State Contact

West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources
Bureau for Social Services
Division of Children and Adult Services Adoption Unit
350 Capitol Street, Room 691
Charleston, WV 25301
304-352-4429
adoptionsubsidy@wv.gov
https://dhhr.wv.gov/bss

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Adoption Resources on the web:

https://dhhr.wv.gov/bss/Pages/default.aspx
Contact Mission West Virginia for assistance for West Virginia families who are beginning the foster care and/or adoption process:
https://www.missionwv.org/aboutframeworks
Mountain Health Promise is the managed care organization for adopted West Virginia children:
https://dhhr.wv.gov/bms/Members/Managed%20Care/MHP/Pages/MountainHealthPromise.aspx
Adoption Policy:
http://www.dhhr.wv.gov/bcf/policy/Documents/Adoption%20.pdf
Adoption assistance payments may be made to individuals who adopt a child with special circumstances inhibiting their adoption:

  • They have a physical or mental disability;
  • They are emotionally disturbed;
  • They are older children, age 8 or older;
  • They are a part of a sibling group; or
  • They are a member of a racial or ethnic minority.

Current foster care rates are

Age Range Daily Rate Monthly Rate
0-5 $26 $790
6-12 $28 $851
13-21 $31 $942

For children residing in specialized therapeutic foster care homes, the maximum allowable adoption assistance payment is comparable to the foster care maintenance payment provided by the specialized child- placing agency.

Determinations for specialized rates are made on a case-by-case basis, based on documentation of the child’s special needs and maintenance payment.

Adoption assistance is automatically terminated on the first day of the month following the child’s 18th birthday. The adoptive parent may request an addendum to the initial agreement to continue the adoption assistance until the child’s 21st birthday if the child is in high school or a post-secondary school. If the child has a documented physical or mental disability and continues to need assistance, the agreement may be renewed each year until the child reaches age 21. Under no circumstances shall an agreement extend beyond the child’s 21st birthday.
West Virginia has a deferred adoption assistance agreement that allows children who don’t meet criteria for adoption assistance now, but have documented risk factors of future disabilities. This will be a $0 agreement.

 

West Virginia has a program known as Adoption Assistance Conditional Services. Funding is available for time-specified, short-term assistance to meet medical expenses not covered by Medicaid (other than therapeutic hospitalization). Need for such services must be based on conditions that existed before adoption finalization and should be included in the adoption assistance agreement. Funding can also be used for respite care and special educational services not met by the Department of Education. Assistance is granted on a case-by-case basis and is subject to the availability of funds and approval by the administrative management team. Parents should contact the adoption assistance program specialist for program for information regarding process, eligibility, availability, and duration of services.
Post-adoption services in West Virginia (known as adoption preservation services) are administered by the DHHR Bureau for Children and Families.

 

Socially Necessary Services are interventions necessary to improve relationships and social functioning with the goal of preserving the individual’s tenure in the community or the integrity of the family or social system. Services include case management and crisis intervention. (To learn more, visit http://www.dhhr.wv.gov/bcf/Providers/Pages/Social- Services.aspx but note that adoption preservation services are not listed here.)

 

Yes. The Legal Guardianship program is a program to establish permanency for children who are in the custody of the department. Read more in the policy of the program here, https://dhhr.wv.gov/bcf/policy/Documents/Legal%20Guardianship%20Policy%20January%202021.pdf

 

Yes, a one-time credit is allowed against personal Income tax for nonfamily adoptions. “Nonfamily adoptions” means adoptions of a child or children by a taxpayer or taxpayers which child or children are not related to the taxpayer or taxpayers by blood or marriage. The credit is equal to four thousand ($4,000) dollars which may be taken in the year of the adoption of each nonfamily child, whose age at adoption is under eighteen years. This credit may, at the option of the taxpayer, be taken over a period of three years.

 

To file for this credit you will need to complete Form NFA-1 which can be found here, http://tax.wv.gov/Individuals/Pages/Individuals.aspx.