in memory of all murdered children

Tribute to Murdered Children- My Heart Will Go On

Tribute to Murdered Children 2

Adoption Assistance by State-3

Adoption Assistance by State


Adoption assistance information by State is provided by the Association of Administrators of the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance (AAICAMA). Select one of two options: A) Select a State to view the answers to 13 questions regarding State policies on adoption assistance and post-adoption services, or B) Select a question to find out how it is addressed across all States.

Option A: Select a State
Select a state to view answers to 13 questions regarding State adoption assistance.


Submit Your Search (Required)
Select the "GO!" button to conduct your search.



Option B: Select a Question
Select a question below to find out how all States address the issue. You may select only one question at a time.

Who is Eligible for Adoption Assistance?
1. What specific factors or conditions, in addition to those required by the Federal government, does your State consider to determine that a child cannot be placed with adoptive parents without providing financial assistance? ("What is your State definition of special needs?")
2. What are the eligibility criteria for your State-funded adoption assistance program?
3. What is the maximum amount a family may receive in non-recurring adoption expenses from your State? (Adoptive parents can receive reimbursement of certain approved, "one-time" adoption expenses incurred in the process of finalizing a special needs adoption.)
4. Does your State enter into deferred adoption assistance agreements? (In some States, adoptive parents can enter into an agreement in which they choose to defer the receipt of a Medicaid card, the monthly monetary payment, or both and can elect to receive the Medicaid card and/or monetary payment at another time.)
5. When may adoption assistance payments and benefits begin in your State?
6. How are changes made to the adoption assistance agreement in your State?

Post Adoption Services
7. What types of postadoption services are available in your State, and how do you find out more about them?

Medical Assistance
8. What mental health services are provided by your State?
9. Does your State provide additional finances or services for medical or therapeutic needs not covered under your State medical plan to children receiving adoption assistance?

Fair Hearings
10. What is your State's process for applying for a fair hearing? (A fair hearing is a legal, administrative procedure that provides a forum to address disagreements with agency decisions.)

Web/Internet Links
11. What is your State Web address for general adoption information?
12. What is your State Web address for adoption assistance information?
13. What is your State Web address for State-specific medical assistance information for children?

Adoption Assistance by State:New Hampshire

New Hampshire


1. What specific factors or conditions, in addition to those required by the Federal government, does your State consider to determine that a child cannot be placed with adoptive parents without providing financial assistance? ("What is your State definition of special needs?")


A child with special needs is defined as a child that has at least one of the following needs or circumstances that may be a barrier to placement or adoption without financial assistance:

The child must be under 18 years of age
The child must be legally free for adoption or in the process of being legally freed for adoption
The child must have one of the following legal relationships with the Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), another public agency, or a private licensed child-placing agency:
Legal supervision
Custody, or
Guardianship
The child must be considered 'hard to place' or 'special needs' because of one or more of the reasons listed below:
Six years of age or older (if age is the only factor used to determine need)
Member of a minority or ethnic group
Member of a sibling group of two or more which should be placed together
A physical or mental disability or emotional disturbance
A language barrier
Ethnic background, race, or color
Note: to see the federal government requirements for eligibility for title IV-E adoption assistance see Fact Sheets for Families
(on the Child Welfare Information Gateway), link: http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/f_subsid.cfm#federal
or the Child Welfare Policy Manual (on the Children’s Bureau website), link:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/cwpm/programs/cb/laws_policies/laws/cwpm/policy_dsp.jsp?citID=49.



2. What are the eligibility criteria for your State-funded adoption assistance program?


In order to be eligible for State-funded adoption assistance a child must be a special needs child as defined above. Eligibility is based on the needs of the child and the circumstances of the adoptive parents.



3. What is the maximum amount a family may receive in non-recurring adoption expenses from your State? (Adoptive parents can receive reimbursement of certain approved, "one-time" adoption expenses incurred in the process of finalizing a special needs adoption.)


$2,000.00



4. Does your State enter into deferred adoption assistance agreements? (In some States, adoptive parents can enter into an agreement in which they choose to defer the receipt of a Medicaid card, the monthly monetary payment, or both and can elect to receive the Medicaid card and/or monetary payment at another time.)


New Hampshire offers deferred adoption assistance.



5. When may adoption assistance payments and benefits begin in your State?


Adoption assistance payments and benefits may begin in New Hampshire at placement.



6. How are changes made to the adoption assistance agreement in your State?


When can a parent request a change in the adoption assistance agreement?
How does a parent request a change in the adoption assistance agreement?
What if a parent does not receive the change they request in the adoption assistance agreement?
Adoptive parents can make a request to change the adoption assistance agreement at any time. Requests can be made to the adoption program supervisor, in writing, documenting the need for a change. Requests for change should be based on a change in the circumstances of the family or the needs of the child and each request is considered on an individual basis. If the parent disagrees with the decision on the requested change, they have the right to request an appeal of the decision and seek a fair hearing. See Question #10 for more information on the fair hearing process in New Hampshire.



7. What types of postadoption services are available in your State, and how do you find out more about them?


Postadoption services in New Hampshire are administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) and include the following examples:

Resource and referral
Educational opportunities
Respite
Support groups
Case management
Counseling
Adoption search services
Parent support
Mentoring program
New Hampshire partners with Granite State College for a university-based service that develops instruction on an identified need. The organization provides training for foster and adoptive families three or four times annually on a range of subjects including attachment issues, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and developmental disability. Contact Granite State College at the general number: 888.228.3000 (toll free) or 603.271.4946 for information on their Education and Training Partnership.

Information on postadoption services, link: http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dcyf/adoption/postadoption.htm.

Many private organizations offer a variety of respite options. See the ARCH National Respite Network Respite Locator Service, search by state to locate New Hampshire’s respite programs, link: http://www.respitelocator.org/.

To contact DHHS, DCYF, see the contact and information link: http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/contactus/index.htm. A list of District Offices can be found at, link: http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/contactus/districtoffices.htm.

Note: Not all services may be available in all cases. Contact the adoption program supervisor or post adoption services contact for information regarding process, eligibility, availability, and duration of services.



8. What mental health services are provided by your State?


Public mental health services for children in New Hampshire are administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Office of Community and Public Health and include the following examples: inpatient hospitalization, psychotherapy, social work counseling, mental health services, pastoral counseling, prescription drugs, and respite care.

Medicaid is comprehensive coverage, including in-patient and out-patient hospital services, doctor visits, home health care, eye care, psychological services, certain dental procedures, etc. A complete listing of benefits can be obtained from a DHHS District Office or by calling Medicaid Client Services.

To contact DHHS, Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), see the contact and information link: http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/contactus/index.htm. A list of District Offices can be found at, link: http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/contactus/districtoffices.htm.

Behavioral Health services link: http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dcbcs/bbh/index.htm.

New Hampshire Medicaid link: http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/ombp/index.htm.

Note: Not all services may be available in all cases. Contact your adoption assistance worker or medical assistance specialist for information regarding process, eligibility, availability, and duration of services.



9. Does your State provide additional finances or services for medical or therapeutic needs not covered under your State medical plan to children receiving adoption assistance?


New Hampshire does not offer additional finances or services for medical or therapeutic needs not covered under their state medical plan to children receiving adoption assistance. New Hampshire adoption assistance staff will assist families in obtaining other available resources.



10. What is your State's process for applying for a fair hearing? (A fair hearing is a legal, administrative procedure that provides a forum to address disagreements with agency decisions.)


Adoptive parents may appeal, within 30 days, any decision by the Division for Children, Youth and Family that affects their child’s adoption assistance benefits. Appeals relative to a decision or the termination or failure to renew the adoption assistance may be made upon written request. Address the appeal to:

Administrative Appeals Unit
Department of Health and Human Services
Room 121C
105 Pleasant Street
Concord, New Hampshire 03301



11. What is your State Web address for general adoption information?


New Hampshire’s general adoption link: http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dcyf/adoption/adoptingdcyf.htm.



12. What is your State Web address for adoption assistance information?


New Hampshire’s provides some information on adoption assistance at:http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dcyf/adoption/postadoption.htm.

For additional information, contact New Hampshire Foster Care and Adoption Services, link: http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dcyf/adoption/contact.htm.



13. What is your State Web address for State-specific medical assistance information for children?


New Hampshire’s state-specific medical assistance links: http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/ombp/medicaid/index.htm and Department of Heaalth and Human Services (DHHS) health programs and services for children and families http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/ombp/medicaid/children/index.htm.

Foster care alternative might be in line for restored state funding

Foster care alternative might be in line for restored state funding - News - ReviewJournal.com

CARSON CITY -- A program that keeps children out of Nevada's foster care system by paying extended family members to take care of them might get a second chance after it faced cuts.

The foster care alternative, called the kinship care program, is one of several welfare, mental health and autism programs that might be added back to Gov. Brian Sandoval's budget after $120 million in additional funding was located.

"If you provide children the opportunity to stay with someone they know, all the evidence says this placement is the best," said Sen. Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, at a Thursday budget hearing. "We need to look at the money we would save now versus what we would save in the long run."

Federal Judge Again Approves Bonus Fees to Civil Rights Lawyers

Law.com - Federal Judge Again Approves Bonus Fees to Civil Rights Lawyers


Despite high court's limits on bonuses to civil rights lawyers, judge says counsel for foster kids deserve one; the question is: 'How much?'
R. Robin McDonald
Fulton County Daily ReportApril 11, 2011

The federal judge in Atlanta, whose bonus award to civil rights attorneys prompted the U.S. Supreme Court last year to place strict limits on such fees, has again found that a child welfare organization and its Atlanta legal partners deserve additional money for their work in reforming Georgia's foster care system.

"The question is," asked U.S. District Senior Judge Marvin H. Shoob on April 1, "'How much?'"

Shoob was presiding over a hearing on a new request for enhanced legal fees by Children's Rights Inc., a New York-based nonprofit organization, and attorneys with Atlanta's Bondurant Mixson & Elmore. Bondurant attorneys worked with Children's Rights during nine years of the foster care litigation that ultimately forced major changes in Georgia's crisis-ridden child foster care system.

It was the first hearing in the case since the Supreme Court last year remanded Shoob's 2006 ruling that attorneys for the class of more than 3,000 foster children -- to whom he had awarded $6.1 million in legal fees and expenses in the now nine-year-old case -- should be paid a $4.5 million fee enhancement.

Shoob determined that the enhanced fees were warranted because of major reforms that were achieved by counsel for foster children. In awarding the fees, he also cited the difficulties their attorneys encountered during the course of the litigation, including what Shoob described as protracted delays by the state.

In settling the litigation in 2005, the state agreed to institute sweeping systemic reforms of a system that had regularly exposed children to physical abuse; held them in dangerous, unsanitary and dilapidated shelters; placed them in the care of criminals; and deprived them of essential medical care.

The state had agreed to pay reasonable legal fees in the case, but had fought all efforts to enhance those fees for any reason. The Supreme Court took the case to consider whether fee enhancements in successful civil rights cases are ever warranted.

In remanding the case to Shoob, the high court refused to eliminate fee enhancements in cases. But it directed that such fees should be levied "due to superior performance but only in extraordinary circumstances."

In the hearing on April 1, Shoob signaled that the foster care litigation is one of those cases.

The lawyers for the class, Jeffrey O. Bramlett and Michael A. Caplan of Bondurant and Children's Rights lawyer Marcia Robinson Lowry petitioned the court for $5.8 million in enhanced fees, about 97 percent of Shoob's original "lodestar" fee award. The lodestar is calculated by the number of hours worked by attorneys and their staffs, multiplied by the prevailing hourly rates for their work.

The enhanced fees include an additional $3 million to "true up" what Bondurant lawyers said was a lodestar hourly rate of $235 that "didn't measure the true market value" of counsel's time in the case. The request also included $1.2 million in "lost opportunity" costs for funds that Bondurant and Children's Rights used to finance the litigation; $1.3 million to offset delays by the state in the payment of attorney fees; and nearly $400,000 to compensate for the state's delays in paying opposing counsel's legal expenses.

The lodestar, which the state withheld payment on for four years while it appealed the enhanced fees, did not take into account "the extraordinary outlay of expenses" by Children's Rights and Bondurant or the "extraordinary" and protracted nature of the litigation, Bramlett said.

Shoob, he said, had justified his original enhanced fee award in 2006 by finding that the results achieved by the class counsel, the difficulties encountered before the case settled and "protracted delay caused by state defendants ... far exceeded what could reasonably be expected for the standard hourly rates."

"We believe the court, on the basis of settled fact-finding, has within its discretion to find an enhancement of the lodestar determination," despite the Supreme Court ruling, Bramlett argued.

Bramlett also asked Shoob to consider what incentives might be required to persuade Georgia lawyers to take some future case in which the state "acts in a way that damages some of its citizens" if he were to deny enhanced fees in this case.

"As a practical matter, what reasonable rate would be sufficient to induce counsel to take the case?" he asked. "To bring a case of this magnitude, it's a very thin market."

Troutman Sanders attorney Mark H. Cohen, who has represented the state in the litigation and successfully argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court, challenged the enhanced fee request. "Based on the plaintiffs, you would think the Supreme Court blessed the fact that this counsel fit into the 'rare exception,'" he said, adding that the language of the high court's opinion suggested that it did not.

Cohen challenged assertions by his opposing counsel that, without fee enhancements, no competent attorney would take a similar civil rights case against the state. "That's just flat wrong," he said.

"You don't need enhancements to do what you do very well," he said, noting that Children's Rights routinely enlists "some of the best counsel ... around the country" for help with their child welfare class action cases.

"What makes Georgia so different?" he asked. "Was this case so difficult in Georgia? Was it so much more protracted? Was it so much more obstreperous? On behalf of the defendants, I would submit it wasn't."

Cohen pointed to other cases Children's Rights initiated in other states where he said the litigation was more protracted but the nonprofit organization did not ask for enhanced fees and billed lower fees than those they collected in Georgia.

"You don't need enhancements to get Children's Rights, which does this for a living, or to get the Bondurant firm," he argued. Following the Supreme Court's ruling in the Georgia case, he said, Children's Rights filed a new suit in Texas and enlisted three Texas firms to assist them.

Cohen disputed Shoob's earlier finding that the state had engaged in protracted delay tactics before settling the case. "We didn't do anything but represent our client within the bounds of the law," he said. "Now, we're being punished for it."

Cohen also said although attorneys who represent civil rights litigants most likely will not get paid until the end of the litigation, if they get paid at all, that is not grounds for an enhanced fees. "That's not a rare and exceptional circumstance," he said. "That's standard operating procedure."

Cohen challenged assertions that "private law firms would never take cases, would never advance expenses, would never wait for payment. It happens all the time. ... No law firm that agrees to participate with Children's Rights is doing so because they have any expectation of enhancements. ... Private law firms continue to join Children's Rights to do lawsuits just like they did in Georgia with no enhancements."

Cohen contended that the three-and-a-half years that the state took to settle the case -- even though it closed shelters for foster children in Fulton and DeKalb counties within months of when the case was filed -- and the state's decision to withhold paying any legal fees for nearly five years did not mean the litigation was "exceptionally protracted."

"This case resolved itself as fast as any other case Children's Rights has handled," he said. Georgia's taxpayers, he said -- who have now paid $6 million in legal fees, $740,000 in legal expenses, $1.4 million in accumulated interest payments and $1 million to monitors to oversee the state's compliance with the settlement agreement -- "have paid enough."

But Robinson, Children's Rights' executive director, countered that the case warranted enhanced fees.

"It was the most difficult case my organization has litigated," she said. "This was the most contentious case my organization has been involved in to date," and the resulting changes in the state's child welfare system that were codified in the settlement were "extraordinary," she said, and clearly within the Supreme Court's new mandate.

Shoob said he agreed, noting that enhancements were warranted, in part, because "I don't feel they [the state] fully cooperated." The case, he added, "did take a lot of time and money."

The case is Kenny A. v. Perdue, No. 1:02-CV-1686.