What is the limit on
the amount of adoption assistance?
In accordance with
federal law, in practical terms, the child’s foster home payment rate is the
limit on adoption assistance.
The foster care rate is
a changing standard. If the child is in
an adoptive home, it is the rate a child would receive were he or she placed in
a foster home suitable to their level of care today. A child's level of care, may change
significantly over time. So, the
applicable foster care rate is payment the child would receive at present, not
the payment the child received when he or she was in foster care prior to the
adoption.
For example, suppose a
child was receiving a foster care payment of $500 per month at the age of four,
the age at which her adoption was finalized.
After three years, she develops serious learning and emotional problems,
raising her level of care. A more
specialized foster care rate a child of 7 with her level of care would be $900
per month. As we will see, adoptive
parents may ask for a modification of their children's adoption assistance
agreement at any time. If they requested
a modification of the daughter's adoption assistance agreement at age ten, they
could negotiate a new adoption payment of up to $900 per month.
How does the child's foster
care payment rate serve as a practical maximum rate for adoption assistance?
The foster care payment
rate functions as a practical maximum because it is the limit of Federal
Financial Participation (FFP). Above
that amount county agencies would have to pay 100% of the cost.
The foster payment rate
is specific to the individual child and includes specialized foster care payment
rates (therapeutic, treatment, medically fragile).
Does
the foster home payment rate include the administrative costs paid to private
agency foster care providers that provide foster homes through contracts with
public county agencies (PCSAs)?
No, the applicable
foster care payment rate with respect to limits on adoption assistance is the
payment the foster parents receive or would receive on behalf of the child for
the cost of care.
How
does the Statewide Adoption Assistance Maximum Payment affect the limit on
adoption assistance?
The statewide maximum
adoption assistance payment of $1,045 per month does not affect the negotiation
of adoption assistance payments in cases where the foster care payment is or
would be lower that the statewide maximum. The rules and policies governing negotiation apply
as they always have.
Let us suppose that a
child's foster home rate was $800 per month prior to the adoption. The maximum adoption assistance rate that the
adopting parents could expect to negotiate would be $800 per month.
What
if the child's foster care rate is higher than that statewide adoption
assistance maximum of $1,045 per month for SSY 2015 (July, 2014 - June 30,
2015)?
The statewide maximum adoption
assistance rate affects the negotiation of adoption assistance on behalf of
children with relatively high levels of care.
Suppose a child was in some form of therapeutic foster home in which the
foster parents received $1,600 per month for the child's care. The statewide maximum would limit adoption
assistance payments to no more than $1,045 per month, unless the county agency
requests and receives a waiver from ODJFS.
In an earlier post, we cited one adoptive family who entered an agreement
for adoption assistance at the child's foster care rate of over $1,400 because
the county agency requested a waiver. In
cases, where there is an important disparity between the child's foster care
payment rate and the statewide maximum adoption assistance payment, parents
should assertively attempt to negotiate the county's request for a waiver if
the state maximum is inadequate.
If the county requests and obtains a waiver, it is not required to match
the child's foster care rate, but to negotiate an amount of adoption assistance
greater than the statewide maximum up to the child's foster care
rate. If a child was receiving $1,600
per month in foster care payments, the negotiation for adoption assistance would
consider payments between the statewide maximum of $1,045 per month and $1,600.
May foster parents
continue to receive foster care payments while they are negotiating an adoption
assistance agreement with the county agency?
Yes, OAC rule
5101:2-49-08(D) states:
“Before the date on
which the child is placed for adoption, the PCSA shall inform the certified
foster caregiver(s) who is receiving foster care payments for the care of the
child, of the option to continue the foster care payments until the adoption is
finalized.”
