Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Children and Families › DCF 021-99 - Safety and Permanence › Chapter DCF 50 - Facilitating Public Adoptions And Adoption Assistance › Section DCF 50.09 - Eligibility for adoption assistance

Current through June 24, 2024
The department shall determine if all of the following
				  conditions are met before entering into an agreement to provide adoption
				  assistance for a child:
(1)
				ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR THE CHILD.
(a)
Age.
The child is under 18 years of age at the time of
				adoption.
(b)
Special
				needs.
The child has any of the following special needs at the time of
				the adoptive placement:
1. The child is 7
				years of age or older if age is the only factor in determining
				eligibility.
2. The child is a
				member of a sibling group of 2 or more children that must be placed
				together.
3.
a. For an adoption assistance agreement
				entered into before July 1, 2011, the child exhibits special need
				characteristics judged to be moderate or intensive under the schedule of
				difficulty-of-care levels specified in s.
				DCF
				50.12(3).
b. For an adoption assistance agreement
				entered into on or after July 1, 2011, the child has a total of 5 or more needs
				that have been identified as moderate or intensive in the areas listed in s.
				DCF
				56.23(2) (a) 1. a. to e. in the rate
				schedule under s.
				DCF
				56.23(2) (a).
4. The child belongs to a minority race and
				children of that minority race cannot be readily placed due to a lack of
				appropriate placement resources.
5.
				The child is an Indian child.
6.
				The child does not have a documented special need under subds. 1. to 5. but is
				a child at high risk of developing a moderate or intensive level of special
				needs described in subd. 3. based on any of the following:
a. Either or both of the child's birth
				parents have a documented medical diagnosis or medical history that could
				result in a condition for the child described in subd. 3. at a later
				time.
b. The child's birth mother
				received inappropriate prenatal care that could later result in the child
				developing special needs described in subd. 3., and the inappropriate care is
				documented in medical or hospital records.
c. The child's birth mother used harmful
				drugs or alcohol during pregnancy that could later result in the child
				developing special needs described in subd. 3. , and the birth mother's use of
				the harmful drugs or alcohol during pregnancy is documented in medical,
				hospital, law enforcement, or court records; the records of a county department
				or the department; or the records of an agency under contract with a county
				department or the department to provide child welfare services.
d. The child has experienced 4 or more
				placements with extended family or in foster homes that could affect the normal
				attachment process.
e. The child
				experienced neglect in the first 3 years of life or sustained physical injury
				or physical disease that could have a long-term effect on physical, emotional,
				or intellectual development.
(c)
Availability for
				adoption.
At the time of placement for adoption, all of the following
				conditions are met:
1. The child is under the
				guardianship of an adoption agency or in a subsidized guardianship under s.
				48.623,
				Stats, if guardianship is transferred to a public or private adoption agency
				before the child is placed under s.
				48.833,
				Stats.
2. The court, department,
				county department, tribal child welfare department, or the child's adoption
				agency has determined that the child cannot or should not return to the child's
				parents.
(d)
Wisconsin responsibility.
1.
				`Interstate adoptions.' Adoption assistance may be provided for a child brought
				to Wisconsin for adoption from another state under ss.
				48.98
				and
				48.99,
				Stats., if the public child welfare agency in the child's previous state of
				residence does not have responsibility for placement and care of the child
				under applicable federal law regarding Title IV-E of the Social Security Act,
				as amended.
2. `Intercountry
				adoptions.'
a. No adoption assistance may be
				provided for a child that was adopted outside of the United States or was
				brought to the United States for the purpose of being adopted.
b. Notwithstanding subd. 2. a., adoption
				assistance may be provided for an otherwise eligible child that is placed in
				out-of-home care subsequent to the failure, as determined by the department, of
				the initial adoption.