Court Opinion

ID: 9693009
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 16:15:31.763478+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:38.718489
License: Public Domain

COLINS, President Judge,
dissenting.
Although the Barczynskis unselfishly assumed legal custody of Reggie in an effort to ensure his best interests and to provide him with a stable home life, Pennsylvania law makes no provision for adoptive parents where the child they wish to adopt has been removed from the custody of the local authorities. I dissent because I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the Pennsylvania law limiting adoption assistance to children in state custody conflicts with the federal Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, 42 U.S.C. §§ 670-677.
For purposes of adoption assistance benefits, Section 772 of the Public Welfare Code (Code)1 defines “eligible child” as
a child in the legal custody of local authorities where parental rights have been terminated ... and such child has been in foster placement for a period of not less than six months and where the child has been shown to be a difficult adoption placement because of a physical and/or mental handicap, emotional disturbance, or by virtue of age, sibling relationship, or ethnicity-
62 P.S. § 772. DPW regulations promulgated for the purpose of identifying eligible children provide that “[t]he county children and youth social service agency (county agency) is the sole authority for certifying a child’s eligibility for adoption assistance.” 55 Pa.Code § 3140.202(a). The regulation provides that
(b)The county agency shall certify for adoption assistance children whose placement goal is adoption and who meet the following requirements:
(1)The child is 17 years of age or younger.
(2) Parental rights have been terminated....
(3) The child is in the legal custody of the county agency or another agency approved by the Department.
(4) The child shall have at least one of the following characteristics:
(i) A physical, mental or emotional condition or handicap.
(ii) A genetic condition which indicates a high risk of developing a disease or handicap.
(in) Be a member of a minority group.
(iv) Be a member of a sibling group.
(v) Be 5 years of age or older.
(c) Prior to certification for adoption assistance, the county agency shall make reasonable efforts to find an adoptive home without providing adoption assistance....
(d) If it would be against the best interests of the child because of factors, such as the existence of significant emotional ties with prospective adoptive parents while in the care of the parents as a foster child, the requirement of subsection (c) does not apply-
55 Pa.Code § 3140.202(b)-(d) (emphasis added). Under the terms of the Code, Reggie is not an eligible child because Reggie is not in the custody of the county agency or other approved agency and DHS no longer had any placement goal for Reggie. DHS, as the sole authority for certifying eligibility, has no discretion to authorize adoption assistance for any child who does not meet the statutory requirements for eligibility.
The Child Welfare Act of 1980, 42 U.S.C. §§ 670-676, was enacted as an amendment to the Social Security Act for the purpose of improving federal support for foster care and to establish a program of federal support to encourage adoptions of children with special needs.2 A child with special needs is one for whom the state has determined that the child cannot, or should not, be returned to his or *1227her parents and for whom the state has determined the presence of
a factor or condition (such as ethnic background, age, or membership in a minority or sibling group, or the presence of factors such as medical conditions or physical, mental, or emotional handicaps) because of which it is reasonable to conclude that such child cannot be placed with adoptive parents without providing adoption assistance ... and [ ] that, except where it would be against the best interests of the child because of such factors as the existence of significant emotional ties with prospective adoptive parents while in the care of such parents as a foster child, a reasonable, but unsuccessful, effort has been made to place the child with appropriate adoptive parents without providing adoption assistance....
42 U.S.C. § 673(c)(2). Although, unlike Pennsylvania law, the Child Welfare Act does not specify that a child be in agency custody in order to be eligible for adoption assistance, both the statute, by its terms, and its history contemplate providing assistance only to children in state custody. The federal law refers to a state’s “placement” of a “foster child” for adoption and requires that the state agency determine that the child cannot be placed for adoption because of specified factors and/or conditions, after the agency has made an unsuccessful effort to place the child with adoptive parents.
The legislative history of the Child Welfare Act of 1980 supports the conclusion that only children in agency custody are eligible for adoption assistance. The Senate Finance Committee report states that, “[u]nder the adoption subsidy program, a State would be responsible for determining which children in the State in foster care would be eligible for adoption assistance because of special needs which have discourage adoption.”3 In its general discussion of the bill, the committee stated4 that although
assistance to children in foster care has been of significant benefit over the years since it was originally enacted in 1961 .... it would be desirable to ... deemphasize the use of foster care and encourage greater efforts to place children in permanent homes. For this reason, the committee has made certain changes in the foster care provisions and has also adopted a new program of federally aided adoption assistance for children who would otherwise continue in foster care....
Furthermore, the federal Child Welfare Act gives the states discretion to determine child eligibility and to decide which factors and conditions to consider in determining whether a child has special needs. The committee stated,5
the State would have to determine that it could not reasonably expect to place the child in the absence of adoption assistance because of some specific factor or condition which makes the child hard to place. The determination could be based on such factors as a physical or emotional handicap, the need to place members of a sibling group with a single adoptive family, difficulty in placing children of certain ages or ethnic backgrounds, or similar factors or combinations of factors. Each State would be responsible for deciding which factors would ordinarily result in making it difficult to place certain children in adoptive homes.
Conflict between state and federal law, such that the state law is pre-empted, arises when compliance with both the federal and state law is impossible or when the state law stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress. Matter of Reading Company, 115 F.3d 1111 (3d Cir.1997); First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Hazleton v. Office of State Treasurer, Unclaimed Property Review Committee, 543 Pa. 80, 669 A.2d 914 (1995). In this ease, Pennsylvania law does not stand as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress. The Pennsylvania Public Welfare Code defines *1228eligibility for adoption assistance consistent with the terms of the federal act, which contemplates assistance for special needs children in foster care, i.e., state custody.
Nothing in the federal statute or in the legislative history leads to the conclusion that states must make adoption assistance benefits available to special needs children who are privately adopted.6 In fact such a conclusion might defeat the purposes of the adoption assistance program by directing benefits away from children in foster care and other forms of state custody and toward other hard-to-place children, such as children adopted from foreign countries and through private placement agencies. The law reserves adoption assistance for children who are hard to place and who are most likely to remain in the foster care system for the long term unless those benefits are made available.
For the reasons stated above, I would affirm DPW’s order.

. Act of June 13, 1967, P.L. 31, as amended, added by Section 1 of the Act of December 30, 1974, P.L. 1039, 62 P.S. § 772. Subdivision (e) of the Code, Sections 771 through 774, is also known as the Adoption Opportunities Act.

. 42 U.S.C. § 670; S.Rep. No. 96-336, at 1 (1980), reprinted in 1980 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1448, 1450.

. S.Rep. No. 96-336, at 2 (1980), 1980 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 1450-51 (emphasis added).

. Id. at 12, 1980 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 1461 (emphasis added).

.Id. at 13, 1980 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 1462 (emphasis added).

. The committee's report seems to suggest that the presence of a specifically enumerated factor or condition would not automatically make a child eligible for adoption assistance; rather, the state needs to make a determination that a particular child is hard to place. In this case, the Barczynskis’ immediate interest in adopting Reggie would belie any determination that he was hard to place.