Bill Text: MI HB4079 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Human services; other; provision relating to adoption assistance; modify. Amends secs. 115f, 115h & 115k of 1939 PA 280 (MCL 400.115f et seq.).

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-01-18 - Printed Bill Filed 01/14/2011 [HB4079 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2011-HB4079-Introduced.html

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HOUSE BILL No. 4079

 

January 13, 2011, Introduced by Rep. Slavens and referred to the Committee on Families, Children, and Seniors.

 

     A bill to amend 1939 PA 280, entitled

 

"The social welfare act,"

 

by amending sections 115f, 115h, and 115k (MCL 400.115f, 400.115h,

 

and 400.115k), section 115f as amended by 2004 PA 193 and sections

 

115h and 115k as added by 1994 PA 238.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 115f. As used in this section and sections 115g to 115s:

 

     (a) "Adoptee" means the child who is to be adopted or who is

 

adopted.

 

     (b) "Adoption assistance" means a support subsidy, or medical

 

assistance, or both reimbursement of nonrecurring adoption

 

expenses, or all of these.

 

     (c) "Adoption assistance agreement" means an agreement between

 

the department and an adoptive parent regarding adoption

 

assistance.

 

     (d) "Adoption code" means the Michigan adoption code, chapter

 

X of the probate code, of 1939, 1939 PA 288, MCL 710.21 to 710.70.

 

     (e) "Adoptive parent" means the parent or parents who adopt a

 

child under the adoption code.

 

     (f) "Certification" means a determination of eligibility by

 

the department that an adoptee is eligible for a support subsidy or

 

a medical subsidy or both.

 

     (g) "Child placing agency" means that term as defined in

 

section 1 of 1973 PA 116, MCL 722.111.

 

     (h) "Child with special needs" means an individual under the

 

age of 18 years for whom the state has determined all of the

 

following:

 

     (i) There is a specific judicial finding that the child cannot

 

or should not be returned to the home of the child's parents.

 

     (ii) A specific factor or condition, or a combination of

 

factors and conditions, exists with respect to the child so that it

 

is reasonable to conclude that the child cannot be placed with an

 

adoptive parent without providing adoption assistance under this

 

act. The factors or conditions to be considered may include ethnic

 

or family background, age, membership in a minority or sibling

 

group, medical condition, physical, mental, or emotional

 

disability, or length of time the child has been waiting for an

 

adoptive home.

 

     (iii) A reasonable but unsuccessful effort was made to place the

 

adoptee with an appropriate adoptive parent without providing

 

adoption assistance under this act or a prospective placement is

 

the only placement in the best interest of the child.

 

     (i) "Compact" means the interstate compact on adoption and

 

medical assistance as enacted in sections 115r and 115s.

 

     (j) "Court" means the family division of circuit court.

 

     (k) "Department" means the family independence agency

 

department of human services.

 

     (l) "Foster care" means placement by a court under section 2(b)

 

of chapter XIIA of the probate code, MCL 712A.2, of a child outside

 

the child's parental home by and under the supervision of a child

 

placing agency, the court, the department, or the department of

 

community health.

 

     (m) "Medical assistance" means the federally aided medical

 

assistance program under title XIX. of the social security act,

 

chapter 531, 49 Stat. 620, 42 U.S.C. 1396 to 1396r-6 and 1396r-8 to

 

1396v.

 

     (n) "Medical subsidy" means payment for medical, surgical,

 

hospital, and related expenses necessitated by a specified

 

physical, mental, or emotional condition of a child who has been

 

placed for adoption.

 

     (o) "Medical subsidy agreement" means an agreement between the

 

department and an adoptive parent regarding a medical subsidy.

 

     (p) "Nonrecurring adoption expenses" means reasonable and

 

necessary adoption fees, court costs, attorney fees, and other

 

expenses that are directly related to the legal adoption of a child

 

with special needs. Nonrecurring adoption expenses do not include

 

costs or expenses incurred in violation of state or federal law or

 

that have been reimbursed from other sources or funds.

 

     (q) "Other expenses that are directly related to the legal

 

adoption of a child with special needs" means adoption costs

 

incurred by or on behalf of the adoptive parent and for which the

 

adoptive parent carries the ultimate liability for payment,

 

including the adoption study, health and psychological

 

examinations, supervision of the placement before adoption, and

 

transportation and reasonable costs of lodging and food for the

 

child or adoptive parent if necessary to complete the adoption or

 

placement process.

 

     (r) "Party state" means a state that becomes a party to the

 

interstate compact on adoption and medical assistance.

 

     (s) "Placement" means a placement or commitment, including the

 

necessity of removing the child from his or her parental home, as

 

approved by the court under an order of disposition issued under

 

section 18(1)(c) or (d) of chapter XIIA of the probate code, of

 

1939, 1939 PA 288, MCL 712A.18 712A.1 to 712A.32.

 

     (t) "Probate code" means the probate code of 1939, 1939 PA

 

288, MCL 710.21 to 712A.32.

 

     (u) (t) "Residence state" means the state in which the child

 

is a resident by virtue of the adoptive parent's residency.

 

     (v) (u) "State" means a state of the United States, the

 

District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin

 

Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or

 

a territory or possession of the United States.

 

     (w) (v) "Support subsidy" means payment for support of a child

 

who has been placed for adoption.

 

     Sec. 115h. (1) The department may pay a medical subsidy to the

 

adoptive parent or parents of an adoptee who is placed for adoption

 

in the home of the adoptive parent or parents pursuant to under the

 

adoption code or the laws of any other state or a tribal

 

government, if all of the following requirements are met:

 

     (a) The expenses to be covered by the medical subsidy are

 

necessitated by a physical, mental, or emotional condition of the

 

adoptee that existed or the cause of which existed before the

 

adoption petition was filed confirmed or certification was

 

established, whichever occurred first.

 

     (b) The adoptee was in foster care at the time the petition

 

for adoption was filed. This subdivision does not apply to

 

adoptions confirmed pursuant to the adoption code before June 28,

 

1992 determined eligible for adoption support subsidy as described

 

in section 115g or was in foster care under section 2(b) of chapter

 

XIIA of the probate code, MCL 712A.2, at the time the petition for

 

adoption was filed.

 

     (c) Certification was made before the adoptee's eighteenth

 

birthday.

 

     (2) The department shall determine the amount of the medical

 

subsidy without respect to the income of the adoptive parent or

 

parents. The department shall not pay a medical subsidy until all

 

other available public money and third party payment is used. For

 

purposes of this subsection, third party payment is available if an

 

adoptive parent has an option, at or after the time of

 

certification, to obtain from the parent's employer health coverage

 

for the child, with or without cost to the adoptive parent. The

 

department may waive this subsection in cases of undue hardship.

 

     (3) The adoptive parent or parents may request a medical

 

subsidy before or after the confirmation of the adoption. A medical

 

subsidy requested after the adoptee is placed in adoption is

 

effective the date the request is received by the department if the

 

necessary documentation for certification is received within 90

 

days after the request is made. In allocating available funding for

 

medical subsidies, the department shall not give preferential

 

treatment to requests that are made before the confirmation of an

 

adoption, but shall allocate funds based on a child's need for the

 

subsidy.

 

     (4) Payment of a medical subsidy for treatment of a mental or

 

emotional condition is limited to outpatient treatment unless 1 or

 

more of the following apply:

 

     (a) Certification for the medical subsidy was made before the

 

adoption confirmation date.

 

     (a) (b) The adoptee was placed in foster care by the court

 

pursuant to section 18(1)(d) or (e) of chapter XIIA of Act No. 288

 

of the Public Acts of 1939, being section 712A.18 of the Michigan

 

Compiled Laws, before under section 2(b) of chapter XIIA of the

 

probate code, MCL 712A.2, at the time the petition for adoption was

 

filed.

 

     (b) (c) The adoptee was certified for a support subsidy.

 

     Sec. 115k. (1) An adoption assistance or medical subsidy

 

applicant, a preadoptive parent or parents with whom a child has

 

been placed under section 51 of the adoption code, MCL 710.51, an

 

adoptee, the an adoptee's guardian, or the an adoptive parent or

 

parents may appeal a determination of the department made under

 

this act. The appeal shall be conducted pursuant according to the

 

administrative procedures act of 1969, Act No. 306 of the Public

 

Acts of 1969, being sections 24.201 to 24.328 of the Michigan

 

Compiled Laws 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to 24.328. An appeal brought

 

pursuant to under chapter 6 of Act No. 306 of the Public Acts of

 

1969, being sections 24.301 to 24.306 of the Michigan Compiled Laws

 

the administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.301

 

to 24.306, shall be heard as follows:

 

     (a) In the case of an adoptee residing in this state, by the

 

probate court for the county in which the petition for adoption was

 

filed or the county in which the adoptee is found.

 

     (b) In the case of an adoptee not residing in this state, by

 

the probate court for the county in which the petition for adoption

 

was filed.

 

     (2) The department shall notify the adoptee and the adoptive

 

parent or parents individuals identified in subsection (1) of their

 

rights of appeal under this section.