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• Our blog aims to provide relevant, useful articles to current/soon-to-be foster families. As such, all articles must be related to to the subject(s) of adoption, child-care, and foster-families. Any articles deviating from these subjects will not be considered for posting.
• Only one link to personal sites allowed within an author's bio. This link must be to a personal website or social media account. If you would like more than one link to a personal site, you must pay for a sponsored blog post.
• In order to more easily provide accurate, authoritative content to our readers, only one link to relevant sources is allowed per two-hundred words written. These links cannot be spam nor advertisements. Upon discovery of these misleading/spam links, your post will be removed and you will no longer be allowed as a guest blogger. If you believe you have a good reason for including extra links, you may email blog@afamilyforeverychild.org with your reasoning.
• Blog posts will grammatical errors will not be accepted.

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All questions or comments should be directed to blog@afamilyforeverychild.org

There are many resources and supports available to assist families with their decision to adopt.

Adoption Subsidy

Some of the children who are adopted through Child Welfare are considered children with “special needs.” Special needs, as defined by the Department of Children and Families includes:

• A child who has one or more special needs as a result of a mental, emotional or physical impairment, behavioral disorder, or medical condition that has been diagnosed by a licensed professional who is qualified to make the diagnosis
• A child who is a member of a sibling group of 2 to be adopted together and one of the children is 8 years of age or older
• A child is a member of a sibling group of 3 or more to be adopted together
• A child is a member of an ethnic or cultural minority of whom reasonable, but unsuccessful efforts to place the child in an adoptive home were made and documented
• The child’s birth and/or family history places the child at risk of having special needs but, due to the child’s age, a reliable diagnosis cannot be made.

Adoption subsidies are available to parents who adopt children who have physical or mental disabilities, or severe emotional problems. In addition to those children who qualify for subsidy through the Federal Title IV-E Adoption Assistance program, state subsidies are available to offset the additional costs of caring for a child with special needs. The subsidy programs are intended to remove financial barriers to the adoption of children with special needs, but they are not intended to cover the full cost of raising a child. The amount of the subsidy cannot be greater than the amount that child would have received had the child remained in a family-based foster care setting. The benefits available through the adoption subsidy programs are determined on an individual basis and may include monthly care and maintenance payments (a daily rate), health insurance coverage.

Adoption Tax Credit

In the summer of 2001, the Federal Adoption Tax Credit was updated. The most important update was to expand benefits to children with special needs adopted from the U.S. foster care system. Originally families adopting from the foster care system could claim the adoption tax credit, provided they had qualifying expenses. Unfortunately, the IRS list of qualifying expenses was limited to the cost of the adoption process, but not the day-to-day costs of raising a child with special needs. However, beginning in tax year 2003, families adopting a child with special needs from foster care, had access to this same tax credit without needing to document expenses. Since tax year 2005, the tax credit is $10,630 and you have the current year and up to the next five years in which to use it. For families that adopted in 2002 or earlier, you can only claim the credit against expenses you paid related to the adoption process.

If you have questions on the adoption tax credit, contact the North American Council on Adoptable Children at 651-644-3036 or  adoption.assistance@nacac.org. You can also visit the IRS website at www.irs.gov or call 1-800-829-1040.

Employee Benefits

Employer adoption benefits may include reimbursement for costs, paid or unpaid time-off and other support services. For more information contact the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption at 1-877-777-4222 or info@adoptionfriendlyworkplace.org, or visit their website.

Support Groups

Support Groups

Therapists/counselors

Support Groups

Professional Help

Support Groups

LGBT Resources

Support Groups

Teen and Young Adult Groups hosted by Oregon Family Support Network:

• Teen Social Club: Autism, Aspergers, and Friends – meets the second Wednesday of the month This group meets at Grace Lutheran Church in Corvallis from 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
• High School and Up Group: meets the last Tuesday of the month This group meets from 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. with dinner being served at 5:30 p.m. at Grace Lutheran Church.
• Young Adult Connect (post high school to age 25): Meets the 4th Wednesday of the month. This group meets from 6pm-8pm at The Clubhouse on Jack London Rd. in Corvallis.

For the above groups: Families should call ahead with any special needs. Contact is Hilary Harrison, Benton County Regional Director at 541-740-6306 or hilaryh@ofsn.net

Events

Professional Help

Events