Policy

Title IV-E eligibility shall be established at the time the child enters the care and responsibility of the Department.  A redetermination of eligibility shall be completed on an annual basis throughout the child’s entire placement episode.

Definitions

The following are definitions of commonly used terms throughout this policy: 

Processing Technician is a Revenue Enhancement staff person responsible for communicating with social workers, court liaisons and other agencies to obtain necessary documentation to determine and maintain entitlement to federal programs, in addition to granting and maintaining medical coverage for children in out-of-home placements. 

Eligibility month is the month in which the petition or motion was filed which led to the court-ordered removal or the month in which the voluntary placement agreement was signed.  This month serves as the starting point to determine whether the child meets eligibility criteria. 

Placement episode refers to a period of continuous out-of-home placement triggered by a removal. 

Trial home visit is a visit that occurs when the case goal is reunification and a committed child returns home for a period not to exceed six months unless ordered by the court. 

Judicial determination means a  court ruling, order or affidavit signed by a judge.

Criteria

Title IV-E eligibility criteria are determined by the following factors: 

·          physical or constructive removal

·          age of the child

·          legal authority

·          Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) criteria test

·          Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits

·          licensed placement.

Physical  or Constructive Removal

The child must be physically or constructively removed as defined by the Code of Federal Regulations (45 CFR 13) from the home of a specified relative to be IV-E eligible.  Constructive removal is a non-physical or paper removal of custody from the parents or legal guardian under certain circumstances.

Age of the Child

The child must be under eighteen (18) years of age or eighteen (18) years old but expected to complete high school equivalency before the age of nineteen (19) to be IV-E eligible. 

If the child is eighteen (18) years old and not expected to complete high school equivalency before the age of nineteen (19), the child loses eligibility on the eighteenth (18) birthday. 

Legal Authority

For the child to be IV-E eligible, the Department must have 

·          legal responsibility for the care of the child via a court order or a voluntary placement agreement (VPA) at the time of the removal from the home, and 

·          continuous legal responsibility for the care of the child throughout the entire placement episode. 

If there is a lapse in legal responsibility, then the child shall not be IV-E eligible for the duration of the lapse. 

Cross-Reference:   Please see policy 36-30-1, Placement Prevention, and Chapter 37, Voluntary Services Program.  

Contrary to Welfare Language

If a child is removed as a result of a judicial determination, the first judicial determination that sanctions, even on a temporary basis, the removal of the child from the home, shall state that 

·          remaining in the home is contrary to the welfare of the child, or

·          placement is in the best interest of the child. 

If the judicial determination regarding the finding of contrary to the welfare of the child is not made in the first court ruling pertaining the removal from the home, then the child is not IV-E eligible for the duration of that stay in foster care.  

Initial Reasonable Efforts

The initial or subsequent judicial determination must 

·          have legal language to satisfy the reasonable efforts statement, and 

·          be obtained within sixty (60) days from the date of the child’s removal from his or her home.

If a reasonable efforts statement is not in the initial judicial determination but is in a subsequent judicial determination within sixty (60) days of the date of the child’s removal from the home, then the required language for reasonable efforts is met. 

IV-E eligibility begins with the judicial determination that led to the child’s removal if all other criteria are met.  If the reasonable efforts criteria are not met within sixty (60) days of the child’s removal from his or her home, the child loses eligibility from the date of the initial court order and throughout this placement episode. 

The Department shall make reasonable efforts to 

·          prevent, or

·          eliminate the need for removal of the child from his or her home if possible in order for a child to be eligible under Title IV-E. 

To verify that this requirement has been met the Department shall 

·          provide evidence of its actions to a court of competent jurisdiction, and 

·          obtain a ruling by a judge that states that the Department has made reasonable efforts. 

The two possible court rulings that meet the intent of the law are 

·          that reasonable efforts were made to prevent the placement, or 

·          that reasonable efforts were not possible. 

Reasonable Efforts to Finalize Permanency Plan

The Department shall further: 

·          make reasonable efforts to reunify the child with his or her family, and 

·          make and finalize a permanency plan.

 The continued findings of reasonable efforts shall be obtained every twelve (12) months while the child is in foster care. 

A judicial determination that reasonable efforts were made to finalize the permanency plan in effect shall be obtained within twelve (12) months of the date the child entered foster care and every twelve (12) months thereafter while the child is in foster care.

If such a determination is not obtained, the child loses Title IV-E eligibility from 

·          the end of the twelfth month following the date the child entered foster care, or 

·          the end of the month in which the most recent judicial determination of reasonable efforts to finalize a permanency plan was made. 

The child remains ineligible until such judicial determination is obtained.

If the child was removed as a result of a Voluntary Placement Agreement (VPA), there shall be a judicial determination made within one-hundred and eighty (180) days of the child’s placement containing a best interest statement for the child to be IV-E eligible beyond the first one-hundred and eighty (180) days of the child’s placement. 

If there is no judicial determination made with the required best interest statement by the one-hundred and eighty first day, the child shall still be IV-E eligible for the first one-hundred and eighty (180) days of the child’s placement if all other criteria are met.These requirements shall apply each time a placement episode occurs.

Trial Home Visit

A committed child who is returned home on a trial home visit is considered to be in continuous care.  If a trial home visit: 

·          extends beyond six (6) months without authorization by the court or 

·          exceeds the time period the court has deemed appropriate, and 

·          the child is subsequently returned to foster care 

that placement shall then be considered a new placement and Title IV-E eligibility shall be newly established.  Under these circumstances, the judicial determinations regarding contrary to the welfare status and reasonable efforts to prevent removal are required.

Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) Criteria Test

The child meets the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) criteria test if the child would have received AFDC (according to IV-A eligibility criteria effective July 16, 1996) in the home from which he or she was removed during the eligibility month, which is the month of the 

·          filing of the petition or motion that led to the court-ordered removal, or

·          signing of the voluntary placement agreement (VPA). 

These conditions must be met at the time the child enters Department care.  The criteria are as follows: 

·          relatedness:  the child is living with a specified relative; i.e. parent: natural, adoptive, or step parent; sibling, aunt, uncle, first cousin, or any relative who is in the fifth degree of kinship during the eligibility month or at least six (6) months prior to the eligibility month; 

·          economic deprivation:  the child must be deprived of the support of one or both parents as a result of 

-         death

-         disability

-         continued absence from the parental home, or

-         unemployment of the principal wage earner 

·          financial need:  an asset and income test must be made.  If the child was removed from a parent, step parent, or adoptive parent, then the monthly gross income of the household must be considered.  If the child was removed from the home of a non-parent, specified relative, then only the income of the child and sibling(s) in the same household is considered.

The following additional AFDC criteria are to be met for continued eligibility at the time of the annual redetermination: 

·          continued economic deprivation throughout the placement episode, and 

·          economic need: 

-         the child’s income must not exceed one-hundred per cent (100%) of the foster care rate, and

-         the child’s assets must not exceed ten thousand (10,000) dollars.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Benefits

The child cannot be in receipt of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit payments and be IV-E eligible during the same months. 

This criterion shall not apply to Social Security Assistance (SSA) benefit payments.

Licensed Placement

The child must be placed in one of the following licensed placements: 

·          relative or non-relative foster family

·          private, non-medical group home or child care institution

·          public, non-medical group home or child care institution with a capacity for twenty-five (25) beds or fewer.