US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

                                  TITLE  39
                              HEALTH AND SAFETY
                                  CHAPTER 75
                       ADOPTION AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE
    39-7501.  INTERSTATE COMPACT ON ADOPTION AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE. The
interstate compact on adoption and medical assistance is hereby enacted into
law and entered into by the state of Idaho as a party, and is in full force
and effect between the state and other states joining the agreement in
accordance with its terms.

            INTERSTATE COMPACT ON ADOPTION AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE
ARTICLE I. FINDINGS
The states which are parties to this Compact find that:
(a) In order to obtain adoptive families for children with special needs,
    states must assure prospective adoptive parents of substantial assistance
    (usually on a continuing basis) in meeting the high costs of supporting
    and providing for the special needs and the services required by such
    children.
(b) The states have a fundamental interest in promoting adoption for children
    with special needs because the care, emotional stability, and general
    support and encouragement required by such children can be best, and often
    only, obtained in family homes with a normal parent-child relationship.
(c) The states obtain fiscal advantages from providing adoption assistance
    because the alternative is for the states to bear the higher cost of
    meeting all the needs of children while in foster care.
(d) The necessary assurances of adoption assistance for children with special
    needs, in those instances where children and adoptive parents live in
    states other than the one undertaking to provide the assistance, include
    the establishment and maintenance of suitable substantive guarantees and
    workable procedures for interstate cooperation and payments to assist with
    the necessary costs of child maintenance, the procurement of services, and
    the provision of medical assistance.

ARTICLE II. PURPOSES
The purposes of this Compact are to:
(a) Strengthen protections for the interests of children with special needs on
    behalf of whom adoption assistance is committed to be paid, when such
    children are in or move to states other than the one committed to provide
    adoption assistance.
(b) Provide substantive assurances and operating procedures which will promote
    the delivery of medical and other services to children on an interstate
    basis through programs of adoption assistance established by the laws of
    the states which are parties to this Compact.

ARTICLE III. DEFINITIONS
As used in this Compact, unless the context clearly requires a different
construction:
(a) "Child with special needs" means a minor who has not yet attained 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 determines that the
    child's mental or physical handicaps warrant the continuation of
    assistance beyond the age of majority, for whom the state has determined
    the following:
    1.   That the child cannot or should not be returned to the home of his or
         her parents;
    2.   That there exists with respect to the child a specific factor or
         condition (such as his ethnic background, age, or membership in a
         minority or sibling group, or the presence of factors such as medical
         condition or physical, mental, or emotional handicaps) because of
         which it is reasonable to conclude that such child cannot be placed
         with adoptive parents without providing adoption assistance;
    3.   That, except where it would be against the best interests of the
         child because of such factors as the existence of significant
         emotional ties with prospective adoptive parents while in their care
         as a foster child, a reasonable but unsuccessful effort has been made
         to place the child with appropriate adoptive parents without
         providing adoption assistance.
(b) "Adoption assistance" means the payment or payments for the maintenance of
    a child which are made or committed to be made pursuant to the adoption
    assistance program established by the laws of a party state.
(c) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the
    Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of
    the Northern Mariana Islands, or a Territory or Possession of the United
    States.
(d) "Adoption assistance state" means the state that is signatory to an
    adoption assistance agreement in a particular case.
(e) "Residence state" means the state in which the child is a resident by
    virtue of the residence of the adoptive parents.
(f) "Parents" mean either the singular or plural of the word "parent".

ARTICLE IV. ADOPTION ASSISTANCE
(a) Each state shall determine the amounts of adoption assistance and other
    aid which it will give to children with special needs and their adoptive
    parents in accordance with its own laws and programs. The adoption
    assistance and other aid may be made subject to periodic reevaluation of
    eligibility by the adoption assistance state in accordance with its laws.
(b) The adoption assistance, medical assistance, and other services and
    benefits to which this Compact applies are those provided to children with
    special needs and their adoptive parents from the effective date of the
    adoption assistance agreement.
(c) Every case of adoption assistance shall include a written adoption
    assistance agreement between the adoptive parents and the appropriate
    agency of the state undertaking to provide the adoption assistance. Every
    such agreement shall contain provisions for the fixing of actual or
    potential interstate aspects of the assistance so provided as follows:
    1.   An express commitment that the assistance so provided shall be
         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 its continuance;
    2.   A provision setting forth with particularity the types of care and
         services toward which the adoption assistance state will make
         payments;
    3.   A commitment to make medical assistance available to the child in
         accordance with Article V of this Compact;
    4.   An express declaration that the agreement is for the benefit of the
         child, the adoptive parents and the state and that is enforceable by
         any or all of them; and
    5.   The date or dates upon which each payment or other benefit provided
         thereunder is to commence, but in no event prior to the effective
         date of the adoption assistance agreement.
(d) Any services or benefits provided for a child by the residence state and
    the adoption assistance state may be facilitated by the party states on
    each other's behalf. To this end, the personnel of the child welfare
    agencies of the party states will assist each other, as well as the
    beneficiaries of adoption assistance agreements, in assuring prompt and
    full access to all benefits expressly included in such agreements. It is
    further recognized and agreed that, in general, all children to whom
    adoption assistance agreements apply will be eligible for benefits under
    the child welfare, education, rehabilitation, mental health, and other
    programs of their state of residence on the same basis as other resident
    children.
(e) Adoption assistance payments on behalf of a child in another state shall
    be made on the same basis and in the same amounts as they would be made if
    the child were living in the state making the payments, except that the
    laws of the adoption assistance state may provide for the payment of
    higher amounts.

ARTICLE V. MEDICAL ASSISTANCE
(a) Children for whom a party state is committed, in accordance with the terms
    of an adoption assistance agreement to provide federally aided medical
    assistance under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, are eligible for
    such medical assistance during the entire period for which the agreement
    is in effect. Upon application therefor, the adoptive parents of a child
    who is the subject of such an adoption assistance agreement shall receive
    a medical assistance identification document made out in the child's name.
    The identification shall be issued by the medical assistance program of
    the residence state and shall entitle the child to the same benefits,
    pursuant to the same procedures, as any other child who is covered by the
    medical assistance program in that state, whether or not the adoptive
    parents are themselves eligible for medical assistance.
(b) The identification document shall bear no indication that an adoption
    assistance agreement with another state is the basis for its issuance.
    However, if the identification is issued pursuant to such an adoption
    assistance agreement, the records of the issuing state and the adoption
    assistance state shall show the fact, and shall contain a copy of the
    adoption assistance agreement and any amendment or replacement thereof, as
    well as all other pertinent information. The adoption assistance and
    medical assistance programs of the adoption assistance state shall be
    notified of the issuance of such identification.
(c) A state which has issued a medical assistance identification document
    pursuant to this Compact, which identification is valid and currently in
    force, shall accept, process and pay medical assistance claims thereon as
    it would with any other medical assistance claims by eligible residents.
(d) The federally aided medical assistance provided by a party 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 an adoption
    assistance agreement is living in another party state, payment or
    reimbursement for any medical services and benefits specified under the
    terms of the adoption assistance agreement, which are not available to the
    child under the Title XIX medical assistance program of the residence
    state, shall be made by the adoption assistance state as required by its
    law. Any payments so provided shall be of the same kind and at the same
    rates as provided for children who are living in the adoption assistance
    state. However, where the payment rate authorized for a covered service
    under the medical assistance program of the adoption assistance state
    exceeds the rate authorized by the residence state for that service, the
    adoption assistance state shall not be required to pay the additional
    amounts for the services or benefits covered by the 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 be eligible for
    federally aided medical assistance under the medical assistance program of
    the new state of residence.

ARTICLE VI. COMPACT ADMINISTRATION
(a) In accordance with its own laws and procedures, each state which is a
    party to this Compact shall designate a Compact Administrator and such
    Deputy Compact Administrator as it deems necessary. The Compact
    Administrator shall coordinate all activities under this Compact within
    his or her state. The Compact Administrator shall also be the principal
    contact for officials and agencies within and without the state for the
    facilitation of interstate relations involving this Compact and the
    protection of benefits and services provided pursuant thereto. In this
    capacity, the Compact Administrator will be responsible for assisting
    child welfare agency personnel from other party states and adoptive
    families receiving adoption and medical assistance on an interstate basis.
(b) Acting jointly, the Compact Administrators shall develop uniform forms and
    administrative procedures for the interstate monitoring and delivery of
    adoption and medical assistance benefits and services pursuant to this
    Compact. The forms and procedures so developed may deal with such matters
    as:
    1.   Documentation of continuing adoption assistance eligibility;
    2.   Interstate payments and reimbursements; and
    3.   Any and all other matters arising pursuant to this Compact.
(c) (1)  Some or all of the parties to this Compact may enter into
    supplementary agreements for the provision of or payment for additional
    medical benefits and services, as provided in Article V(d); for interstate
    service delivery, pursuant to Article IV(d); or for matters related
    thereto. Such agreements shall not be inconsistent with this Compact, nor
    shall they relieve the party states of any obligation to provide adoption
    and medical assistance in accordance with applicable state and federal law
    and the terms of this compact.
    (2)  Administrative procedures or forms implementing the supplementary
    agreements referred to in paragraph (c)(1) of this Article may be
    developed by joint action of the Compact Administrators of those states
    which are party to such supplementary agreements.
(d) It shall be the responsibility of the Compact Administrator to ascertain
    whether and to what extent additional legislation may be necessary in his
    or her own state to carry out the provisions of this 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. It shall enter into
    force as to a state when its duly constituted and empowered authority has
    executed it.
(b) In order that the provisions of this Compact may be accessible to and
    known by the general public, and so that they may be implemented as law in
    each of the party states, the authority which has executed the Compact in
    each party state shall cause the full text of the Compact and a notice of
    its execution to be published in his or her state. The executing authority
    in any party state shall also provide copies of the Compact upon request.
(c) Withdrawal from this Compact shall be by written notice, sent by the
    authority which executed it, to the appropriate officials of all other
    party states, but no such notice shall take effect until one year after it
    is given in accordance with the requirements of this paragraph.
(d) All adoption assistance agreements outstanding and to which a party state
    is a signatory at the time when its withdrawal from this compact takes
    effect shall continue to have the effects given to them pursuant to this
    Compact until they expire or are terminated in accordance with their
    provisions. Until such expiration or termination, all beneficiaries of the
    agreements involved shall continue to have all rights and obligations
    conferred or imposed by this Compact, and the withdrawing state shall
    continue to administer the Compact to the extent necessary to accord and
    implement fully the rights and protections preserved hereby.

ARTICLE VIII. CONSTRUCTION AND SEVERABILITY
The provisions of this Compact shall be liberally construed to effectuate the
purposes thereof. The provisions of this Compact shall be severable, and if
any phrase, clause, sentence, or provision of this Compact is declared to be
contrary to the Constitution of the United States or of any party state, or
where the applicability thereof to any government, agency, person, or
circumstance is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this Compact
and the applicability thereof to any government, agency, person or
circumstance shall not be affected thereby. If this Compact shall be held
contrary to the constitution of any state party thereto, the Compact shall
remain in full force and effect as to the remaining states and in full force
and effect as to the state affected as to all severable matters.