Welfare Watch - December 2, 2009 - DHS Board to Consider Adoption Assistance Definition Change

On October 30th, the Board of the Department of Human Services reconsidered the rules for Adoption Assistance through a Special Needs Rule Notice.  These rule changes are important for "special needs" children in foster care because they qualify children for the resources that these children need in order to be adopted.  "Special needs" children are children that the State has identified as having  issues, which require the assistance of the State to meet their developmental, educational, behavioral or emotional needs.  This assistance often takes the form of additional resources in the form of medical insurance provided through Medicaid and other financial resources.  Without this assistance, many of these children would not be adopted by families and have the permanent connections needed for the rest of their lives. 

The issues that may make a child a special needs child often include medical or behavioral disabilities. Children who are in foster care are more likely to have a behavioral or mental health diagnosis than the children in the general population.  Years of trauma through neglect or abuse takes a tremendous toll on a child.  These issues must be faced by foster parents and adoptive parents alike and they need the resources to handle these issues.

Other issues that may make a child a special needs child include being apart of a sibling group.  Research shows that lifelong sibling connections are as important as parental connections.  Keeping children connected to their siblings is important, but a challenge when asking families to adopt children.  It places an incredible burden on a family emotionally and financially.  This "special needs" is recognized by the State.

Time in care is another consideration.  Children should not languish in temporary placements for any length of time.  If a child is taken into custody by the State, the State should make every reasonable effort to get the child safely back home or provide the means for the child to be adopted or at least connected to a permanent adult in their lives.  Too many foster children in Georgia are in care for too long.  The median time in care for a foster child is over 400 days.  This is much too long for any child to be without or disconnected from a permanent family. 

These proposed rule changes address this issue by making a child "special needs" if they have been in care for more than 24 "consecutive" months.  This rule does not go far enough, however, to address this issue.  Many children "bounce" in and out of care.  Many times parents and relatives desiring to bring a child back into their homes are not able to sustain a permanent connection with their child. There are many reasons for this.  Sometimes it is substance abuse problems, mental and physical health issues and sometimes incarceration.  It is not rare for a child to have two or more reunification attempts with their family only to come back into care.  For these children, the "clock" starts over for the "Special Needs" definition.  This should not be so. 

The Special Needs definition in regard to time in care should be 24 cumulative months.  The Adoption and Safe Families Act recognizes this fact.  The law requires the initiation of termination of parental rights to begin when the child has been in care for 15 of the most recent 22 months unless there is a compelling reason otherwise not to do so.  This rule reflects the understanding that children may temporarily leave care for reunification efforts or alternative placements that end up not working for various reasons.  Our Special Needs definition need to reflect the same. 

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Welfare Watch, an email newsletter of the
Georgia Association of Homes
and Services for Children
as a public service.
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                            Normer Adams, Editor
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