Adoptive Parents Must Assume the Burden of Educating Themselves and County Agencies in Negotiating Adoption Assistance

The Efforts of Adoptive Parents are Beginning to Matter

The negotiation of adoption assistance has a direct impact on a parent’s life changing commitment to incorporate a special needs child into a healthy permanent family. In contrast, the institutional roles of the agency and a state mediator lend themselves to certain levels of detachment. And, no matter how much I might care, I don’t have to live with the outcomes, like the families do.

Effective advocacy for adoption assistance, places a heavy burden on the parents to inform themselves about federal and state policies, as well as the practical options for the negotiation of adoption assistance. It is instructive to compare the huge disparity in the hours parents spend compiling documents and crafting arguments on behalf of their children with the comparatively little time and energy county agencies devote to negotiation related matters.

On a more optimistic note, there are signs that parents who take the time to inform themselves are becoming more effective in negotiating fairer and more substantial adoption assistance agreements. Parents willing to persevere not only obtain more support for their own children, but collectively educate county agencies and state officials on the application of state and federal Adoption Assistance regulations.

Make no mistake, Ohio’s Adoption Assistance program, remains deeply flawed and dysfunctional. But, there is a growing reason to believe that informed advocacy, although imposing an unfair burden on adoption families does make a difference.

Here are excerpts from recent e-mails, I received from adoptive parents. They are edited to preserve confidentiality.

Hi Mr. O’Hanlon, 

I wanted to tell you the good news that we successfully renegotiated our son’s subsidy (an increase of $500 per over the initial agency proposal). The agency agreed to cover services such as tutoring, which it declared were “out of the question” at one point. We finalized our adoption yesterday, so we are so grateful to have our son as a permanent member of our family! 

Thank you again so much for your help.

Here is a second one.

Hello Tim! I wanted to follow up and let you know that I was able to get agreement from ____ County on my second proposal of $ a month, much to my surprise. I was able to meet with them in person last month and have a constructive discussion where I could lay out our needs. It was particularly persuasive to have data that the county in where we reside was offering considerably higher subsidies on average than they the county I was negotiating with.

In a previous post, I reported that 28 adoption assistance agreements were reached through mediation in 2022.

Obviously, a few e-mails and a couple dozen mediation agreements do not establish a pattern of progress in negotiating adoption assistance. Many agencies still adhere to incorrect policies. Others refuse to engage in good faith mediation. State officials are more aware of problems, but state efforts remain too fragmented to provide effective oversight over county practices.

Despite all of this, I am convinced that the advocacy of informed and assertive adoptive parents is helping.