June 14, 2011, Introduced by Senators PROOS, JANSEN, CASWELL, NOFS, EMMONS and MOOLENAAR and referred to the Committee on Appropriations.
A bill to amend 1939 PA 280, entitled
"The social welfare act,"
by amending sections 18c, 115g, and 115j (MCL 400.18c, 400.115g,
and 400.115j), sections 115g and 115j as amended by 2009 PA 17.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec.
18c. (1) Foster care financed by a county department of
social
welfare shall be provided by the
use of licensed child
caring institutions or placement agencies, in accordance with the
needs of the child, or if licensed child caring institutions or
placement agencies are not available, or there is a religious
conflict, foster care shall be provided under the direct
supervision of the county department, which care shall meet the
following standards of care and service:
(a) (1)
Personnel engaged in placement and
supervision of
children in foster care shall have qualifying training and
experience.
(b) (2)
Adequate records shall be
maintained with information
on the physical and mental health of the child, his or her
emotional stability and family background, together with the
reasons for the child's placement away from home to aid in planning
for any child placed by the department, toward the end that the
child may be reunited with his or her family as soon as it appears
possible.
(c) (3)
Family foster homes used by the
department shall be
selected with consideration of the religious, racial, and cultural
background of the child to be placed and children thus placed shall
be visited in these homes at least once a month.
(2) The department may place a child who is at least 16 but
less than 21 years of age in his or her own unlicensed residence,
or in the unlicensed residence of an adult who has no supervisory
responsibility for the child, if the department maintains
supervisory responsibility for that child. If the child is at least
18 but less than 21 years of age, he or she must meet the
requirements of the young adult voluntary foster care act.
Sec. 115g. (1) The department may pay a support subsidy to an
adoptive parent of an adoptee who is placed in the home of the
adoptive parent under the adoption code or under the adoption laws
of another state or a tribal government, if all of the following
requirements are met:
(a) The department has certified that the adoptee is a child
with special needs.
(b)
Certification is made before the adoptee's eighteenth
birthday or, if the adoptee meets the eligibility requirements
provided for under the young adult voluntary foster care act,
certification is made before the adoptee's twenty-first birthday.
(c) Certification is made and the contract agreement is signed
by the adoptive parent or adoptive parents and the department
before the adoption is finalized.
(2) The department shall determine eligibility for the support
subsidy without regard to the income of the adoptive parent or
parents. The maximum amount shall be equal to the rate that the
child received in the family foster care placement or the rate the
child would have received if he or she had been in a family foster
care placement at the time of adoption. This rate includes the
difficulty of care rate that was paid or would have been paid for
the adoptee in a family foster care placement, except that the
amount shall be increased to reflect increases made in the standard
age appropriate foster care rate paid by the department. The
department shall not implement policy to limit the maximum amount
at an amount less than the family foster care rate, including the
difficulty of care rate, that was paid for the adoptee while the
adoptee was in family foster care.
(3) The department shall complete the certification process
within 30 days after it receives a request for a support subsidy.
Sec.
115j. (1) Adoption Except
as provided in subsection (3),
adoption assistance or a medical subsidy, or both, shall continue
until 1 of the following occurs:
(a) The adoptee becomes 18 years of age.
(b) The adoptee is emancipated.
(c) The adoptee dies.
(d) The adoption is terminated.
(e) A determination of ineligibility is made by the
department.
(2) If sufficient funds are appropriated by the legislature in
the department's annual budget, adoption support subsidy agreements
or adoption medical subsidy agreements, or both, may be extended
through state funding for an adoptee under 21 years of age if all
of the following criteria are met:
(a) The adoptee has not completed high school or a GED
program.
(b) The adoptee is regularly attending high school or a GED
program or a program for children with disabilities on a full-time
basis and is progressing toward achieving a high school diploma,
certificate of completion, or GED.
(c) The adoptee is not eligible for supplemental security
income.
(3) Adoption support subsidy agreements may be extended
through
title IV-E funding for an eligible
adoptee up to the age of
19
21 years if the state determines that the child has
a mental or
physical
disability that warrants continuation of adoption
assistance.
eligible adoptee meets the
eligibility requirements
provided for under the young adult voluntary foster care act.
(4) Adoption assistance and a medical subsidy shall continue
even if the adoptive parent leaves the state.
(5) An adoption support subsidy shall continue during a period
in which the adoptee is removed for delinquency from his or her
home as a temporary court ward based on proceedings under section
2(a) of chapter XIIA of the probate code of 1939, 1939 PA 288, MCL
712A.2.
(6) Upon the death of the adoptive parent, the department
shall continue making support subsidy payments or continue medical
subsidy eligibility, or both, through state funding to the guardian
of the adoptee if a guardian is appointed as provided in section
5202 or 5204 of the estates and protected individuals code, 1998 PA
386, MCL 700.5202 and 700.5204.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect
unless Senate Bill No. 435
of the 96th Legislature is enacted into law.