Sparrow Family Care Grant Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What exactly does a Sparrow Family Care Grant include? 
A: Good question. From 2011-2017, our grants were simply financial assistance to cover the cost of a family’s medical review of their adoption referral. In 2018, we reimagined our program to be more consistent with our vision of caring for caregivers relationally. Our grant still helps a family pay for their medical referral review but includes a lot more than that based on each family’s individual needs. Some of what we offer families includes a Prepare-Enrich preadoption marital assessment and session, training and resources,  pretravel consulting, and attachment coaching.

Q: I notice you use the word family when referring to grant applicants. Do applicants have to be married couples?
A: We prefer the word family to applicant or potential adoptive parent. We don’t use the word family to indicate a married couple; you don’t have to be married to apply.

Q: I’m adopting domestically. Can I apply for this grant?
A: Absolutely. In July 2019, we opened up our grant program to include families pursuing domestic adoptions. We want to care for you and help you find resources that will benefit you.

Q: I’m interested. When and how do I apply?
A: Awesome.  If you know you are interested, go ahead and click here. We accept applications seasonally, from January through March and again from July through September. We will review all applications received during those months and contact all applicants in April and again in October.

Q: What criteria do you consider in deciding which families who apply are invited into the program?
A: Our application review committee takes a number of things into account, most significantly the compatibility of what the family’s perceived needs are and our ability to meet those needs.

Q: For the medical referral review, can I use any medical review provider?
A:
We know that every family has individual preferences about what provider they want to use. In fact, we really want families to make a decision about which provider best suits their family. Our only requirement is that the provider is located in the United States and offers full-service support, meaning prereferral support, referral reviews, availability while traveling if that is needed, and postplacement support. We do have providers we like to recommend based on other families’ experiences, and we’re happy to help families find a provider.

Q: If I receive a grant, how are the funds for the medical review paid?
A: We help families with this process. Typically, families let their provider know ahead of time that they are receiving a grant for the cost of their service. When the time comes for a family’s selected provider to review their referral, families let us know, and we work with the provider to pay them directly. We do not want families to pay for it themselves; we can only pay service providers directly and cannot reimburse families.

Q: Based on your experience, do you recommend a particular medical review provider?
A: We do have a lot of experience with providers and can offer our opinions if you think it would be helpful. If you aren’t sure where to even get started, you can peruse a list of potential providers here. If adopting domestically, make sure to ask what kind of services the provider offers for your situation as some providers do not serve families adopting domestically.

Q: I have a referral right now and need a doctor to review it right away. Can you help me?
A: We know these types of situations do happen! We are glad to help you find a provider who can help you, but we aren’t able to provide emergency funding for their services. Our grants are designed to provide ongoing support to families as well as help with the cost of their medical review. In order to do that well, we need every family to go through our set application process, a process that takes a bit of time.

Q: Is there a limit to how many times we can apply for a Sparrow Services grant?
A: There is no limit to how many times you can apply. If you applied but did not receive a grant and want to apply again, you can submit another completed application for review. If you received a grant already and want to apply again for a grant for another adoption, we’re glad to consider your application again.

Q: I saw on the Who We Are page that you talk about the Bible and Jesus. Does that mean we need to believe the same things to qualify for services from The Sparrow Fund? 
A: No, you do not need to believe the same things as the leadership team. Our desire is to serve all families so they can be best prepared for their adoption. We won’t preach at you or put pressure on you. But, we’ll always be glad to share if you want to know more about what we believe and why we are motivated to do all this work.