Who says the payments the Parsons were receiving on behalf of Erica were due to disability?
Many children available for adoption are eligible for monthly maintenance payments, medical benefits, and other services. Adoption Assistance is available for all children whose status and special needs meet certain criteria. Children who are considered special needs include children with physical, mental, developmental, and emotional disabilities as well as sibling groups, older children, and children of color.
The child's Department of Social Services determines individual eligibility based on specific criteria. The agency then negotiates with adoptive parents to meet needs through an adoption assistance agreement.
The monthly adoption assistance payment in North Carolina is computed on a graduated level based on the age of the child. Most of North Carolina's 100 local county Departments of Social Services have raised their rates to the following payment structure:
$475.00 for children 0-5
$581.00 for children 6-12
$634.00 for children 13-18
http://www.ncdhhs.gov/dss/adoption/
From teh BBM it would seem that the critertia are lose and that DSS can and does "negotionate" with parents regarding the payment (assistance) they may receive for adopting a child. Was it reported that at one point CasP had custody of some of Erica's siblings (half siblings who would be the children of SP's brother on whom CarP cheated?)
Children can qualify for federal adoption assistance or state assistance, depending on the child’s history. Adoption subsidy policies and practices are, for the most part, dependent on the state in which the child was in foster care before the adoption.
Below is information related to definitions of special needs, benefits available, and procedures in North Carolina. Answers to select questions were made available by the Association of Administrators of the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance (AAICAMA) through the Child Welfare Information Gateway (
www.childwelfare.gov). Profiles for other states’ subsidy programs are available. If you have additional questions, please contact NACAC at 651-644-3036, 800-470-6665, or
adoption.assistance@nacac.org. If you have state-specific questions, please call your State Subsidy Contact Person or the NACAC Subsidy Representative (listed above) for more information.
For more information on Title IV-E eligibility, view our fact sheet Eligibility and Benefits for Federal Adoption Assistance.
http://www.nacac.org/adoptionsubsidy/stateprofiles/northcarolina.html
Special Needs Determination
?To be considered a child with special needs, a child must meet all three of the criteria below:
The state has determined that the child cannot or should not be returned to the birth parents’ home.
The state has found a specific factor or condition, or combination of factors and conditions, that make the child more difficult to place for adoption. Each state sets its own special needs definition, which may include the child’s ethnic background; age; sibling group status; medical condition; or physical, mental, or emotional disabilities.
The state has made a reasonable, but unsuccessful, effort to place the child without providing adoption assistance. Making “a reasonable effort” may mean the adoption agency has asked for the assistance of an adoption exchange to help find a family for the child or referred the child to an agency that specializes in placing children with special needs. An exception is made to this requirement if making the effort to locate a family is not in the best interest of the child. For example, if the child has a significant emotional bond with foster parents who want to adopt or a relative is willing to adopt, it is not in that child’s best interest to look for other adoptive parents who could adopt without support.
The agency cannot shop around for a family willing to adopt without support while the child remains in foster care. If the agency has determined that the child is not returning home and has special needs, the agency can then ask any prospective parents whether they are willing to adopt the child without assistance. If the family says they cannot adopt without assistance, the requirement for reasonable efforts is met.
http://www.nacac.org/adoptionsubsidy/factsheets/title_IV.html much more at link
So based on some of what I am reading - Erica's stipend or assistance may not have anything at all to do with a disability in the way we are thinking. Special needs as defined by the adoption program can mean anything from hard to place to anything else.
I am still not convinced Erica had any disability whatsoever except for maybe having been adopted by the Parsons.