In 2009 we adopted 5 children from the Texas Foster Care System through Child Protective Services (CPS). At the time of our adoption, it was outlined that our children were "Basic Care" children. Classifying them as such assumes that foster kids who are adopted are the same as natural children or children adopted as infants elsewhere.
However, the state negates this classification through their actions and classifications that these children are disadvantaged and in need of further help post adoption by providing them with free college, and Medicaid coverage until the age of 18 regardless of parent income or available insurance. At the time our adoption was finalized we were assured that we would be provided whatever resources necessary to address the trauma they endured previously and the other disadvantages identified by the state.
The sad truth is that children who have been adopted from CPS are traumatized and damaged before and while they were in the care and custody of the state. After they are adopted, they are not able to receive the necessary resources as we were promised. Specifically, the state will not provide the recommended long-term mental health care for adopted children, yet they will provide said services to foster kids.
The ONLY way to get the help our child needs is if we go into a joint conservatorship with the state of Texas. Essentially, our child will be back under the care of the state.
We very willingly took on the responsibility of raising these very broken and traumatized children in a loving home. We are committed to them in every way possible. We are not independently wealthy, so paying for extensive care is not even a remote possibility for us.
Why can we not get the care we need that is vital for the mental health of our child, and safety of our entire family as we were promised at the time of our adoption? Will our child be just another sad statistic? Will our family be just another tragic story for the fodder of talking heads on tv? Will the general public be subjected to an unspeakable act which very well could be prevented if we are able to get the help our child so desperately needs? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
When you face adversity, you have a choice: Lay down, cry, and feel sorry for yourself; or fight through the adversity. Oftentimes, adversity changes your direction and vision. What may have been just a small part of the overall plan often becomes one of the focal points of the mission.
Out of adversity, passion is born. Out of passion, a calling is defined. When a calling is defined, your mission is set.
This VERY BROKEN system MUST change!