LANSING - Parents of adopted children with physical or mental disorders are not satisfied with the state's program to provide money for their care.
Some parents testifying before the House Family and Children Services Committee said they weren't even told of their child's possible disability before the adoption was complete.
The committee chair called their testimony "heartwrenching."
Ann McNitt of DeWitt, mother of four adopted children, said she wasn't given information about their natural parents' medical problems, including schizophrenia and excessive drinking during pregnancy, before the adoptions were finalized.
McNitt and her husband have two natural children in addition to the four they adopted.
Her children have been diagnosed with a variety of problems, including fetal alcohol syndrome, cerebral palsy and reactive attachment disorder, a condition in which individuals don't develop a conscience or easily form affectionate relationships.
"We have dealt with arson attempts, murder attempts, profound damage to our home," she said of the children's behavior. "It's kind of like having a root canal every day. You get used to the fact that this stress is the way you live."
McNitt said she has been ignored or rejected when applying for subsidies, and has had to use credit cards, loans from her parents, and her husband's retirement money to pay medical expenses.
"When you have an agency that flagrantly refuses to help these orphans, then you've got a pretty serious problem on your hands," she said.
Michigan has two subsidy programs: one for all adopted children and another for those with medical problems. Children qualify for the medical program if they were in foster care at the time of the adoption and have a preexisting physical, mental or emotional condition. Adoptive parents can receive money until the child turns 18, marries or enters the military.
The medical program subsidizes expenses related to the child's health, including counseling, temporary out-of-home placement, special education and travel.
In 2005, about 25,000 children received subsidies through both programs for a total of $209 million. Before parents can receive a subsidy, they must exhaust other sources of funds like Medicaid or private insurance, according to the Department of Human Services.
Kate Hanley, director of adoption services for the department, said that when a child is adopted, all available background information is given to the prospective family, including mental, psychological and genetic information about the birth parents.
"But sometimes we don't have it all," she said. "If we remove a child from a family, we might not know everything."
She added that subsidies are not meant to be incentives for people to adopt, but rather a support system.
"It's really like child support, basically, where many of these children have extra needs and parents want to provide extra care," she said.
In her testimony before the committee, Hanley suggested improvements to the current adoption subsidy program, including deferred adoption assistance. That would allow parents of "high risk" children with no known preexisting conditions to receive aid if future problems arise.
She also suggested eligibility for children who have been in a foster home for more than six months and for children of ethnic or racial minorities under 3 without disabilities.
Committee Chair John Stahl, R-North Branch, said there is no pending legislation but he and other legislators had received so many similar complaints that the committee decided to hold hearings on the issue.
"We're looking at parents who are going broke," he said.
Stahl said that all testimony still needs to be verified through a proposed legislative task force, however.
He said the testimony is "alarming" because of the recent case of Ricky Holland, a 7-year-old adopted boy from Williamston, whose parents received about $26,000 in state subsidies and were recently accused of murdering him. A preliminary hearing is being held to determine whether the case against Tim and Lisa Holland will advance to trial.