This policy guide was updated from the 07/01/14 version to add instructions to ensure that the Adoption Assistance Payment (AAP) is only approved for postadoption residential placement facilities that are in good standing with DCFS or their local county and licensing agencies.

POLICY

Postadoption Services

Postadoption Services Unit

The Postadoption Services (PAS) Unit provides services to families with finalized adoptions. These services preserve the integrity of the adoptive family, if possible. In some cases, an adoption must end after being finalized, resulting in the child's return to, or entry into, foster care or placement with new adoptive parents. The dissolution of adoption must be the last resort.

Before proceeding to dissolve an adoption, the PAS Unit can provide the adoptive family with the following resources:

Adoption Promotion and Support Services (APSS)

Family Preservation Services

Referral to Training, Intervention, Education, and Services (TIES)

Counseling

Voluntary Family Maintenance (VFM)

Placement in a Residential Treatment Center (RTC)/group home

If the child was adopted after his/her sixteenth (16th) birthday, contact the Youth Development Services (YDS) Coordinator to access appropriate services.

Residential Treatment Centers (RTCs)

In some cases, residential treatment allows an adoption to continue while keeping all parties safe. RTC placements can only be made as part of a plan for the return of the child to the adoptive family, and the family must actively participate in that plan. A child can only be placed at an RTC that is licensed by the state, is a non-profit, and is IRS tax-exempt. The following documentation is needed to place a child in a RTC using the Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) funding for payment:

A letter from the treating physician, stating that the child needs to be placed in a RTC

A letter from the RTC, stating that:

It accepts the child into the facility and the date the child will be admitted to the facility

The facility is entitled to receive Title IV-E funding

It is not a locked facility

A copy of the RTC's state license

Information from the RTC ensuring the child's rights

A copy of the RTC's program cost broken down monthly

AAP approval, if the family is requesting that AAP be paid directly to the RTC

AAP payments for the adoptive parent(s) must be stopped immediately when the RTC placement is initiated and starts to receive AAP payments. There cannot be an overlap of AAP payments for the adoptive parent and the RTC.

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PROCEDURE

Responding to a Request for PAS

PAS CSW Responsibilities

When an adoptive parent(s) calls requesting postadoption services (PAS), elicit the purpose of the call.

Ask follow up questions to gather relevant information from the adoptive parent until the safety of the child is assessed.

If child abuse or neglect is suspected, immediately call the Child Protection Hotline (CPH) at (800) 540-4000 and make a referral.

Elicit all information necessary to complete a child abuse referral.

Within thirty-six (36) hours of making the report, complete a SS 8572, Suspected Child Abuse Report.

Submit the report online via DCFS Mandated Report Link, fax it to (213) 745-1725 or (213) 745-1726, or mail it to:

Child Protection Hotline

1933 S. Broadway, 5th Floor

Los Angeles, CA 90007

Provide appropriate resources to the adoptive parent.

If placing the child in a Residential Treatment Center (RTC) or group home:

Check the GH/FFA Alpha Listing located on LA Kids to provide the adoptive parent(s) with a list of RTC facilities that might meet their child's needs.
If the adoptive parent(s) have already selected a potential placement:

For an in county or adjacent county placement, check the GH/FFA Alpha Listing to ensure that the placement selected is in good standing with DCFS.

If the selected placement does not appear on the list, contact Out of Home Care at (626) 569-6803 to determine if the placement was previously on the list but removed and the reason it was removed.

Explain to the adoptive parent that DCFS cannot authorize payment to a facility that is not in good standing with DCFS.

For an out of county, check with the licensing worker in that county to ensure that the placement meets foster care criteria and is in good standing.

Explain to the adoptive parent(s) that he/she will need to contact the RTC and complete all necessary intake requirements (e.g. interviews).

Inform the adoptive parent(s) that to have the Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) payments paid to the RTC, the adoptive parent(s) must sign an affidavit stating that AAP funding can go to the facility and that the RTC must meet certain requirements.

Inform the adoptive parent that AAP can only be paid to an RTC for an eighteen (18) month cumulative period and as part of a plan for return of the child to the family. The adoptive family should actively participate in the plan.

Inform the adoptive parent that AAP only pays room and board for out-of-state RTCs and not for educational expenses.

If the family is requesting that AAP be paid directly to the RTC:

Write AAP request.

Complete the AAP 2, Payment Instructions Adoption Assistance Program.

Submit the AAP 2 and appropriate documentation to the SCSW for approval.

If the initial AAP agreement is signed when the child/youth is sixteen (16) years or older:

Inform the adoptive parent(s) that AAP benefits can be extended for a youth who is beyond the age eighteen of (18) if he/she meets the required criteria.

Inform the adoptive parent(s) that receipt of AAP benefits for a youth who is beyond eighteen (18) years old is contingent on the parent(s) requesting the benefit extension prior to the child/youth's eighteenth (18th) birthday.

Inform the parent(s) that this is done by calling the Foster Care Hotline or Postadoption Services and by providing documentation to DCFS indicates the child/youth meets one (1) of the five (5) participation criteria.

Inform the adoptive parent(s) that he/she is responsible for reporting to DCFS if a nonminor, former dependent child/youth is not satisfying at least one (1) of the participation criteria.

Inform the adoptive parents that if the child has a mental or physical disability that AAP benefits will continue until the child becomes twenty-one (21) years old.

Document all contacts in the case folder.

PAS SCSW Responsibilities

Review the AAP 2 and all supporting documentation.

If approved, sign the AAP 2 and forward it to the ARA for approval.

If not approved, return the documents to the CSW for corrective action.

PAS ARA Responsibilities

Review the AAP 2 and supporting documentation.

If approved, sign the AAP 2 and forward it to Revenue Enhancement for processing.

If not approved, return the documents to the SCSW for corrective action.

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Parent(s) Refuse Postadoption Services

PAS CSW Responsibilities

If, after following steps 1-2 above, the adoptive parent(s) refuses postadoption services, inform the adoptive parent(s) that:

DCFS can take a designated relinquishment.

The adoptive parent(s) can contact the law firm that finalized the adoption, a lawyer of his/her choice, or the Adoption Liaison located at Edelman's Children's Court regarding setting aside the order of adoption.

A petition for abandonment has to be filed against him/her for the child to be made a ward of the court.

Document all contacts in the case folder.

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APPROVALS

SCSW Approval

AAP 2

ARA Approval

AAP 2

HELPFUL LINKS

Forms

LA Kids

SS 8572, Suspected Child Abuse Report

Referenced Policy Guides

0050-501.10, Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA)

0200-508.10, Relinquishment Procedures and the Statement of Understanding

0200-511.05, Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) Benefits and Medi-Cal Benefits

Statutes

FAM Section 9100 – States the circumstances under which adoptive parents can file a petition that sets aside an adoption for a child with a developmental or mental condition that existed before the adoption.

FAM Section 9101 – States the consequences of an adoption order that is being set aside.

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