RESPONDENT: Catherine Meister, Adoption Supervisor
NH Department of Health & Human Resources, Division for Children, Youth & Families
I. General Information (Background on State Service System)
County-based vs. statewide system
New Hampshire is a statewide system with 11 offices and one telework office that incorporates juvenile justice and child protection services.
Uniformity of services across the state
All of the state’s offices adhere to the same practice model.
Children on subsidy as of June 2013
Medicaid plus subsidy: 1,041 (approximate); Medicaid only 427 (approximate).
Are public child welfare adoption workers expected to provide post-adoption services?
Certain state workers provide some post-adoption services (see below for specifics), and a number of agencies provide vendor services. Agencies are certified to provide certain services, and policy dictates what those services will include. Agencies are paid to provide the specific service for a specified period of time.
II. Post-Adoption Services Funded by the State for Adoptive Families Information and Referral
Calls regarding post-adoption service needs generally come to the adoption supervisor, who either responds directly or assigns the family to one of five post-adoption workers for follow-up.
Educational Programs or Materials
The state partners with Granite State College to provide ongoing training for caregivers (foster and pre/post-adoptive parents), both online and in person. When families begin foster/adoptive parent training, they receive a packet of information and resources to which they can refer throughout their parenting experience.
Support Programs
Currently the state offers only one support group specifically for adoptive families, but the plan is to expand this service. There are approximately 10 Foster/Adoptive/Relative CareGiver support groups offered by the New Hampshire Foster and Adoptive Parent Association (NHFAPA) around the state, many co-facilitated by representatives from NHFAPA and the state. These groups are open to foster, adoptive parents and relative caregivers.
Therapeutic Interventions
New Hampshire has five post-adoption workers who specifically work with adoptive families. These workers may provide case management and home-based support, and may authorize services to be provided by a vendor agency, with the assigned state worker remaining involved with the case plan and continuing to provide case management services.
New Hampshire
Advocacy
State workers frequently help families advocate for services by going with them to school meetings, team meetings with other agencies, and so forth.
Respite
The state will pay a licensed foster family for respite up to 30 days per year per adoptive family. Natural connections between parents are encouraged, as licensed foster parents are not always available. Adoption incentive funds may be used to reimburse adoptive families for respite, subject to the availability of funds.
Residential Treatment
Does the state pay for residential treatment for children adopted from foster care? What is the process for obtaining this?
Yes, provided this treatment is court-ordered (through an abuse, neglect, delinquency or CHINS case). In neglect/abuse cases, the parents will be liable for expenses if they are found to be the perpetrators of the abuse/neglect. Acute care (in-patient psychiatric hospitalization) is paid for through Medicaid.
If yes, what is required to obtain this?
A court order is required to obtain residential placement; Medicaid eligibility is required for acute psychiatric hospitalization.
Does the child have to re-enter state custody?
Children who are placed by the court in an open case do enter state custody but may remain in the guardianship of the parent(s).
Search Services
State child protective service workers (CPSWs) assist adoptees and birth families with search and reunion activities. If the adoption was state-facilitated, the worker will review the record and provide non- identifying information. If the individual is seeking identifying information, the worker will assist with the court process needed to get information released. In some cases, workers will facilitate contact between mutually consenting parties.
III. Qualifications for Post-Adoption Services
A. What are the eligibility criteria for receiving services?
In order to receive adoption assistance and any of the direct post-adoption services, the child must have been adopted through the state of New Hampshire.
B. Under what circumstances, if any, are these services provided to children who were not adopted through the state system?
Residential treatment may be court-ordered for any adopted child, but families are responsible for parental reimbursement for services and placements that are ordered. Parents whose children were adopted through the department are waived of this liability by state statute. State workers will provide information and referral to any adoptive family who calls. NHFAPA support groups are open to families who adopted privately or internationally, and although search and reunion services are not ordinarily provided for private adoptions, state workers will at least get the searcher started in the right direction.
IV. Support for Post-Adoption Services
New Hampshire
Donaldson Adoption Institute 143
B. What are the primary sources of funding for post-adoption services? (Please order from 1=top funding source to the source that the lowest amount of funds is used.)
4 Title IV-B, Part 1, Child Welfare Services 1
Title IV-B, Part 2, Promoting Safe and Stable Families for “Adoption Support & Promotion"
Title IV-B, Part 2, Promoting Safe and Stable Families from categories other than adoption
2 Adoption Incentive Funds
Early Periodic Screening and Diagnostic Testing Title XX, Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) Title IV-A, TANFF
Federal grants such as Adoption Opportunities
Other federal funds-specify: ________________________________________ 3 State child welfare funds
Other state funds-specify: __________________________________________
C. Which, if any, of these services is legally stipulated in state law? If any post-adoption services are included in state law, please describe:
State law mandates that the department must provide families who adopted through the state with non-identifying information upon request. State law stipulates:
"For the adoptive parent or prospective adoptive parent of a child in the custody of the state whose birth parents have consented to the adoption, relinquished their parental rights to the department, or the parental rights of whose birth parents were terminated pursuant to a petition brought by the department, authorized agency, or foster parent, pursuant to RSA 170-C:4, the state shall waive its right of action against such adoptive parent or prospective adoptive parent for the expenses of services, placements, and programs provided pursuant to RSA 169-B, 169-C, or 169-D after the adoption.” This is not applicable if the adoptive parent is found to be the perpetrator of abuse/neglect.
D. Have there been significant cutbacks in post-adoption services or adoption subsidies in the state in the past 10 years? If so, please describe:
The provision of post-adoption services has increased during this period, but adoption subsidy financial assistance (except Medicaid) has decreased. This is due primarily to the state’s desire to provide assistance that more specifically meets the special needs of the child.
V. In your state, are there noteworthy practice models or research reports related to adoption support and preservation that you could share with us?
A single practice model has been adopted for all child welfare practice in New Hampshire.
A. Please describe practice models:
In 2011, New Hampshire established a Practice Model for the Division for Children, Youth and Families and the Division for Juvenile Justice Services. It is based on four supportive theories (family development, solution-focused, restorative justice, and parallel process) and a set of beliefs and guiding principles. For more information on the model see a fact sheet at:
http://www.nrcoi.org/telefiles/092913tele/Practice%20Model%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf
B. Significant findings of program evaluations or other post-adoption studies conducted in the State in the past 10 years:
New Hampshire
C. Contact persons who could give us more information about noteworthy practice models or research and their phone number:
Sherri Levesque, Administrator of the Bureau of Organizational Learning and Quality Improvement, at 603-271-4229.
VI. Please share any strategies that you have used to successfully advocate for post-adoption services in your state.
The Leadership of NHDCYF and the director of DCYF have been major proponents of post-adoption services and have advocated for such services in New Hampshire. The DCYF Director supported the creation of a post-adoption services unit to meet the needs of families.
VII. Research on tracking post-adoption instability
New Hampshire does not yet have an effective system of tracking these cases; however, it is a goal of the department to implement such a system.