Wisconsin Administrative Code
Department of Children and Families
DCF 021-99 - Safety and Permanence
Chapter DCF 50 - Facilitating Public Adoptions And Adoption Assistance
Section DCF 50.09 - Eligibility for adoption assistance

Universal Citation: WI Admin Code ยง DCF 50.09

Current through August 26, 2024

The department shall determine if all of the following conditions are met before entering into an agreement to provide adoption assistance for a child:

(1) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR THE CHILD.

(a) Age. The child is under 18 years of age at the time of adoption.

(b) Special needs. The child has any of the following special needs at the time of the adoptive placement:
1. The child is 7 years of age or older if age is the only factor in determining eligibility.

2. The child is a member of a sibling group of 2 or more children that must be placed together.

3.
a. For an adoption assistance agreement entered into before July 1, 2011, the child exhibits special need characteristics judged to be moderate or intensive under the schedule of difficulty-of-care levels specified in s. DCF 50.12(3).

b. For an adoption assistance agreement entered into on or after July 1, 2011, the child has a total of 5 or more needs that have been identified as moderate or intensive in the areas listed in s. DCF 56.23(2) (a) 1. a. to e. in the rate schedule under s. DCF 56.23(2) (a).

4. The child belongs to a minority race and children of that minority race cannot be readily placed due to a lack of appropriate placement resources.

5. The child is an Indian child.

6. The child does not have a documented special need under subds. 1. to 5. but is a child at high risk of developing a moderate or intensive level of special needs described in subd. 3. based on any of the following:
a. Either or both of the child's birth parents have a documented medical diagnosis or medical history that could result in a condition for the child described in subd. 3. at a later time.

b. The child's birth mother received inappropriate prenatal care that could later result in the child developing special needs described in subd. 3., and the inappropriate care is documented in medical or hospital records.

c. The child's birth mother used harmful drugs or alcohol during pregnancy that could later result in the child developing special needs described in subd. 3., and the birth mother's use of the harmful drugs or alcohol during pregnancy is documented in medical, hospital, law enforcement, or court records; the records of a county department or the department; or the records of an agency under contract with a county department or the department to provide child welfare services.

d. The child has experienced 4 or more placements with extended family or in foster homes that could affect the normal attachment process.

e. The child experienced neglect in the first 3 years of life or sustained physical injury or physical disease that could have a long-term effect on physical, emotional, or intellectual development.

(c) Availability for adoption. At the time of placement for adoption, all of the following conditions are met:
1. The child is under the guardianship of an adoption agency or in a subsidized guardianship under s. 48.623, Stats, if guardianship is transferred to a public or private adoption agency before the child is placed under s. 48.833, Stats.

2. The court, department, county department, tribal child welfare department, or the child's adoption agency has determined that the child cannot or should not return to the child's parents.

(d) Wisconsin responsibility.
1. `Interstate adoptions.' Adoption assistance may be provided for a child brought to Wisconsin for adoption from another state under ss. 48.98 and 48.99, Stats., if the public child welfare agency in the child's previous state of residence does not have responsibility for placement and care of the child under applicable federal law regarding Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, as amended.

2. `Intercountry adoptions.'
a. No adoption assistance may be provided for a child that was adopted outside of the United States or was brought to the United States for the purpose of being adopted.

b. Notwithstanding subd. 2. a., adoption assistance may be provided for an otherwise eligible child that is placed in out-of-home care subsequent to the failure, as determined by the department, of the initial adoption.

(2) REASONABLE EFFORTS TO ASSURE ADOPTION.

(a) Documented search for suitable adoptive placement.
1. The adoption agency shall make reasonable efforts to place the child with the best available prospective adoptive parents without providing adoption assistance. The agency shall document the search efforts in the child's record.

2. The adoption agency's search efforts shall include consideration of a number of prospective adoptive parents, including all of the following:
a. Relatives of the child.

b. The adoptive parents of a sibling or the proposed adoptive parents of a sibling placed with the proposed adoptive parents as required under s. 48.834(2), Stats.

c. A review of approved prospective adoptive parents associated with the adoption agency.

d. If the child is an Indian child, the order of placement preference under s. 48.028(7) (a), Stats., unless there is good cause as described in s. 48.028(7) (e), Stats., for departing from that order.

3. If 2 or more appropriate prospective adoptive parents are not available, the adoption agency shall make a timely effort to locate additional prospective adoptive parents by doing any of the following:
a. Contacting other adoption agencies.

b. Photolisting the child with the adoption information exchange.

c. Working through the adoption information exchange to photolist the child with a national adoption exchange.

(b) Disclosure. Once the adoption agency determines that placement with specific prospective adoptive parents would be the most suitable for the child, the agency shall give the identified prospective adoptive parents all relevant information about the child known to the agency, including information on any existing or potential special need described under sub. (1) (b) and a copy of the completed forms for the child that are required under ch. DCF 37.

(c) Adoption assistance necessary to assure adoption. If the child has a special need described under sub. (1) (b) and the requirements of this subsection are met, the adoption agency shall inform the identified prospective adoptive parents of the adoption assistance program and ask if they are willing to adopt the child without receiving adoption assistance. If the identified prospective adoptive parents are unwilling to adopt the child without receiving adoption assistance, the requirement of reasonable, but unsuccessful, efforts to place the child with appropriate adoptive parents without providing adoption assistance is met. A request for adoption assistance may not be a basis for removing a child from a current adoptive placement.

(d) Exceptions. The requirements of this subsection do not apply if any of the following conditions is met:
1. The child has developed significant emotional ties with the child's foster family and all of the following conditions are met:
a. The child identifies as a member of the family.

b. The child's foster parents, foster siblings, community, and school consider the child to be a member of that family.

c. If denied permanence with the foster family, the child has a diminished probability of forming new attachments due to the child's attachment to the foster family and other factors, such as age and number of previous placements.

2. Proposed adoptive parents request adoption assistance for a child placed in the proposed adoptive parents' home for adoption without adoption assistance if the child demonstrates a special need that meets the standard in sub. (1) (b) 3. before the adoption is finalized.

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