Wanting to adopt? There are lots of benefits that come with the adoption of children especially financial benefits.
Some may be accessible later in a child’s life while some may be accessible earlier. As a family that adopted a child, there is a legal right to the assessment of adoption support needs from the local authority in charge of post-adoption support.
Some of the financial benefits available to the adoptive family include
1. Adoption Pay and Leave
This financial benefit gives adoptive parents the same benefit as the pay and leaves provided for birth parents.
This entails taking the time of the work to adopt a child, and adoptive parents are entitled to statutory adoption leave for up to 52 weeks.
The statutory leave can start on the date the child is welcomed home or it can date before the adoption date but should not be more than two weeks.
Adoption pay totals about 90% of your salary for the first 6 weeks of your pay. For the remaining 33 weeks, the pay is equal to 90% of your gross average weekly earnings (whichever is lower).
In the case of couples, they may share the parental leave of 50 weeks and 37 weeks of pay. The leave and pay must be taken within 52 weeks of the coming of the child into your family.
2. Adoption Allowance
Under the Adoption Support Services (Local Authorities) Regulations 2005, there are regular financial supports that can be paid on a weekly or monthly basis to eligible adoptive parents before or after they have welcomed their child in their home.
The essence of the allowance is to help and encourage adoptive parents who may not be financially buoyant to cater to the needs of the adopted child.
The payable fee is usually determined and paid by the local authority under whose care the adopted child was placed before adoption (the placing authority).
3. Settling-In Grant’ For Adopters
This grant is given for the sole purpose of paying for large items like a bed or crib for the child’s bedroom, or car seats to the adoptive parents.
4. Disability Living Allowance for Children
This is a tax-free benefit meant for kids with special needs especially those with difficulties in walking.
If your adopted child needs extra supervision and support than necessary, then you’re qualified for the allowance.
5. Career Allowance
This may be given to adoptive parents in addition to the DLA in some cases. This may be because childcare arrangements are unable to meet the child’s specific needs, which means that one parent is unable to take a job to meet up the child’s needs.
6. Adoption Support Fund (ASF)
The ASF is set up by the Government to pay for services and training for adoptive couples. Accessing the fund will require your local authority to assess your adoption support needs.
If after assessment, your local authority finds you worthy of its reception, then an application can be made by your local authority for the funds.
7. Free Education
There are provisions for educational support of adopted children; adopted children of the age of 2 are entitled to a free early education place.
At the age of 3 and 4 years old they can benefit from the Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP).
The essence of this fund is to provide funds for the providers of early education so that the children can be given quality education and they must be informed that your child was adopted so that they can partake in it.
At school age, your child is entitled to priority admission to the school of your choice so that you can choose a school that best meets your child’s needs.
Claims on your child’s premium can be made by the school if they are aware that your child is adopted.
This funding helps schools provide additional support for vulnerable children to improve their education.
Take-Home
We hope this article has provided in-depth knowledge to answer the question of what are the financial benefits of adopting a child along with other adopting questions.
If you are cool with the option of adoption, then go for it, it is a beautiful experience and you won’t regret it.
If you think you aren’t financially buoyant to cater to the cost of having an additional child under your roof, do not worry, there are lots of benefits attached to adoption which we already mentioned.
You can leverage these financial benefits that come with adoption and cater to the needs of your adopted child.