Officials hope program increases local adoptions

CELINA - Local officials hope a new state program will incentivize residents to adopt children who are under the permanent custody of Mercer County Job and Family Services (JFS).

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday announced the launch of the Ohio Adoption Grant program that provides one-time payments of up to $20,000 to parents who adopt a child.

Parents who adopt children under the age of 18 are eligible to receive the payment. The program covers adoptions that are privately arranged and those made through a public children services agency such as JFS, including by foster and kinship caregivers.

It does not apply to adoptions made by a stepparent, according to a news release from the governor's office.

The grant program replaces a state adoption tax credit and offers three levels of one-time payments - $10,000 to anyone, except a stepparent, adopting a youth; $15,000 if the parent was a foster or kinship caregiver who cared for the child prior to adoption; and $20,000 to families that adopt a child with special needs.

"Certainly any funds that are available for people to use to adopt, that's going to be an incentive," said Mercer County Probate/Juvenile Court Judge Matt Gilmore. "You still have to have the heart to want to do it. But we're lucky to be where we are because there's a lot of good families in Mercer County that adopt kids."

There has been much lobbying at the state level for increased subsidies to help parents shoulder the financial burden of adopting and caring for children, said JFS director Angela Nickell. Roughly five adoptions are made through JFS annually.

"In recent years it's been very difficult for parents who have adopted. They're very concerned about being able to financially support the child," she said. "This is just a response from the governor to acknowledge that it's very expensive for these families to adopt."

JFS and child support divisions oversee the care of children in need. The county at any time on average has physical custody of about 25 children removed from their homes due to unsound environments, neglect and abuse. They are assigned to kinship care with a relative or family friend, a foster care home or a residential center.

The No. 1 goal is to reunite the children with their birth parents, with JFS providing financial assistance for counseling, housing, fumigation, utilities, education, transportation, whatever it takes to resolve the underlying issue that precipitated intervention.

"The department has two years from start to finish to bring about reunification," Gilmore said.

But that's not always possible when abuse or other factors are involved.

Gilmore has the final stay on all adoptions in the county, including those through JFS.

"The only time they are through JFS is when there has been a removal and then a permanent custody hearing which basically cuts off the parents' ties," Gilmore said. "So then JFS has what's referred to as permanent custody of the child/children and then they place them for adoption."

To assist parents looking to adopt children, JFS offers a Medicaid card and pays $1,000 toward adoption fees. It also provides a minimum monthly stipend of $250, Nickell said.

"We do have adoption subsidies. Anyone who adopts a child through job and family services is given a stipend up until the child reaches the age of 18 or if they have some difficulties or limitations up to age 21," she said. "Before we do an adoption there is an agreement signed for a stipend on every one."

But some people say they still can't afford to adopt a child even with the monthly stipend, which Nickell believes is one of the catalysts behind DeWine's new adoption grant program.

"When you're evaluating a home study to approve an adoption for a child, that's one of the things you look at. Can this family afford this child? Is there adequate housing, safe transportation? That sort of thing," she said. "Moreover, you want to make sure there's a deep love there."

The program bumps up the one-time payment to $15,000 for foster and kinship givers who cared for the child prior to adoption.

"And many of our foster parents, they want to adopt. They are foster-to-adopt parents," Nickell said. "When they become licensed foster parents they make no secret of the fact that they are in this with the hopes of expanding their family on a permanent basis."

"We have a lot of foster-to-adopt parents," Gilmore said. "They take a kid in knowing that if things can't be fixed on the parents' side that they're willing to adopt the children."

More than 3,000 children in foster care in Ohio are awaiting adoption, said Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Matt Damschroder in a statement.

"This grant will support those welcoming a new member of their family," he said.

"Every child deserves a safe, permanent, loving home," said DeWine in a statement. "Whether you're adopting from the foster care system, or through private adoption, the Ohio Adoption Grant will help offset the cost of growing your family."

The grant application can be completed online by going to AdoptionGrant.Ohio.gov., according to the release. Applicants should be prepared to provide two forms of identification and documentation related to the finalization of the adoption, as well as proof of foster and special needs, if applicable.

While Nickell said she certainly welcomes news of the one-time payments, she would still like to see the state take over the process of providing monthly stipends to parents who adopt children through JFS.

"At present they have each county negotiate the adoption subsidy and some counties like ours, we're just a small county," she said. "There is always a subsidy which many people are saying is not enough and I think there's been a lot of discussion on that, making that a state program as opposed to through the local counties."