A child must meet all of the following three requirements to be considered as a child with special needs and to be eligible for federal or state adoption assistance.
¨ A determination must be made that it is not in the child’s best interest to return home.
¨ A specific factor or condition, which could make the child difficult to place in an adoptive family without adoption assistance, must be present or for an applicable child, the child may meet all of the medical or disability requirements for Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
¨ Reasonable efforts to place the child without adoption assistance must first be made, except in certain situations when a determination has been made by the Department that it is contrary to the child’s best interests to be moved.
A specific factor or condition, which could make the child difficult to place in an adoptive family without adoption assistance, must be present or for an applicable child, the child may meet all of the medical or disability requirements for SSI. Worker must document the specific factor that makes a child difficult to place. This may require written documentation from medical, mental health, educational or other professional. Such factors include:
a. The child has a documented medical condition or a physical, emotional, or mental disability.
b. The child is a member of an ethnic or racial minority.
c. The child is over the age of nine (9).
d. The child is a member of a sibling group being adopted into the same home as a sibling.
e. The child has experienced a prior adoption disruption or dissolution.
f. The child is at high risk of developing a medical condition or a physical, emotional or mental disability, based upon family background or history. (In this situation, a child may be eligible for deferred subsidy, which would include a medical subsidy without financial assistance. In the event a disability, based upon family background or history, is diagnosed in the future, the child may then be eligible to receive financial assistance.)
