staff are voulunteers.

We do not make money from adoptive parents, nor do we charge any fee for our service.

It is only court fees that are paid.

Answer 7

To know how much "your" agency profitted up to the year 2006 you can click on this link: http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990s/990...

type in your agencies name and state if preferred and up comes their 990 form.

For giggles type in "Gladney center for adoption" Last year they profitted over 16 MILLION. You can then click on the link provided and "SEE" their 990 form. You can see where they spent what expenses etc.

You can also see the salary of some of the directors of the agencies, all the large agencies like "gladney" the directors make 6 digets a year.

hmmm.....