§ 15-7.1-1 - Enactment of compact.
SECTION 15-7.1-1
§ 15-7.1-1 Enactment of compact. –The interstate compact on adoption and medical assistance is enacted into lawand entered into by this state with all other states legally joining thiscompact in the form substantially as follows:
INTERSTATE COMPACT ON ADOPTION AND MEDICALASSISTANCE
Article I. Finding.
The states which are parties to this Compact find that:
(a) In order to obtain adoptive families for children withspecial needs, states must assure prospective adoptive parents of substantialassistance (usually on a continuing basis) in meeting the high costs ofsupporting and providing for the special needs and the services required bythese children.
(b) The states have a fundamental interest in promotingadoption for children with special needs because the care, emotional stability,and general support and encouragement required by these children can be best,and often only, obtained in family homes with a normal parent-childrelationship.
(c) The states obtain fiscal advantages from providingadoption assistance because the alternative is for the states to bear thehigher cost of meeting all the needs of all children while in foster care.
(d) The necessary assurances of adoption assistance forchildren with special needs, in those instances where children and adoptiveparents live in states other than the one undertaking to provide theassistance, include the establishment and maintenance of suitable substantiveguarantees and workable procedures for interstate cooperation and payments toassist with the necessary costs of child maintenance, the procurement ofservices, and the provision of medical assistance.
II. Purposes.
The purposes of this Compact are to:
(a) Strengthen protections for the interests of children withspecial needs on behalf of whom adoption assistance is committed to be paid,when these children are in or move to states other than the one committed toprovide adoption assistance.
(b) Provide substantive assurances and operating procedureswhich will promote the delivery of medical and other services to children on aninterstate basis through programs of adoption assistance established by thelaws of the states which are parties to this Compact.
Article III. Definitions.
As used in this Compact, unless the context clearly requiresa different construction:
(a) "Child with special needs" means a minor who has not yetattained the age at which the state normally discontinues children's services,or a child who has not yet reached the age of 21, where the state determinesthat the child's mental or physical handicaps warrant the continuation ofassistance beyond the age of majority, for whom the state has determined thefollowing:
(1) That the child cannot or should not be returned to thehome of his or her parents;
(2) That there exists with respect to the child a specificfactor or condition (such as his or her ethnic background, age or membership ina minority or sibling group, or the presence of factors such as a medicalcondition or physical, mental, or emotional handicaps) because of which it isreasonable to conclude that the child cannot be placed with adoptive parentswithout providing adoption assistance;
(3) That, except where it would be against the best interestsof the child because of such factors as the existence of significant emotionalties with prospective adoptive parents while in their care as a foster child, areasonable but unsuccessful effort has been made to place the child withappropriate adoptive parents without providing adoption assistance.
(b) "Adoption assistance" means the payment or payments forthe maintenance of a child which are made or committed to be made pursuant tothe adoption assistance program established by the laws of a party state.
(c) "State" means a state of the United States, the Districtof Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, theCommonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or a Territory or Possession ofthe United States.
(d) "Adoption assistance state" means the state that issignatory to adoption assistance agreement in a particular case.
(e) "Residence state" means the state in which the child is aresident by virtue of the residence of the adoptive parents.
(f) "Parents" means either the singular or plural of the word"parent".
Article IV. Adoption Assistance.
(a) Each state shall determine the amounts of adoptionassistance and other aid which it will give to children with special needs andtheir adoptive parents in accordance with its own laws and programs. Theadoption assistance and other aid may be made subject to periodic reevaluationof eligibility by the adoption assistance state in accordance with its laws.
(b) The adoption assistance, medical assistance, and otherservices and benefits to which this Compact applies are those provided tochildren with special needs and their adoptive parents from the effective dateof the adoption assistance agreement.
(c) Every case of adoption assistance shall include a writtenadoption assistance agreement between the adoptive parents and the appropriateagency of the state undertaking to provide the adoption assistance. Every suchagreement shall contain provisions for the fixing of actual or potentialinterstate aspects of the assistance provided as follows:
(1) An express commitment that the assistance provided shallbe payable without regard for the state of residence of the adoptive parents,both at the outset of the agreement period and at all times during itscontinuance;
(2) A provision setting forth with particularity the types ofcare and services toward which the adoption assistance state will make payments:
(3) A commitment to make medical assistance available to thechild in accordance with Article V of this Compact;
(4) An express declaration that the agreement is for thebenefit of the child, the adoptive parents and the state and that it isenforceable by any or all of them; and
(5) The date or dates upon which each payment or otherbenefit provided under the agreement is to commence, but in no event prior tothe effective date of the adoption assistance agreement.
(d) Any services or benefits provided for a child by theresidence state and the adoption assistance state may be facilitated by theparty states on each other's behalf. To this end, the personnel of the childwelfare agencies of the party states will assist each other, as well as thebeneficiaries of adoption assistance agreements, in assuring prompt and fullaccess to all benefits expressly included in these agreements. It is furtherrecognized and agreed that, in general, all children to whom adoptionassistance agreements apply will be eligible for benefits under the childwelfare, education, rehabilitation, mental health, and other programs of theirstate of residence on the same basis as other resident children.
(e) Adoption assistance payments on behalf of a child inanother state shall be made on the same basis and in the same amounts as theywould be made if the child were living in the state making the payments, exceptthat the laws of the adoption assistance may provide for the payment of higheramounts.
Article V. Medical Assistance.
(a) Children for whom a party state is committed, inaccordance with the terms of an adoption assistance agreement, to providefederally aided medical assistance under Title XIX of the Social Security Act,42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq., are eligible for this medical assistance duringthe entire period for which the agreement is in effect. Upon application, theadoptive parents of a child who is the subject of the adoption assistanceagreement shall receive a medical assistance identification document made outin the child's name. The identification shall be issued by the medicalassistance program of the residence state and shall entitle the child to thesame benefits pursuant to the same procedures, as any other child who iscovered by the medical assistance program in the state, whether or not theadoptive parents are themselves eligible for medical assistance.
(b) The identification document shall bear no indication thatan adoption assistance agreement with another state is the basis for itsissuance. However, if the identification is issued pursuant to such an adoptionassistance agreement, the records of the issuing state and the adoptionassistance state shall show the fact, and shall contain a copy of the adoptionassistance agreement and any amendment or replacement of the agreement, as wellas all other pertinent information. The adoption assistance and medicalassistance programs of the adoption assistance state shall be notified of theissuance of such identification.
(c) A state which has issued a medical assistanceidentification document pursuant to this Compact, which identification is validand currently in force, shall accept, process and pay medical assistance claimsas it would with any other medical assistance claims by eligible residents.
(d) The federally aided medical assistance provided by aparty state pursuant to this Compact shall be in accordance with paragraphs (a)through (c) of this article. In addition, when a child who is covered by anadoption assistance agreement is living in another party state, payment orreimbursement for any medical services and benefits specified under the termsof the adoption assistance agreement, which are not available to the childunder Title XIX medical assistance program of the residence state, shall bemade by the adoption assistance state as required by its law. Any paymentsprovided shall be of the same kind and at the same rates as provided forchildren who are living in the adoption assistance state. However, where thepayment rate authorized for a covered service under the medical assistanceprogram of the adoption assistance state exceeds the rate authorized by theresidence state for that service, the adoption assistance state shall not berequired to pay the additional amounts for the services or benefits covered bythe residence state.
(e) A child referred to in paragraph (a) of this Article,whose residence is changed from one party state to another party state shall beeligible for federally aided medical assistance under the medical assistanceprogram of the new state of residence.
Article VI. Compact Administration.
(a) In accordance with its own laws and procedures, eachstate which is a party to this Compact shall designate a Compact Administratorand those Deputy Compact Administrators as it deems necessary. The CompactAdministrator shall coordinate all activities under this Compact within his orher state. The Compact Administrator shall also be the principal contact forofficials and agencies within and without the state for the facilitation ofinterstate relations involving this Compact and the protection of benefits andservices provided pursuant to this Compact. In this capacity, the CompactAdministrator will be responsible for assisting child welfare agency personnelfrom other party states and adoptive families receiving adoption and medicalassistance on an interstate basis.
(b) Acting jointly, the Compact Administrators shall developuniform forms and administrative procedures for the interstate monitoring anddelivery of adoption and medical assistance benefits and services pursuant tothis Compact. The forms and procedures so developed may deal with such mattersas:
(1) Documentation of continuing adoption assistanceeligibility;
(2) Interstate payments and reimbursements; and
(3) Any and all other matters arising pursuant to thisCompact.
(c) Some or all of the parties of this Compact may enter intosupplementary agreements for the provision of or payment for additional medicalbenefits and services, as provided in Article V(d); for interstate servicedelivery, pursuant to Article IV(d); or for other related matters. Suchsupplementary agreements shall not be inconsistent with this Compact, nor shallthey relieve the party states of any obligation to provide adoption and medicalassistance in accordance with applicable state and federal law and the terms ofthis Compact.
(2) Administrative procedures or forms implementing thesupplementary agreements referred to in paragraph (c)(1) of this Article may bedeveloped by joint action of the Compact Administrators of those states whichare party to such supplementary agreements.
(d) It shall be the responsibility of the CompactAdministrator to ascertain whether and to what extent additional legislationmay be necessary in his or her own state to carry out the provisions of thisArticle or Article IV or any supplementary agreements pursuant to this Compact.
Article VII. Joinder and Withdrawal.
(a) This Compact shall be open to joinder by any state. Itshall enter into force as to a state when its duly constituted and empoweredauthority has executed it.
(b) In order that the provisions of this Compact may beaccessible to and known by the general public, and so that they may beimplemented as law in each of the party states, the authority which hasexecuted the Compact in each party state shall cause the full text of theCompact and notice of its execution to be published in his or her state. Theexecuting authority in any party state shall also provide copies of the Compactupon request.
(c) Withdrawal from this Compact shall be by written notice,sent by the authority which executed it, to the appropriate officials of allother party states, but no notice shall take effect until one year after it isgiven in accordance with the requirements of this paragraph.
(d) All adoption assistance agreements outstanding and towhich a party state is a signatory at the time when its withdrawal from thisCompact takes effect shall continue to have the effects given to them pursuantto this Compact until they expire or are terminated in accordance with theirprovisions. Until the expiration or termination, all beneficiaries of theagreements involved shall continue to have all the rights and obligationsconferred or imposed by this Compact, and the withdrawing state shall continueto administer the Compact to the extent necessary to accord and implement fullythe rights and protections preserved by it.
Article VIII. Construction and Severability.
The provisions of this Compact shall be liberally construedto effectuate its purposes. The provisions of this Compact shall be severable,and if any phrase, clause, sentence, or provision of this Compact is declaredto be contrary to the Constitution of the United States or of any party state,or where its applicability to any government, agency, person, or circumstanceis held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this Compact and itsapplicability to any government, agency, person, or circumstance shall not beaffected by the invalidity. If this Compact shall be held contrary to theConstitution of any state party to it, the Compact shall remain in full forceand effect as to the remaining states and in full force and effect as to thestate affected as to all severable matters.