failure by the State agency to advise potential adoptive parents about the availability
of adoption assistance for children in the State foster care system;
Another interstate compact, the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance (ICAMA), ensures
continuity of adoption assistance payments for children placed across State lines.
In BLH v. SCDSS issued today, the Court of Appeals overturned a trial court order granting class certification in an action stemming from alleged
breaches of adoption assistance subsidy agreements.
She has worked in adoptions since 2002 and currently works out of the Nashville, Tennessee branch
of Adoption Assistance as an Adoption Caseworker.
To ensure that children and youth receive the support they need, states, provinces, and placing agencies should train workers about the purpose
of the adoption assistance program and should encourage negotiation designed to achieve the right benefits for the specific child or youth, rather than the lowest possible benefits.
Aid for Adoptive Parents in the
form of Adoption Assistance is also provided allowing adoptive parents to continue to receive benefits until the child reaches 18 years of age.
At the point the child exhibits problems related to those identified high risks, the parents may request an
activation of the Adoption Assistance Agreement to receive benefits and services to meet the changed needs of the child.
Eligible children in custody of Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) or a licensed nonprofit child placing agency may receive one or more of the following
types of adoption assistance: medical assistance, Title XIX (Medicaid), monthly adoption assistance payment, special adoption assistance payment, and non-recurring adoption expenses.
Since the
passage of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act (P.L. 96 - 272) in 1980, Federal law requires the development of a written case plan for any child receiving foster care maintenance payments under title IV - E (42 U.S.C. 671 (16)-RRB-.
Once prospective adoptive parents and an agency enter into an adoption assistance agreement, the state's administrator of the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medicaid Assistance (ICAMA)-- known as the Compact Administrator — will send ICAMA forms establishing the child's basis for assistance, Medicaid eligibility, and a
copy of the adoption assistance agreement.
(2) Any parent who meets the requirements of division (B)(1) of this section that are applicable to a parent may request an
extension of adoption assistance payments at any time before the adopted person reaches age twenty - one.
This section provides resources about the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC), which establishes procedures for ensuring the safety and stability of placements across State lines, and the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance (ICAMA), which ensures
continuity of adoption assistance payments for children in interjurisdictional placements.
When county adoption assistance is petitioned for, the judge of the court in which the adoption is finalized has discretion to determine eligibility and the
amount of the adoption assistance payment.
The adoptive family is notified of the Subsidy Unit determination and if the child is eligible for the federal adoption assistance program (Title IV - E), DCF and the parents will negotiate the terms
of the adoption assistance agreement.
Denial of a request for a change in payment level due to a change in an adoptive parent's circumstances at the time of renewal
of an adoption assistance agreement as described by 922 KAR 1:050, Approval of Adoption Assistance.