Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 110 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES › Title 110 CMR 7.000 - Services › Adoption › Section 7.209 - Adoption Subsidy

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
Definition of Adoption Subsidy
. The Department
				operates two adoption subsidy programs to support the adoption of children with
				special needs: a federally supported program governed by the provisions of
				Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 673, (hereinafter
				"Title IV-E adoption subsidy"), and a state funded program created pursuant to
				M.G.L. c. 18B, § 21, (hereinafter state adoption subsidy"). In both
				programs, adoption subsidy consists of financial assistance and/or medical
				assistance through the State's Division of Medical Assistance and is provided
				on behalf of a child with special needs after the child has been adopted.
				Financial assistance is intended to aid in the support of the child with
				special needs and is paid directly to the adoptive parent(s). Medical
				assistance is intended to supplement family health insurance for the child with
				special needs and is paid directly to the vendor according to the current
				Division of Medical Assistance fee schedule. Financial assistance provided
				through adoption subsidy may not exceed the amount that would have been
				authorized during the period had the child been in family foster
				care.
(2)
Definition of
				Child with Special Needs
. A child is a "child with special needs"
				if the Department determines that the child meets the following three criteria.
(a) The child cannot or should not be
				returned to the home of his parents. Evidence that the child is legally free
				for adoption meets this criterion.
(b) At least one of the following
				circumstances applies:
1. The child has one or
				more special needs as a result of a mental, emotional or physical impairment,
				behavioral disorder, or medical condition that has been diagnosed by a licensed
				professional who is qualified to make the diagnosis.
2. The child is difficult to place for one or
				more of the following reasons:
a. The child is
				a member of a sibling group of two to be adopted together and one of the
				children is eight years of age or older;
b. The child is a member of a sibling group
				of three or more to be adopted together; or
c. The child is a member of an ethnic or
				cultural minority for whom reasonable, but unsuccessful, efforts to place the
				child in an adoptive home were made and documented.
3. The child's birth and/or family history
				places the child at risk of having special needs but, due to the child's age, a
				reliable diagnosis cannot be made.
(c) Reasonable efforts have been made to
				place the child for adoption in the most appropriate home without providing
				adoption subsidy. The requirement to make such efforts may be waived for any
				child whose best interests would not be served by a new placement because the
				child has developed significant emotional or psychological ties with the
				pre-adoptive parent(s) while in the care of such parent(s), and the
				pre-adoptive parent(s) cannot adopt the child without adoption
				subsidy.