FCASPL 66 (PASSS)
Family, Children and Adult Services Procedure Letter No. 66
February 28, 2000
TO: Family, Children and Adult Services Manual Holders
FROM: Jacqueline Romer-Sensky, Director
SUBJECT: Ohio Administrative Code Rule Changes Governing the Post Adoption Special Services Subsidy (PASSS) Program

I am please to announce that ODHS will shortly be reopening the PASSS program for eligible families and children. This procedure letter is to provide notice that the current Ohio Administrative Code rule relating to the Post Adoption Special Services Subsidy (PASSS) program will soon be replaced by a new rule. The new rule, which is being adopted under the emergency rule procedure, will be forwarded along with a transmittal letter as soon as it is approved.

The new rule will align the program with the intent of Section 5153.163(C) of the Ohio Revised Code (see attached) which provides for the payment of medical, surgical, psychiatric, psychological, or counseling services to adoptive families. Consistent with the Revised Code, the new rule will not allow PASSS funds to be used for maintenance costs (including food, shelter and daily supervision cost associated with residential care); respite services that are not required to address psychiatric, psychological or counseling needs; or services that are designed to enhance the child's self-esteem or cultural development. Counties, however, may fund these and other services through other sources. To enhance the number of eligible families, the new rule also will limit the amount of funding that can be awarded per child, per year to $15,000. In addition, the rule will require public children services agencies to submit approved ODHS 1050s to the Ohio Department of Human Services (ODHS) within thirty days following the approval.

It is important to note that PASSS applications approved on or before January 31, 2000 will be bound by the rule that was in effect at the time the application was approved. Therefore, preauthorized services such as residential treatment and respite may be funded through the remainder of State Fiscal Year 2000. All applications submitted and approved after the effective date of the new rule, will be governed by the criteria set forth in the new rule. If a public children services agency approves an application for an inappropriate service after the effective date of the new rule, it will be solely responsible for that cost. ODHS will not recognize applications that were approved after the program was closed and prior to the effective date of the new rule; applications submitted during that time may be resubmitted.

Attachment - ORC 5153.163

5153.163Services for Children With Special Needs

(A)As used in this section, "adoptive parent" means, as the context requires, a prospective adoptive parent or an adoptive parent.

(B)(1)If a public children services agency considers a child with special needs residing in the county served by the agency to be in need of public care or protective services and all of the following apply, the agency shall enter into an agreement with the child's adoptive parent before the child is adopted under which the agency shall make payments as needed on behalf of the child:

(a)The adoptive parent has the capability of providing the permanent family relationships needed by the child in all areas except financial need as determined by the agency;

(b)The needs of the child are beyond the economic resources of the adoptive parent as determined by the agency;

(c)The agency determines the acceptance of the child as a member of the adoptive parent's family would not be in the child's best interest without payments on the child's behalf under this section.

(2)Payments to an adoptive parent under division (B) of this section shall include medical, surgical, psychiatric, psychological, and counseling expenses, and may include maintenance costs if necessary and other costs incidental to the care of the child. No payment of maintenance costs shall be made under division (B) of this section on behalf of a child if either of the following apply:

(a)The gross income of the adoptive parent's family exceeds one hundred twenty per cent of the median income of a family of the same size, including the child, as most recently determined for this state by the secretary of health and human services under Title XX of the "Social Security Act," 88 Stat. 2337, 42 U.S.C.A. 1397, as amended;

(b)The child is eligible for adoption assistance payments for maintenance costs under Title IV-E of the "Social Security Act," 94 Stat. 501 (1980), 42 U.S.C.A. 671, as amended.

Payments under division (B) of this section may begin either before or after issuance of the final adoption decree, except that payments made before issuance of the final adoption decree may be made only while the child is living in the adoptive parent's home. Preadoption payments may be made for not more than twelve months, unless the final adoption decree is not issued within that time because of a delay in court proceedings. Payments that begin before issuance of the final adoption decree may continue after its issuance.

(C)If a public children services agency considers a child residing in the county served by the agency to be in need of public care or protective services and both of the following apply, the agency may, and to the extent state funds are appropriated for this purpose shall, enter into an agreement with the child's adoptive parent after the child is adopted under which the agency shall make payments on behalf of the child as needed:

(1)The child has a physical or developmental handicap or mental or emotional condition that either:

(a)Existed before the adoption petition was filed;

(b)Developed after the adoption petition was filed and can be attributed to factors in the child's preadoption background, medical history, or biological family's background or medical history.

(2)The agency determines the expenses necessitated by the child's handicap or condition are beyond the adoptive parent's economic resources.

Payments to an adoptive parent under this division shall include medical, surgical, psychiatric, psychological, and counseling expenses, but shall not include maintenance costs.

(D)No payment shall be made under division (B) or (C) of this section on behalf of any person twenty-one years of age or older. Payments under those divisions shall be made in accordance with the terms of the agreement between the public children services agency and the adoptive parent, subject to an annual redetermination of need. The agency may use sources of funding in addition to any state funds appropriated for the purposes of those divisions.

The department of human services shall adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code that are needed to implement this section. The rules shall establish all of the following:

(1)The application process for payments under this section;

(2)The method to determine the amounts and kinds of assistance payable under this section;

(3)The definition of "child with special needs" for this section.

The rules shall allow for payments for children placed by nonpublic agencies.

(E)No public children services agency shall, pursuant to either section 2151.353 or 5103.15 of the Revised Code, place or maintain a child with special needs who is in the permanent custody of an institution or association certified by the department of human services under section 5103.03 of the Revised Code in a setting other than with a person seeking to adopt the child, unless the agency has determined and redetermined at intervals of not more than six months the impossibility of adoption by a person listed pursuant to division (B), (C), or (D) of section 5103.154 of the Revised Code, including the impossibility of entering into a payment agreement with such a person. The agency so maintaining such a child shall report its reasons for doing so to the department of human services. No agency that fails to so determine, redetermine, and report shall receive more than fifty per cent of the state funds to which it would otherwise be eligible for that part of the fiscal year following placement under section 5101.14 of the Revised Code.