Welcome to Adoption Subsidy in Ohio
My name is Tim O’Hanlon. I got involved in adoption assistance (subsidy) in the mid 1980s, when I worked for the Ohio Department of Human Services (now the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services). For over 35 years, I have written about adoption assistance policy, made presentations at various, conferences and served as a guide for hundreds of adoptive families as they encountered all or portions of the application, negotiation and appeal processes. I write a periodic Adoption Subsidy Policy Blog at https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/8076106966166313145 that discusses federal and state requirements and offers practical advice for navigating the road through the wilderness to adoption assistance in Ohio.
If you’ve made it this far, you might be thinking, “yeah, so what?” Effective research on the internet is often overwhelming because there is so much information. The North American Council on Adoptable Children’s (NACAC) website at nacac.org is a valuable resource on adoption assistance, but can’t be expected to cover all of the peculiar practices of individual states, particularly in county administered child welfare systems such as Ohio. And, boy are there a lot of peculiarities!
There seems to be a need for an online source that brings together news, opinion and practical advice on Adoption Subsidy in Ohio, a site dedicated to making sense of an essential, but very complicated program. By posting shorter pieces on adoption assistance, I hope to direct readers to more detailed policy information, pertinent statistics and detailed guidance when it is needed. Discussion sections will encourage readers to pose questions and share experiences. You can find Adoption Subsidy in Ohio at adoptionsubsidy.substack.com. Subscribers will also receive a weekly newsletter via e-mail.
Parents often face situations with individual counties that require one to one dialogue. As always, I will be available to field inquiries via e-mail at ohanlont58@gmail.com or phone at 614-299-0177 (landline) or 614-537-2840 (cell). Note the new e-mail address reserved for adoption assistance. Using this address will keep you from getting lost in the parade of e-mails hawking political contributions, shoes, books, pajamas, sketchy invitations, out and out scams, grooming products, colorful tropical shirts and various predictions of a dystopian future.
If you are still with me, you might wonder, “Why now?” You may be thinking to yourself, “Wow, this guy must be really old. How do I know, he won’t forget what he’s doing and wander off into meandering stories about paper cuts, office chair racing, bureaucratic back-stabbing and “The 60’s”?
Well, I am still lucky enough to encounter people willing to commit awe-inspiring acts of love by providing adoptive families for damaged children. Despite the warmth with which we speak about adoption, these parents face a hard road when the question of financial support comes up. “Foster Parents of the Year” can quickly become persona non grata.
There are no advocacy organizations in Ohio dedicated to helping adoptive parents navigate the confusing and contentious path to adoption assistance for their special needs children. Adoption assistance should not be a matter of geography or luck, as it so often is in the Buckeye State. The purpose of this venture is to pull together policy information and practical guidance that will reach a broader audience of parents and advocates and help them communicate more effectively with public agencies and one another.
Federal adoption assistance laws obviously apply to every state, but implementation of those laws varies quite a bit from place to place, especially the way agreements for adoption assistance payments are reached. That is why the focus is on Ohio. NACAC is the best source for questions involving other states.
