Appendix D. Other Adoption Matters of Interest

• Author: Jeffrey Kasky; Robert Andrew Kasky
• Pages: 103-104

103

APPENDIX

D

Other Adoption

Matters of Interest

Children with Special Needs

A child who the state has determined cannot or should not be returned to the home of his or her biological

parents or a child who, because of some specific factor or condition (medical, emotional, mental, or physi-

cal), is often considered to be a child with “special needs” and will likely not be placed with an adoptive

family without the family receiving some form of financial or other assistance from the state or federal

government to enable the family to address the child’s special needs. To get to that point, however, the

state must have made a reasonable, albeit unsuccessful, effort to place the child with a family without the

necessity of providing some form of financial assistance from the state.

As you can well imagine, the steps that must be completed to designate a child as having special needs

are complicated, cumbersome, and very time-consuming. The benefits to the child and the family are, never-

theless, significant as they bring the child closer to being adopted by a stable family which can address

hisor her needs. The ultimate goal in a special needs adoption is to enable the child to have a much greater

chance of a normal family structure in which to thrive. There are state and federal financial assistance

programs to help families with the financial burdens often associated with the adoption of a child with

special needs. This funding enables states to move children from state care to private care to provide the

child with a forever-family environment in which to grow.

There are numerous benefits which are available to families which choose to adopt children with

special needs in addition to the emotional rewards associated with essentially improving the likelihood

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