Adoption questions....need some answers and not sure where to look..?

Question

My husband and his brother were adopted from DHS custudy around 1986. Their mother was killed, and we now need to know if their adoptive parents recieved social security benefits on them and how much. We also need to know about adoption/foster care payments, and medicaide benefits they may have recieved. Any help would be great!!

Answer 1

The first place to start is Social Security. If the received death benefits, it would have been paid out by SS. Go to www.socialsecurity.gov

Answer 2

As far as any foster care/adoption benefits goes, I imagine each state is different; but I know where I live a foster mother receives a small monthly check for each child and receives (I think) a quarterly clothing allowance for each child. The children are on insurance through the state. If a foster child is adopted it is possible that the adoptive parents could get an adoption subsidy if they have financial need. The insurance (medicaid) doesn't involve any money going to the foster/adoptive parents. It just means the medical and dental bills get paid.

Children who are diagnosed with certain problems, such as ADHD or other problems by professionals and who go through the whole process at school, may be put on SSI; and payments are sent to the foster/adoptive/biological parents.

If the parents received any monthly foster-care/adoption subsidy money it is most likely they spent it as if came in. For a family of modest means who gets a few hundred dollars a month to cover things for the child there isn't usually much left over.

One place to start could possibly be the government's site for unclaimed money. Its a website where you check by name if you believe someone has money somewhere that isn't claimed. I think its "Foundmoney.com", but there are other sites like that.

You could ask someone at the state's DHS where to start.
If your husband or his brother are the executors of any estate (which doesn't have to be much more than a house and a bank account) whichever one is would have the right to look up records.

If you have the adoptive mother's social security card you could try to find this information from the Social Security Administration.

Your state's Bar Association may have a referral service, or the court system may have some kind of service where an attorney will answer a question for no cost. You could ask an attorney for a free initial consultation to find out whatever you need to know about this matter.

You husband and his brother probably know if they were diagnosed with any disorders or disabilities because its a big process. If they were foster children there was a monthly board/care payment for as long as they were foster children. If the parents had a modest income there's the chance there was an adoption subsidy (you could ask your state's social service adoption people about what subsidies existed at that time). If the parents had a good income there was most likely no subsidy.

I've known quite a few foster kids, and they tend to believe that the board/care payment sent for them belongs to them. In the eyes of the state it belongs to the foster parents and is supposed to be used toward things like paying for a home that has enough bedrooms for the children, extra water and gas usage from extra laundry or cooking, school expenses (not clothing), athletic activites or music lessons, anything the children need, etc. It isn't much money, and using it up is easy (especially if the parents get a larger place to live in order to provide bedrooms).

Ordinarily, when a wife dies any savings or other assets she has goes to her husband unless she has written a will to say otherwise. Then when the husband dies whatever he leaves is divided between all children (biological or adopted). I have a friend who recently died after her husband. She had done a will to leave what she had to her two only living daughters. The children of the two dead kids she had contested that based on the premise that their father would have left all four children equal money had he been the last one to die. The grandchildren won in spite of the will of my friend who just wanted to leave what she had (partially inherited from her dead husband) to her two living children.

If the adoptive father is dead or otherwise incapacitated I think what your husband needs to do is ask an attorney what needs to be done in order to get your husband or his brother "established" as executors to the mother's estate. That would give whichever brother gets that role the power needed to start getting information from agencies that otherwise may not be willing or able to share the mother's business.

I don't know if any of what I've said is at all helpful..... just thought I'd give it a shot.

Answer 3

Will i'm a foster parent and from what I was informed back than it realy wasn't a system set up for foster care. People just took care of people kids if the birth parent wasn't able to. A set system wasn't set up until after the death of an indian child in foster care. As far as payment i'm pretty sure they did not recieve fostercare payment but ss benefits probably. I don't know to much about that.

Answer 4

If you need to know this questions then I would ask DHS these questions they are the only ones besides Social Security Administration that could give you this information.

Answer 5

Another place you will want to check is with DHS. They keep records on everything having to do with adoption payments. Most of it will probably be classified so you will have to contact them directly. Make you you contact DHS from the state they were apoted

Answer 6

if it relates to adoption, the adoptive parents will not received any public assistance. when they file the papers adoptive parents are legally binding themselves against receiving monetary assistance from the government. they will not be granted adoption if they are not financially stable to take care of a child or children.

some exceptions, they might be able to collect assistance, if they are originally foster parents of physically or mentally handicapped children. they received assistance medically, food wise and public assistance to care for their disabilities.

regarding their parents social security benefits, as long as they have their parents SSN numbers, they can inquire direct to SS office who is the beneficiary or recipient of their mother's SSI. i hope they have their own birth certificate authenticating their birth parents name. if not, they can check city hall or hall of records for information on birth certificate or their mother's death certificate. that is a proof no one can contest....