I am quite sure this woman has no clue of what she is really representing and that is the wet dream of the child welfare industry...dollars.
Here is a woman advocating to be allowed to adopt unlimited amounts of children from abroad who have HIV and other special needs. Beautiful cause.
Now, let's examine the policy implications.
These special needs children would be brought to U.S. and placed under the auspices of a state child welfare system. This triggers adoption subsidy payments, at enhanced rates because the child is special needs. Of course, Medicaid picks up the tab.
Then when the adoption is finalized, there is the adoption tax credit the family receives and enhanced adoption bonuses for the child placing agency.
For the reporting period ending April 31, 2011, IRS has received 72,656. returns claiming over $897 million in adoption tax refundable credits.
U.S. children are Legally Kidnapped from their parents just because they are poor or cannot access medical assistance so we advocate to put them up for adoption to wealthier families?
Then we import of health care costs when there are people who do not even want to offer medicaid care to its own citizens?
Wow. It is an absolute shame how much entitlement money adoptive parents get. For 10 special needs kids, we are talking a least $100K a year with even more for the international component. No wonder she is advocating for more international kids!
It looks like the business of human trafficking just got a bit more lucrative.
At White House, Joliet mom calls for state to let more big families adopt children with HIV
 Carolyn Twietmeyer speaks at the White House Briefing & Conversation on Supporting Adoption on Monday, Nov. 28, 2011.(Screengrab from live feed.) |
Taking her concern for HIV orphans to the top echelons of America’s executive branch, Carolyn Twietmeyer, the Joliet mother of 14, went to the nation’s capital Monday, calling on Illinois to allow more large families to adopt children with HIV.
During a White House-sponsored briefing to observe National Adoption Month, Twietmeyer joined members of President Obama’s cabinet, child welfare experts and religious leaders to address the international crisis that, experts say, has left more than 143 million children without parents in nations decimated by HIV.
Experts underscored the need for international laws to ensure children are not abducted from their birth parents and sold to adoptive parents in other countries. They also discussed the need to overcome constraints in the U.S. child welfare system and encourage churches nationwide to make international adoption more feasible.
Twietmeyer serves as executive director of Project Hopeful, a non-profit dedicated to supporting and adopting HIV orphans. Pointing out that the name is an acronym for Helping Orphans and Parents Eliminate Further Unnecessary Loss of Time, Dignity and Life, she bemoaned the stigma of HIV that persists three decades after the first AIDSdiagnosis surfaced in the U.S.
She broke down as she thanked a fellow advocate for helping her reduce the amount of time for an HIV immigration waiver enabling her daughter Selah now 14, to receive the medical treatment she needed to live. At the time, such a waiver took up to 10 months, “which my daughter did not have in country.” The waiver has since been eliminated.
Twietmeyer’s trip to Washington comes on the heels of a journey to Australia, where she and her husband, Kiel, pushed for reforms of that country’s adoption policies.
“The U.S. is seen as a model for adoption and reform in these other countries,” Twietmeyer said. “We have an amazing opportunity to set a standard across the world for adoptions and orphan care.”
But large families, who she insists are best equipped and willing to adopt children with special needs, face limits in Illinois and five other states.
While the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has to approve a home study for every international adoption, the state also must issue a foster care license to parents adopting from countries such as Uganda and the Philippines, where adoptions can't be finalized outside the U.S. Carolyn Twietmeyer wants to adopt a 3-year-old boy with HIV and Down Syndrome now living in an orphanage in Uganda.
Families who apply can be licensed for up to eight children, more with a waiver. Children with special needs count twice, reducing the total number of children that families can have in their home.
Unable to convince DCFS through her adoption agency, Twietmeyer has turned her attention toward finding other suitable parents to adopt Jonathan, who she calls Jojo.
Kendall Marlowe, a spokesman for DCFS, said there is no numerical limit on how many children can be in a home. But the number of children is a “legitimate area of inquiry.” Five other states -- Alabama, Colorado, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina -- have similar guidelines.
Marlowe defends Illinois’ screening process, pointing out that in 2011 alone, at least 10 Illinois families voluntarily relinquished their parental rights to children they had adopted from abroad. Three more were placed in DCFS custody because of substantiated allegations of abuse or neglect. One child died under suspicious circumstances in the parents' home, he said. It's unclear if those cases involved large families.
Twietmeyer said the limits imposed on large families are unacceptable.
“Large families like ours or other families with five or more children are being blanketly refused,” she said. “This will cost lives of children. So I find it extremely important.”
During a White House-sponsored briefing to observe National Adoption Month, Twietmeyer joined members of President Obama’s cabinet, child welfare experts and religious leaders to address the international crisis that, experts say, has left more than 143 million children without parents in nations decimated by HIV.
Experts underscored the need for international laws to ensure children are not abducted from their birth parents and sold to adoptive parents in other countries. They also discussed the need to overcome constraints in the U.S. child welfare system and encourage churches nationwide to make international adoption more feasible.
Twietmeyer serves as executive director of Project Hopeful, a non-profit dedicated to supporting and adopting HIV orphans. Pointing out that the name is an acronym for Helping Orphans and Parents Eliminate Further Unnecessary Loss of Time, Dignity and Life, she bemoaned the stigma of HIV that persists three decades after the first AIDSdiagnosis surfaced in the U.S.
She broke down as she thanked a fellow advocate for helping her reduce the amount of time for an HIV immigration waiver enabling her daughter Selah now 14, to receive the medical treatment she needed to live. At the time, such a waiver took up to 10 months, “which my daughter did not have in country.” The waiver has since been eliminated.
Twietmeyer’s trip to Washington comes on the heels of a journey to Australia, where she and her husband, Kiel, pushed for reforms of that country’s adoption policies.
“The U.S. is seen as a model for adoption and reform in these other countries,” Twietmeyer said. “We have an amazing opportunity to set a standard across the world for adoptions and orphan care.”
But large families, who she insists are best equipped and willing to adopt children with special needs, face limits in Illinois and five other states.
While the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has to approve a home study for every international adoption, the state also must issue a foster care license to parents adopting from countries such as Uganda and the Philippines, where adoptions can't be finalized outside the U.S. Carolyn Twietmeyer wants to adopt a 3-year-old boy with HIV and Down Syndrome now living in an orphanage in Uganda.
Families who apply can be licensed for up to eight children, more with a waiver. Children with special needs count twice, reducing the total number of children that families can have in their home.
Unable to convince DCFS through her adoption agency, Twietmeyer has turned her attention toward finding other suitable parents to adopt Jonathan, who she calls Jojo.
Kendall Marlowe, a spokesman for DCFS, said there is no numerical limit on how many children can be in a home. But the number of children is a “legitimate area of inquiry.” Five other states -- Alabama, Colorado, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina -- have similar guidelines.
Marlowe defends Illinois’ screening process, pointing out that in 2011 alone, at least 10 Illinois families voluntarily relinquished their parental rights to children they had adopted from abroad. Three more were placed in DCFS custody because of substantiated allegations of abuse or neglect. One child died under suspicious circumstances in the parents' home, he said. It's unclear if those cases involved large families.
Twietmeyer said the limits imposed on large families are unacceptable.
“Large families like ours or other families with five or more children are being blanketly refused,” she said. “This will cost lives of children. So I find it extremely important.”
2 comments:
These children and families do not receive foster care subsidies. When you adopt internationally, even in cases like Uganada and the Philippines mentioned in this article, the children are NOT foster children and do not receive any of the foster care money from the state of IL.
Ok, allow me to type very slowly so that you may understand.
This is a proposal for policy. This is why she was at the White House.
Post a Comment