Every year, more than 24,000 American young people in foster care "age out." Many foster kids who have not found permanent families by age 18 wind up on the streets. A new American RadioWorks documentary follows two teens as they search for a family to adopt them before time runs out.
Can you imagine life without some form of family structure to support you? What are the issues faced by teens in foster care? What does a potential adoptive parent have to consider when it comes to adopting a teen?
Join us here between Monday November 5, 2007 and Sunday November 11, 2007 for a discussion about the issues and process of teen adoption with guest expert Michelle Chalmers. Chalmers heads up The Homecoming Project, with the goal of increasing the rate of adoptions for teenagers under state guardianship and creating connections for youth with the larger community.
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Julia Schrenkler
Interactive Producer
American Public Media
Minnesota Public Radio
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Comments: 35
Thank you for signing on- I hope that more folks join us as the week rolls on. Larry, like I said during the call-in period, I really understand the idea of 'still aging out'. For me it's the reality everyday of not having a historical place to belong. My family of choice as an adult is wonderful, don't get me wrong. It's just very different than having people with whom you share history and unconditional relationship. Many of us have to imagine what that's like. Thanks for your call during the show. Really.
Thank you all for being a part of this most important of topics. I know I'm very excited to be involved in helping people understand adoptive parenting and advocating for adoption of teens.
Ellen, my story is probably different than many in that I entered fc at birth (my mother had given me up for adoption) but that never happened. I spent all 18 yrs of youth in care, By age 11 I had been in 3 institutions & 11 foster homes...at that point DHS sent me off to Boys Town, NE where I aged out. I was fortunate to find mentors around age 16 to help me staighten my life out and went off to college and the rest is history -:)
At 36 I did find my birth mother....long story.
The scars of the years in care remain today, I still have great difficulty developing relationships with people for fear of it ending due to never being allowed to develop them as a child. I have a saying....."one can age out of the system but the system never leaves you...it will impact you in some way the rest of your life."
Today I strongly advocate for youth in care by writing a book, articles, public speaking and I work for an international non profit dealing with world orphans.
You can visit my web site or blog for further info @
http://www.larrya.us (website)
http://www.prairieguy.wordpress.com (blog)
I'll stop in later today to see if anything is going on.
As I mentioned yesterday, I am working on a book called "Choosing Zoey" - because this is really a choice, and when people like Denise say that's it's been a mistake, their choice changed or was never a real choice to begin with. Claiming, as a choice, never changes or reverses course. There have been times when I've seriously questioned whether Zoey could be in my home, but I've never questioned if she could be in my life or my heart, and that's just a basic reality of parenting ANY child with mental health issues and developmental delays. If you'd like to see my writing on this topic, I have a blog, too, which is also titled "Choosing Zoey"- you can see it at
http://www.choosingzoey.blogspot.com
Everywhere I go and tell people about what I'm doing and how it is that I do it, and that I'm writing a book, the reaction is always the same - "Wow! I'd like to read that." So, I better get busy and finish this darn thing, especially now that I've told the entire nation that I'm doing it! LOL
I am going to try to get on line right away in the morning and check out the couple of blogs/websites you all have listed. How exciting.
We'll see if anything happens tomorrow; though I won't hold out much hope....not being negative just realistic.
Thanks for your contributions to the discussion.
Have a good day and Peace,
Larry~
Michelle?
Families wishing to adopt a MN Waiting Child or sibling group are generally able to receive their training and home study at no cost through their home county or one of the Public Private Adoption Initiative (PPAI) agencies. The list of the PPAI agencies and more about process can be found at www.mnasap.org.
Minnesota also has a comprehensive Adoption Assistance program- learn more at any of these sites:
www.nacac.org
www.mnasap.org
www.dhs.state.mn.us/children/adoption
For those youth who qualify for adoption assistance (special needs, which includes older kids) there are a couple formulas that go into figuring out how much cash assistance and which supports are included.
Families adopting teens generally receive between $300-$600/month. In addition, youth adopted from foster care are able to keep their MA health coverage, either as their primary coverage or as secondary to the adoptive parents' insurance (details of this are also figured out by elaborate calculations).
On-going support groups are available throughout the state through MN ASAP (www.mnasap.org). Many PPAI agencies provide on-going support services to adoptive families (you'll have to get the specifics from an agency of your choosing).
The matching process in adoption is crucial- not only do you and the youth have to be a good match, but the available supports in your community need to be able to meet the needs of the kid. If the community doesn't have good resources the choices are a bit leaner- move or become an activist for better distribution of adoption-competent service providers statewide.
As far as the rest of the question on costs, it will depend on the kid. If the youth has many physical or mental health concerns you will spend a lot of time going to appointments (time that you probably will not be at work). Same with school issues. If they play sports there's fees and equipment and broken bones :-).
Teens eat a lot, usually. Teens in general can be hard on houses- wear and tear and holes and spills and dirty shoes and glasses/plates in weird places.
Driving is an expensive rite of passage, especially if a kid's grades aren't great (many parents come up with creative strategies for using driving as a motivator for improved grades). Cell phones (and the inevitable excessive use of text messaging and minutes)
can be a great way to stay in contact with your teen, and can also get pretty expensive.
In the discussion after the documentary we discussed changes to the federal laws regarding financial aid. As of October 1, 2008 anyone in foster care or adopted from foster care during or after age 13 is considered an 'independent student' for the purposes of completing the federal financial aid application. Financial aid determinations are made on the young person's income (rather than on the adoptvive parents').
whew....hope this helped a wee bit.
Jan from Chicago sent this question:
This is Jen Braun, adoption recruiter for teens here in MN. I'm not sure what state you live in, but here are some websites that I hope you'll find helpful.
To learn more about adoption, or to see photo listings of kids here in MN go to:
www.mnadopt.org
www.mnasap.org
www.dhs.state.mn.us (search 'adoption')
For national, please see:
www.adoptuskids.org
www.nacac.org
Thank you for your interest in adopting teens! Hopefully this will give you a starting point...
My name is Cortney and I was adopted in the state of MT. I have a delima and need someone with knowledge in the adoption area regarding education? Anyone.......
Thanks, Cortney
Nicole
ameda Ultra