8.2. TITLE IV-E, Adoption Assistance Program

Answer

It is incumbent upon adoptive parents to keep the title IV-E agency informed of material changes that might impact the parent's support, but a title IV-E agency cannot reduce or suspend adoption assistance solely because the adoptive parents fail to reply to its request to renew or recertify the agreement, unless the reduction or suspension is specified and agreed upon in the title IV-E adoption assistance agreement. Specifically, a title IV-E agency may include a clause in the title IV-E adoption assistance agreement to the effect that if the adoptive parents fail to provide a renewal or recertification of the agreement within prescribed timeframes, the adoptive parents agree to suspend or reduce the adoption assistance payment to $0 until the renewal or recertification is provided to the agency. The form of renewal or recertification and timeframes must be clearly specified in the title IV-E adoption assistance agreement. Once an eligible child is receiving title IV-E adoption assistance pursuant to an agreement, adoption assistance continues until either the adoptive parents concur to a change or one of the statutory conditions are met for termination of the assistance (section 473(a)(4) of the Social Security Act and Child Welfare Policy Manual Section (CWPM) 8.2B.9 Q/A #2). Therefore, suspensions or reductions in a title IV-E adoption assistance payment are not permitted without the concurrence of the adoptive parents under section 473(a)(3) of the Act unless the agency suspends the payment in accordance with CWPM 8.2D. If the agency suspends or reduces the payment to $0 for failure to provide the agreed upon renewal or recertification as outlined in the agreement, fair hearing requirements do not apply because the adoptive parents agreed to this reduction or suspension by signing the adoption assistance agreement (see CWPM 8.4G, Q/A #2).

In order to be able to reduce to $0 or suspend adoption assistance payments in accordance with the guidance above, the title IV-E agency must first amend its title IV-E plan and have the Children's Bureau approve the change. Note also that each new adoption assistance agreement must include the circumstances under which the title IV-E agency may reduce to $0 or suspend adoption assistance payments. Similarly, the title IV-E agency may try to re-negotiate existing adoption assistance agreements with the adoptive parent to include the circumstances under which the title IV-E agency may reduce to $0 or suspend payments; however, the terms of an existing adoption assistance agreement may only be changed with the concurrence of the adoptive parent. If an adoptive parent declines to include such a term in the existing agreement, the title IV-E agency may not reduce to $0 or suspend adoption assistance payments under that agreement for failing to renew or recertify their adoption agreement.

If the title IV-E agency reduces to $0 or suspends adoption assistance as described above, the child/youth remains title IV-E eligible, and the title IV-E adoption assistance agreement remains in effect while the payment is reduced to $0 or suspended.

Although an agency may reduce to $0 or suspend a child's adoption assistance payment under the circumstances described above, the child's eligibility for, and receipt of, Medicaid may not be suspended while the adoption assistance agreement is in effect. See section 473(b) of the Social Security Act. The title IV-E agency also may claim any title IV-E adoption assistance administrative costs on behalf of a child whose title IV-E adoption assistance is reduced to $0 or suspended in accordance with its approved cost allocation plan.

Source/Date

12/31/2007; Updated 08/28/2026

Legal and Related References

Social Security Act - section 473(a)(3) and (4); Child Welfare Policy Manual section 8.2B.9 Q/A #2

Answer

No. The regulations at 45 C.F.R. § 1356.71(c) and Program Instruction PI-02-06 (Jul. 12, 2002) only apply to the title IV-E foster care program. Program Announcement 84-02, which was issued on March 7, 1984, addressed this issue, but was withdrawn on September 24, 2001, and therefore has not applied to the title IV-E adoption assistance program since that date. ACF does not use statistical sampling or an extrapolated methodology as a basis for calculating the amount of a disallowance in the title IV-E adoption assistance program. As such, any adoption assistance disallowances taken by ACF are limited to the amount of actual identified unallowable cost claims without application of any findings to other claims that have not been reviewed.

Source/Date

2/21/2019

Legal and Related References

45 C.F.R. section 1356.71(c)

Answer

We previously instructed that a title IV-E agency may not claim Adoption Savings expenditures for either federal reimbursement or as the non-federal share to secure federal financial participation as that would be considered supplantation. However, we are issuing this policy to allow a title IV-E agency to use Adoption Savings expenditures beginning in federal fiscal year (FFY) 2020 for the non-federal share of an optional title IV-E program (i.e., Guardianship Assistance, Prevention Services or Kinship Navigator) within the parameters described below. This does not constitute supplantation since these optional programs are not required as a condition of title IV-E plan approval. However, Adoption Savings expenditures may not take the place of the non-federal share currently being used for the optional title IV-E program. To document that a title IV-E agency is not supplanting the non-federal share for the optional title IV-E program with Adoption Savings expenditures, it must establish a base year amount of non-federal expenditures to maintain. The base year is always the FFY prior to the FFY in which the title IV-E agency begins to use Adoption Savings expenditures as a source of its non-federal share for the optional title IV-E program. The title IV-E agency must then maintain at least that base year amount as the non-federal share for that program as illustrated in the examples below.

A title IV-E agency that begins to use Adoption Savings expenditures as the non-federal share of an optional title IV-E program beginning in FFY 2020 will always use FFY 2019 as its base year. This means that the non-federal share of the optional program in 2020 and future FFYs must be equal to or greater than the FFY 2019 expenditures before any Adoption Savings may be expended for this purpose. Alternatively, if a title IV-E agency begins to use Adoption Savings expenditures as the non-federal share of an optional title IV-E program beginning in a later FFY it will use the immediately prior FFY as its base year.

Examples: Use of Adoption Savings expenditures beginning in FFY 2020 for the Non-Federal Share of an Optional Title IV-E Program:

Optional title IV-E program first implemented in FFY 2020. The base year amount of the title IV-E agency's non-federal share is zero since the IV-E agency did not participate in the program in FFY 2019 (the prior FFY). As such, the title IV-E agency may use Adoption Savings expenditures as part or as the entire non-federal share for the optional program in FFY 2020 and future FFYs.

Pre-existing optional title IV-E program implemented before FFY 2020. The base year amount (i.e., FFY 2019 non-federal share) is the amount that the title IV-E agency must maintain in FY 2020 and in future FFYs. As such, the title IV-E agency may use Adoption Savings funds as part of the required non-federal share in FFY 2020 or future FFYs only to the extent that the total FFY non-federal share for the optional program exceeds the identified FFY 2019 base year amount.

Source/Date

2/17/2020

Legal and Related References

Legal and Related: Social Security Act - section 473(a)(8)(D)