Wis. Admin. Code Department of Children and Families DCF 50.09 - Eligibility for adoption assistance
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.
(2) REASONABLE EFFORTS TO ASSURE ADOPTION.
(a)
Documented search for suitable
adoptive placement.
1. The adoption
agency shall make reasonable efforts to place the child with the best available
prospective adoptive parents without providing adoption assistance. The agency
shall document the search efforts in the child's record.
2. The adoption agency's search efforts shall
include consideration of a number of prospective adoptive parents, including
all of the following:
a. Relatives of the
child.
b. The adoptive parents of a
sibling or the proposed adoptive parents of a sibling placed with the proposed
adoptive parents as required under s.
48.834(2),
Stats.
c. A review of approved
prospective adoptive parents associated with the adoption agency.
d. If the child is an Indian child, the order
of placement preference under s.
48.028(7) (a),
Stats., unless there is good cause as described in s.
48.028(7) (e),
Stats., for departing from that order.
3. If 2 or more appropriate prospective
adoptive parents are not available, the adoption agency shall make a timely
effort to locate additional prospective adoptive parents by doing any of the
following:
a. Contacting other adoption
agencies.
b. Photolisting the child
with the adoption information exchange.
c. Working through the adoption information
exchange to photolist the child with a national adoption exchange.
(b)
Disclosure. Once the adoption agency determines that placement
with specific prospective adoptive parents would be the most suitable for the
child, the agency shall give the identified prospective adoptive parents all
relevant information about the child known to the agency, including information
on any existing or potential special need described under sub. (1) (b) and a
copy of the completed forms for the child that are required under ch. DCF 37.
(c)
Adoption assistance
necessary to assure adoption. If the child has a special need
described under sub. (1) (b) and the requirements of this subsection are met,
the adoption agency shall inform the identified prospective adoptive parents of
the adoption assistance program and ask if they are willing to adopt the child
without receiving adoption assistance. If the identified prospective adoptive
parents are unwilling to adopt the child without receiving adoption assistance,
the requirement of reasonable, but unsuccessful, efforts to place the child
with appropriate adoptive parents without providing adoption assistance is met.
A request for adoption assistance may not be a basis for removing a child from
a current adoptive placement.
(d)
Exceptions. The requirements of this subsection do not apply
if any of the following conditions is met:
1.
The child has developed significant emotional ties with the child's foster
family and all of the following conditions are met:
a. The child identifies as a member of the
family.
b. The child's foster
parents, foster siblings, community, and school consider the child to be a
member of that family.
c. If denied
permanence with the foster family, the child has a diminished probability of
forming new attachments due to the child's attachment to the foster family and
other factors, such as age and number of previous placements.
2. Proposed adoptive parents
request adoption assistance for a child placed in the proposed adoptive
parents' home for adoption without adoption assistance if the child
demonstrates a special need that meets the standard in sub. (1) (b) 3. before
the adoption is finalized.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.