Foster Care Law Services
Recently I helped a family successfully resolve a foster care issue with their licensing agency so that they could run a licensed daycare. Today, they are worry free about any issues regarding their license to operate their successful daycare.
Many of my foster-to-adopt clients have been unaware of the federal Adoption Tax Credit Program. One client adopted six special needs children to join two that were already in their family. I informed them of the program and helped them apply. Later, they thanked me for helping them receive a badly needed check for $96,000 from the federal government to help with family expenses.
Foster parents are more than just "temporary" parents.
Indiana law now requires courts to listen to the voices of foster parents in many instances. I have a great deal of experience helping foster parents become licensed and in defending them when their foster home license has been threatened with revocation. If you encounter legal issues as a foster parent, or are interested in adopting your foster child, call me to schedule a consultation.
Maximize Your Subsidies
Foster parents receive a “per diem” payment to care for those in their care. That ends when they adopt. In most cases, the “per diem” is replaced by an adoption subsidy which must be worked out through a back-and-forth dialogue between the two attorneys, yours and the one speaking for the DCS. Adoption subsidy negotiations in Indiana begin at zero and are negotiated upwards. This is a time-consuming but very important process. The maximum amount allowed by Federal law is the amount you are receiving in foster care per diem at the time the subsidy agreement is being negotiated. Having a good attorney with your child’s best interest at heart can make all the difference. I have a proven track record in negotiating for my adoptive parents until we arrive at an amount with which they are happy and satisfied.Protect Yourself from Allegations
Read about how to protect yourself from allegations of abuse and neglect.
Personal Legal Highlights
I also handled a case in which a mother voluntarily put her four children into foster care while she fought to resolve a housing issue. Unfortunately, the State of Indiana split up her children-- placing them into three different foster homes. To make matters worse, the State then began a plan to terminate her parental rights to each child so they could be adopted. Working with her service providers, I convinced the court that she was fully capable of parenting her children. Now, she is reunited with her children and the family is doing well.
I represented foster parents of a little boy in Evansville, Indiana in a disputed adoption. The grandmother had adopted three of his older siblings and was opposing the adoption of the fourth and youngest sibling. My clients in Evansville had fostered the youngest child for about two years and wanted to adopt him. Through mediation, we arranged a “cooperative adoption” whereby my clients and the child’s grandmother both adopted the little boy and the situation remained as it was. The older ones stayed with grandma. The youngest one remained with his newly adoptive parents, and all the youngsters continued to have regular contact.