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Dependents

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Angela

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I am raising my nephew and have had custody for more than a year now. Would VA consider him my dependent for purposes of compensation, (and later chapter 35 college benefits) or do I need to formally adopt him?

If I have to adopt to satisfy VA, are there any agencies that can help me? I am just barely making ends meet already and can't afford any more debt.

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Have you checked with DCFS? (Department of Children and Family Services) What are you doing for the childs medical care? May be eligible for medicaid health benefits and /or WICC(Women Infant Children Care) if infant or toddler, not school aged.

May receive food stamps too, dependent on your income. Check with your county health clinic they may be able to help you obtain some of the benefits the child may be eligible for, or direct you to the one's to contact. Do you have legal custody?

Some other agency's may help with furnishings and maybe food too ie. Salvation Army, YMCA or YWCA, Goodwill. Check in area to see if the churches have food pantry's too.

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Once I got custody papers I was able to get him enrolled in DEERS and enrolled in Tricare Prime. No dental because that's just too expensive. I make just barely too much to qualify for food stamps or free/reduced price school lunches, too.

We've got the furniture covered and we hit the Goodwill stores around here for back to school clothes. I make almost enough (now that I'm getting part of my retired pay too) to keep our heads above water, but I'm slowly getting sucked back into the credit card trap. Since he's 15 now, we just have 3 more years to keep from sinking altogether. I just wish I could give him something to look forward to - like a college education. My own kids can go to college (courtesy of Alabama VA) but since he's not "my child" for VA purposes, he's left out in the cold. And since I don't have the money to adopt, I don't see what I can do about it. I was hoping someone here would have some ideas.

I made an appointment today to apply for social security survivor benefits even though the lady I spoke to said he's not eligible. Wish me luck.

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My understanding is that as long as the adoption is legal, the VA would be fine with it. But everything I've read leads me to believe that anything short of formal adoption would not be accepted.

His mother would sign over parental rights, as she knows she's not capable of being a parent to him, but his father's whereabouts are unknown. My lawyer says that without his express consent, the process will be much more expensive than if I was simply adopting an orphan. She estimated the costs to be between 9,000 to 12,000 because of the process we'd have to go through to prove efforts to contact him for consent, home studies, etc.

But, you made me think. I wonder if I could adopt from his mom, without affecting the father's parental rights, and bypass that portion of the legal red-tape. Sounds wacky. But... I'm willing to explore any possibility.

Anyone know anything about this.....

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