(a) Eligibility
re-determination. A child's eligibility for federally funded foster care
maintenance payments shall be redetermined within six months of the initial
determination of eligibility and at intervals not greater than every six months
thereafter.
(b) Income and
deprivation.
(1) After the initial month of
placement, only the child's income and assets shall be considered in
determining the amount to be applied toward the federally funded foster care
maintenance payment and in determining continuing eligibility for the payment.
For a child to meet the continued eligibility requirements, the child's income
and assets shall not exceed 185% of the AFDC standard of need as of July 16,
1996.
(2) The provisions relating
to income, assets, child support, and the budgeting process applicable to the
AFDC program and specified in 45 C.F.R, Parts 233 and 302, shall apply to the
federally funded foster care maintenance program.
(3) Parental deprivation shall continue to
exist in the household from which the child was legally removed via judicial
determination or via voluntary foster custody agreement.
(c) Periodic reviews.
(1) Periodic reviews to determine that
placement is in the best interest of the child shall be held.
(A) For children removed from the home prior
to March 27, 2001 as a result of a judicial order for a physical or
constructive removal, there shall be a judicial determination that the
department has made reasonable efforts to finalize the permanency plan that is
in effect. This determination must have been made by March 27, 2001 and at
least once every twelve months thereafter while the child is in foster
care.
(B) For children removed from
the home on or after March 27, 2001 as a result of a judicial order for a
physical or constructive removal, within twelve months of the date the chiId is
considered to have entered foster care and at least once every twelve months
thereafter while the child is in foster care, there shall be a judicial
determination that the department has made reasonable efforts to finalize the
permanency plan that is in effect.
(2) If a judicial determination regarding
reasonable efforts to finalize a permanency plan is not made, the child shall
become ineligible under Title IV-E from the end of the twelfth month following
the initial date of entry into out-of-home care or the end of the twelfth month
following the month in which the most recent judicial determination of
reasonable efforts to finalize a permanency plan was made, and shall remain
ineligible until such a judicial determination is made.
Federal reimbursement for a child removed from the home
pursuant to a voluntary foster custody agreement may not be paid for more than
one hundred eighty days unless there has been a judicial determination by the
court made at the first court hearing and within the first one hundred eighty
days of such placement that such placement is in the best interests of the
child.
