10- 148 C.M.R. ch. 13, § 7 - PROCEDURES
a. For adoption assistance in general:
1 The child must have been legally cleared
for adoption by the Assistant Attorney General or approval of a legal risk
placement must have been given by the Commissioner or his designee before
placement may be considered. Eligible children in the custody of a non-profit,
private adoption agency licensed in this State must also be legally free for
adoption, or approved for legal risk placement in accordance with the
Department's Policy.
2 The family
must have been studied and approved as meeting the Department's standards for
adoption by either the Department or a licensed child-placing agency with an
adoption program.
3 The child's
caseworker shall document the "reasonable, but unsuccessful" attempts to place
the child without adoption assistance, in accordance with departmental policy.
on forms to be provided by the department. These efforts can be waived in some
instances, by the Adoption Program Specialist (see 2.e. of these
rules).
4 The reasons that the
child cannot be placed without assistance and the reasons for the amount, type
and duration of assistance must be established by Departmental staff on forms
to be provided by the Department.
5
The approved adoptive family must make application for assistance on forms to
be provided by the Department. The application must give notice of the right to
appeal a denial of subsidy through a fair hearing process.
6 The plan to place the child with assistance
must have the initial approval of the Department's Adoption Supervisor on forms
to be provided by the Department.
7
The application and written agreement, signed by the adoptive parents or parent
in the case of a single parent, shall be sent together with forms indicated in
Part 7, Sections C and E, to the Bureau of Child and Family Services of the
Department for presentation to the Commissioner or his designee.
8 The child may not be placed for adoption
with adoption assistance until the plan has been approved and the written
agreement signed by the Commissioner of the Department or designee. An
exception can be made by the Commissioner or designee in certain conditions
which develop or are discovered after the child has been placed for adoption
but before the adoption is finalized by Probate Court, or in the case of a
request for retroactive adoption assistance as indicated in Section 3. a.3. and
3.b.3. of these rules.
9 If the
Commissioner or designee does not approve the plan for adoption with
assistance, the family shall be notified in writing, giving the reasons and
stating the family's right to appeal the decision and procedures for appeal.
10 In all instances, the decision whether to
place a child for adoption rests with the Department, or the licensed child
placing agency, which under law has the full parental responsibility for the
child.
b. For
non-recurring adoption expenses:
1 Application
must be made on forms provided by the Department for reimbursement prior to the
adoption of the special needs child. Original receipts must be
attached.
2 The child must be
certified on forms Provided by the Department as a special needs child who also
meets the definition of difficult to place.
3 An agreement approving reimbursement for
non-recurring adoption expenses must be signed by the family and the
Commissioner or his designee prior to the legal adoption of the child, except
in certain cases prior to 1995 with an application now pending, where an
agreement was not signed before the child's legal adoption and these rules were
not in effect.
c. For
retroactive adoption assistance:
A family must request assistance in writing to the Department's Adoption Program Specialist, then follow procedures as outlined in these rules.
Notes
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