Initial Letter to County Agencies, Part 2
Presenting your child's needs and your family circumstances
In “Initial Letter to County Agencies, Part 1,” I suggested that parents begin by informing the agency about their understanding of what the negotiation of Title IV-E Adoption Assistance was supposed to look like. In the second part of the letter you can discuss your child’s most important needs and how adoption assistance can help you to meet those needs light of your particular family circumstances. The presentation of your reasons for adoption assistance will be supported by the federal policies discussed in Part 1 of the “Initial Letter.”
Putting together a narrative by integrating your child’s needs and your family circumstances
After conveying your understanding of the procedures for negotiating IV-E Adoption Assistance letter to the county agency, I suggest that you present the most important reasons why you need a monthly supplemental payment to effectively integrate your adopted child into your family. Adoptive parents’ concentration on incorporating their special needs child into a permanent family, leads them to explain their situation in terms of the very criteria set forth in federal law for the negotiation of adoption assistance. When parents contact me, they inevitably express their concerns about certain services, therapies or activities their child needs, and how family circumstances affect their capacity to provide those services.
I suggest that parents include the most important part of that narrative in the second part of the initial letter to the county agency.
Suggestion: Your narrative might include the most important services, activities and therapies that you want to provide for your child and how your family circumstances enhance or limit your ability to acquire those services.
For example,
“We want to provide speech and hearing services to address Steven’s language processing problems, and with a special class and summer music camp for children on the autism spectrum. I have left my job in order to take Steven to various appointments and to help with his lessons at home.”
You can also include the costs of the various services an programs or provide your best estimate. If transportation is an issue, you can also mention things like frequency, distance and cost.
NOTE: Remember,
In most cases, the agency will have had custody of your child for at least two or three years and should be well aware of his or her problems.
The child’s family foster care payment rate is a reflection of your child’s care needs.
There is no federal or state requirement that monthly adoption assistance payments must be less than the child’s monthly family foster care payments. Conversely, there is also no requirement that adoption assistance payments must be equal to a child’s family foster care payments. Federal funding, however, is available for any adoption assistance payments up to the child’s family foster care payment rate. is equal to or less however, is available up to a child’s family foster payment rate.
You can remind the agency of any or all of the above facts if you think it would be helpful to do so.
What if you have other children in the household and need a larger vehicle or home in order to accommodate an additional child?
You can tell the agency you are not suggesting that adoption assistance buy you a new car or a new house. Rather, you are saying, in effect, that you need to make adjustments to provide a stable home for an additional child. The adoption assistance, when combined with your family resources will enable you to accommodate a larger family without sacrificing other essential needs of your newly adopted child.
What if the agency has already sent me a form to fill out listing service categories and costs?
If the form does not reflect your most important concerns, you might write back that the form does not adequately reflect your child’s needs or your family circumstances. You can submit a variation of the letter we are discussing here and in a previous post (See Initial Letter to County Agencies, Part 1, August 23, 2023).
You can end the letter by expressing your willingness to negotiate and to respond to any questions the agency might have.
Should you include a proposed adoption assistance monthly payment?
You can submit a proposed adoption assistance payment amount or submit the letter without a proposed payment and wait for the agency’s response. When you do submit a payment amount, I suggest either beginning with the child’s foster care payment rate or, at the very least, proposing an amount hundreds of dollars more than the amount you will ultimately settle for.
Why? There is a very strong possibility that the agency will begin with a low payment and raise it by small, incremental amounts during the course of the negotiation.
Example: Suppose you have decided that $700 a month would be a sufficient adoption assistance payment. The agency initially proposes a payment of $350 a month, an amount that is entirely covered by federal and state funds. You respond with a proposal of $750 per month.
The agency is prepared to raise its proposed adoption assistance payments in $50 increments. At $750, you are close to the minimum you believe is needed to effectively incorporate your child into a permanent family. If you start reducing your proposed payment by $50 increments, you will either feel pressured to accept a payment that you believe is inadequate or appear to be unwilling to negotiate.
I know this conjures up distasteful images of bargaining over a new car. It may help to think about what is at stake for your child.
Should we present an entire monthly budget?
I don’t think you need to present a comprehensive monthly budget in an initial letter. You might offer to present one later in the negotiations or in mediation if you think it would help.
If, or when, you do put together a budget, please remember that the intent is to illustrate the need for a monthly adoption assistance payment to supplement your family resources. Therefore, you should clearly show such things as:
Ordinary monthly expenses, including those pertaining to the family as a whole, such as food, mortgage and utilities.
Expenses related to addressing the current and anticipated problems of the adopted child.
Income and loss of income from leaving a job, retirement or some other reason such as retirement.
Foster care payments and the impact of significantly lower adoption assistance payments for the child being adopted.
Are there any suggestions for ending the initial letter to the agency?
You might want to indicate your responsibility to advocate for your child. State your willingness to negotiate and hope of reaching an agreement that will help you provide a loving family for him or her. For example,
As ________’s forever parents, we have a solemn responsibility to advocate for his/her welfare. As his/her advocates we are committed to a good faith negotiation with you to reach an agreement for a fair and sufficient adoption assistance payment.
Please let us know if you have any questions regarding ________’s needs or our family circumstances. We look forward to hearing from you and engaging in a productive dialogue.