10103451D
HOUSE BILL NO. 443
Offered January 13, 2010
Prefiled January 12, 2010
A BILL to amend and reenact §§63.2-1300 through 63.2-1303 of
the Code of Virginia, relating to adoption assistance.
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Patron-- Toscano
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Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§63.2-1300 through 63.2-1303 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§63.2-1300. Purpose and intent of adoption assistance;
eligibility.
The purpose of adoption assistance is to facilitate adoptive
placements and ensure permanency for children with special needs. Adoption
assistance includes subsidy may include Title
IV-E maintenance payments, state-funded maintenance payments, state special
services payments and nonrecurring expense payments made
pursuant to requirements set forth in this chapter. A
child with special needs is any child (i) in the custody of a local board that
has the authority to place the child for adoption and consent thereto in
accordance with the provisions of §§63.2-900, 63.2-903 and 63.2-1105 or (ii)
in the custody of a licensed child-placing agency, for whom it has been
determined that it is unlikely that the child will be adopted within a
reasonable period of time due to one or more factors including, but not limited
to:
A child with special
needs is a child who is a citizen or legal resident of the United States who is unlikely to be adopted within a reasonable period of time due to one
or more of the following factors:
1. Physical, mental or emotional condition existing prior to
adoption;
2. Hereditary tendency, congenital problem or birth injury
leading to substantial risk of future disability; or
3. Individual circumstances of the child related to age,
racial or ethnic background or close relationship with one or more siblings.
A child with special
needs will be eligible for adoption assistance if (i) the child cannot or
should not be returned to the
home of his parents and
(ii) reasonable efforts to place the
child in an appropriate adoptive home without the provision of adoption
assistance have been unsuccessful. An exception may be
made to the requirement that efforts be made to place the child in
an adoptive home
without the provision of adoption assistance when the
child has developed significant emotional ties with his foster parents while in
their care and that the
foster parents wish to adopt the child.
Child with special needs
shall also include a child for whom the factors set out in subdivision 1 or 2
are present at the time of adoption but are not diagnosed until after the final
order of adoption is entered and no more than one year has elapsed.
§63.2-1301. Types of adoption assistance payments.
A. Title
IV-E maintenance payments shall be made to the adoptive
parents on behalf of an adopted child
placed if it is determined that the child is a child with special needs and the child meets the requirements set forth in §473 of Title IV-E of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. §673).
B. State-funded maintenance payments
shall be made to the adoptive parents on behalf of an adopted child if it is
determined that the child does not meet the requirements set forth in §473 of
Title IV-E of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. §673) but the child is a child with special needs. For this purpose of
state-funded maintenance payments only, a child with special needs may include:
1. A child for whom the factors set forth in subdivision 1 or 2 of §63.2-1300 are
present at the time of adoption but are not diagnosed until after the final order of adoption, when no more than one year has elapsed from the date of diagnosis; or
2. A child who has lived
with his foster parents for at least 12 months and has developed significant emotional ties with his foster parents while in their care, when
the foster parents wish to adopt the child and state-funded maintenance payments are necessary to enable the adoption.
C. SubsidyState
special services payments shall be made to the adoptive
parents and other persons on behalf of a child in the custody of the local
board or in the custody of a licensed child-placing agency and placed for
adoption, pursuant to this chapter, if it is determined that:
1. The child is a child with special needs; and
2. The adoptive parents are capable of providing the permanent
family relationships needed by the child in all respects except financial.
Such subsidy payments
shall be made, however, only after a reasonable but unsuccessful effort has
been made to place the child with appropriate adoptive parents without the
provision of adoption assistance pursuant to this chapter except in cases where
the child has developed significant emotional ties with the prospective
adoptive parents while in the care of such parents as a foster child.
D. Nonrecurring
expense payments may be made to the
adoptive parents for expenses related to the adoption including reasonable
and necessary adoption fees, court costs, attorney fees and
other legal service fees, as well as any other expenses that are directly related to the legal adoption of a child with special needs
including costs related to the adoption study,
any health and psychological examinations, supervision of the placement prior
to adoption and any transportation costs
and reasonable costs of lodging and food for the
child and the adoptive parents when
necessary to complete the
placement or adoption process for which the adoptive
parents carry ultimate liability for payment and that have not been reimbursed
from any other source, as set forth in 45
C.F.R. §1356.41. However, the total amount of
nonrecurring expense payments made to adoptive
parents for the adoption of a child shall not exceed $2,000 or an amount established by federal
law.
§63.2-1302. Adoption assistance payments; maintenance;
special needs; payment agreements; continuation of payments when adoptive
parents move to another jurisdiction; procedural requirements.
A. Subsidy Adoption assistance
payments shall may
include:
1. A Title IV-E or
state-funded maintenance subsidy payments
that shall be payable monthly to provide for the support and care of the child;
however, the Title IV-E or
state-funded maintenance subsidy payments
shall not exceed the maximum regular foster
care payment that would otherwise be made for the child; and
2. A State
special need subsidy services payments
to provide special services to the child that the adoptive parents cannot
afford and that are not covered by insurance or otherwise, including, but not
limited to:
a. Medical, surgical and dental care;
b. Hospitalization;
c. Legal services in effecting
adoption;
d.c. Individual remedial
educational services;
e.d. Psychological and
psychiatric treatment;
f.e. Speech and physical therapy; and
g.f. Special services, equipment,
treatment and training for physical and mental handicaps;
and
h. Cost of adoptive
home study and placement by a child-placing agency other than the local board.
Special need
subsidiesState special
services payments may be paid to the vendor of the goods or
services directly or through to
the adoptive parents.
B.Subsidy Adoption
assistance payments shall cease when the child with special
needs reaches the age of eighteen 18 years. If it is determined
that the child has a mental or physical handicap, or an educational delay
resulting from such handicap, warranting the continuation of assistance, subsidy adoption assistance
payments may be made until the child reaches the age of twenty-one 21
years.
B. C.Maintenance
subsidy payments and special need subsidy Adoption assistance
payments shall be made on the basis of an adoption assistance agreement entered
into by the local board and the adoptive parents or, in cases in which the
child is in the custody of a licensed child-placing agency, an agreement
between the local board, the licensed child-placing agency and the adoptive
parents.
Prior to entering into an adoption assistance agreement, the
local board or licensed child-placing agency shall ensure that adoptive parents
have received information about their child's eligibility for subsidy adoption assistance;
about their child's special needs and, to the extent possible, the current and
potential impact of those special needs. The local board or licensed
child-placing agency shall also ensure that adoptive parents receive
information about the process for appeal in the event of a disagreement between
the adoptive parent and the local board or the adoptive parent and the
child-placing agency and information about the procedures for revising the
adoption assistance agreement.
Adoptive parents shall submit annually to the local board
within thirty days of the anniversary date of the approved agreement an
affidavit which certifies that (i) the child on whose behalf they are receiving subsidy adoption assistance
payments remains in their care, (ii) the child's condition requiring subsidy adoption assistance
continues to exist, and (iii) whether or not changes to the adoption assistance
agreement are requested. Failure to provide
this information may be grounds for suspension of the subsidy payment until
such time as the information is provided.
Maintenance subsidyTitle IV-E and state-funded maintenance
payments made pursuant to this section shall not
be reduced unless the circumstances of the child or adoptive parents have
changed significantly in relation to the terms of the subsidy agreement be changed only in
accordance with the provisions of §473 of Title IV-E of the Social Security
Act (42 U.S.C. §673).
C.D. Responsibility for subsidy adoption assistance
payments for a child placed for adoption shall be continued by the local board
that initiated the agreement in the event that the adoptive parents live in or
move to another jurisdiction, provided that the
adoptive parents meet the conditions of the agreement and provided that an
agreement can be made with the appropriate agency of the locality within or
without the Commonwealth where the adoptive family lives or is moving to
provide the necessary assistance in administering the subsidy agreement.
D.E. Payments may be made under
this chapter from appropriations for foster care services for the maintenance
and medical or other services for children who have special needs in accordance
with §63.2-1301. Within the limitations of the appropriations to the Department,
the Commissioner shall reimburse any agency making payments under this chapter.
Any such agency may seek and accept funds from other sources, including
federal, state, local, and private sources, to carry out the purposes of this
chapter.
§63.2-1303. Qualification for adoption assistance payments.
Qualification for subsidy adoption assistance
payments shall be determined by the local board or
by the licensed child-placing agency, whichever has custody of the child, in response to an
application for adoption assistance submitted in accordance
with regulations adopted by the Board.
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