Section 5153.163. Payments to adoptive parent of child with special needs

(A) As used in this section, "adoptive parent" means, as the context requires, a prospective adoptive parent or an adoptive parent.

(B)

(1) Before a child's adoption is finalized, a public children services agency may enter into an agreement with the child's adoptive parent under which the agency , to the extent state funds are available, may make state adoption maintenance subsidy payments as needed on behalf of the child when all of the following apply:

(a) The child is a child with special needs.

(b) The child was placed in the adoptive home by a public children services agency or a private child placing agency and may legally be adopted.

(c) The adoptive parent has the capability of providing the permanent family relationships needed by the child.

(d) The needs of the child are beyond the economic resources of the adoptive parent.

(e) Acceptance of the child as a member of the adoptive parent's family would not be in the child's best interest without payments on the child's behalf under this section.

(f) The gross income of the adoptive parent's family does not exceed one hundred twenty per cent of the median income of a family of the same size, including the child, as most recently determined for this state by the secretary of health and human services under Title XX of the "Social Security Act," 88 Stat. 2337, 42 U.S.C.A. 1397, as amended.

(g) The child is not eligible for adoption assistance payments under Title IV-E of the "Social Security Act," 94 Stat. 501 (1980), 42 U.S.C.A. 671, as amended.

(2) State adoption maintenance subsidy payment agreements must be made by either the public children services agency that has permanent custody of the child or the public children services agency of the county in which the private child placing agency that has permanent custody of the child is located.

(3) State adoption maintenance subsidy payments shall be made in accordance with the agreement between the public children services agency and the adoptive parent and are subject to an annual redetermination of need.

(4) Payments under this division may begin either before or after issuance of the final adoption decree, except that payments made before issuance of the final adoption decree may be made only while the child is living in the adoptive parent's home. Preadoption payments may be made for not more than twelve months, unless the final adoption decree is not issued within that time because of a delay in court proceedings. Payments that begin before issuance of the final adoption decree may continue after its issuance.

(C)

(1) If, after the child's adoption is finalized, a public children services agency considers a child residing in the county served by the agency to be in need of public care or protective services, the agency may, to the extent state funds are available for this purpose, enter into an agreement with the child's adoptive parent under which the agency may make post adoption special services subsidy payments on behalf of the child as needed when both of the following apply:

(a) The child has a physical or developmental handicap or mental or emotional condition that either:

(i) Existed before the adoption petition was filed; or

(ii) Developed after the adoption petition was filed and can be directly attributed to factors in the child's preadoption background, medical history, or biological family's background or medical history.

(b) The agency determines the expenses necessitated by the child's handicap or condition are beyond the adoptive parent's economic resources.

(2) Services for which a public children services agency may make post adoption special services subsidy payments on behalf of a child under this division shall include medical, surgical, psychiatric, psychological, and counseling services, including residential treatment.

(3) The department of job and family services shall establish clinical standards to evaluate a child's physical or developmental handicap or mental or emotional condition and assess the child's need for services.

(4) The total dollar value of post adoption special services subsidy payments made on a child's behalf shall not exceed ten thousand dollars in any fiscal year, unless the department determines that extraordinary circumstances exist that necessitate further funding of services for the child. Under such extraordinary circumstances, the value of the payments made on the child's behalf shall not exceed fifteen thousand dollars in any fiscal year.

(5) The adoptive parent or parents of a child who receives post adoption special services subsidy payments shall pay at least five per cent of the total cost of all services provided to the child; except that a public children services agency may waive this requirement if the gross annual income of the child's adoptive family is not more than two hundred per cent of the federal poverty guideline.

(6) A public children services agency may use other sources of revenue to make post adoption special services subsidy payments, in addition to any state funds appropriated for that purpose.

(D) No payment shall be made under division (B) or (C) of this section on behalf of any person eighteen years of age or older beyond the end of the school year during which the person attains the age of eighteen or on behalf of a mentally or physically handicapped person twenty-one years of age or older.

(E) The director of job and family services shall adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code that are needed to implement this section. The rules shall establish all of the following:

(1) The application process for all forms of assistance provided under this section;

(2) The method to determine the amount of assistance payable under division (B) of this section;

(3) The definition of "child with special needs" for this section;

(4) The process whereby a child's continuing need for services provided under division (B) of this section is annually redetermined;

(5) The method of determining the amount, duration, and scope of services provided to a child under division (C) of this section;

(6) Any other rule, requirement, or procedure the department considers appropriate for the implementation of this section.

(F) The state adoption special services subsidy program ceases to exist on July 1, 2004, except that, subject to the findings of the annual redetermination process established under division (E) of this section and the child's individual need for services, a public children services agency may continue to provide state adoption special services subsidy payments on behalf of a child for whom payments were being made prior to July 1, 2004.

(G) No public children services agency shall, pursuant to either section 2151.353 or 5103.15 of the Revised Code, place or maintain a child with special needs who is in the permanent custody of an institution or association certified by the department of job and family services under section 5103.03 of the Revised Code in a setting other than with a person seeking to adopt the child, unless the agency has determined and redetermined at intervals of not more than six months the impossibility of adoption by a person who wishes to adopt children, and is approved by an agency so empowered under Chapter 5103. of the RevisedCode, or by a person who wishes to adopt a child with special needs as defined in rules adopted under this section, and who is approved by an agency so empowered under Chapter 5103. of the Revised Code, including the impossibility of entering into a payment agreement with such a person. The agency so maintaining such a child shall report its reasons for doing so to the department of job and family services.

The department may take any action permitted under section 5101.24 of the Revised Code for an agency's failure to determine, redetermine, and report on a child's status.

Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.9, HB 1, §101.01, eff. 7/17/2009.

Effective Date: 07-01-2004