The Florida Senate

INTERSTATE COMPACT ON
ADOPTION AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE

ARTICLE I. Findings

The Legislature finds that:

(a) Special measures are required to find adoptive families for children for whom state assistance is desirable pursuant to s. 409.166 and to assure the protection of the interest of the children affected during the entire assistance period when the adoptive parents move to another state or are residents of another state.

(b) The providers of medical and other necessary services for children who benefit from state assistance encounter special difficulties when the provision of services takes place in other states.

ARTICLE II. Purposes

The purposes of the act are to:

(a) Authorize the Department of Children and Family Services to enter into interstate agreements with agencies of other states to protect children for whom it provides adoption assistance.

(b) Provide procedures for interstate children’s adoption-assistance payments, including medical payments.

ARTICLE III. Definitions

As used in this compact, the term:

(a) “Agency” means the Agency for Health Care Administration.

(b) “Department” means the Florida Department of Children and Family Services.

(c) “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or a territory or possession of or administered by the United States.

(d) “Adoption-assistance state” means the state that is signatory to an adoption-assistance agreement in a particular case.

(e) “Residence state” means the state where the child resides.

(f) “Medical assistance” means the medical-assistance program authorized by Title XIX of the Social Security Act.

ARTICLE IV. Compacts Authorized

The Department of Children and Family Services, by and through its secretary, may participate in the development of and negotiate and enter into interstate compacts on behalf of this state with other states to implement the purposes of this act. Such a compact has the force and effect of law.

ARTICLE V. Contents of Compacts

A compact entered into under this act must have the following content:

(a) A provision making it available for joinder by all states;

(b) A provision for withdrawal from the compact upon written notice to the parties, but with a period of 1 year between the date of the notice and the effective date of the withdrawal;

(c) A requirement that the protections afforded under the compact continue in force for the duration of the adoption assistance and are applicable to all children and their adoptive parents who, on the effective date of the withdrawal, are receiving adoption assistance from a party state other than the one in which they are residents and have their principal place of abode;

(d) A requirement that each instance of adoption assistance to which the compact applies be covered by an adoption-assistance agreement in writing between the adoptive parents and the state child welfare agency of the state which undertakes to provide the adoption assistance and, further, that any such agreement be expressly for the benefit of the adopted child and enforceable by the adoptive parents and the state agency providing the adoption assistance; and

(e) Such other provisions as are appropriate to the proper administration of the compact.

ARTICLE VI. Optional Contents
of Compacts

A compact entered into under this section may contain provisions in addition to those required by Article V, as follows:

(a) Provisions establishing procedures and entitlement to medical and other necessary social services for the child in accordance with applicable laws, even though the child and the adoptive parents are in a state other than the one responsible for or providing the services, or the funds to defray part or all of the costs thereof; and

(b) Such other provisions as are appropriate or incidental to the proper administration of the compact.

ARTICLE VII. Medical Assistance

(a) A child with special needs who is a resident of this state and who is the subject of an adoption-assistance agreement with another state is entitled to receive a medical-assistance identification from this state upon the filing with the agency of a certified copy of the adoption-assistance agreement obtained from the adoption-assistance state. Pursuant to rules of the agency, the adoptive parents shall at least annually show that the agreement is still in force or has been renewed.

(b) The terms of the compact entered into by the department apply to children who are the subject of federal adoption-assistance agreements. The state will provide the benefits under this section to children who are the subject of a state adoption-assistance agreement, upon the determination by the department and the agency that the adoption-assistance state is a party to the compact and has reciprocity in provision of medical assistance to state adoption-assistance children.

(c) The agency shall consider the holder of a medical-assistance identification pursuant to this section as any other holder of a medical-assistance identification under the laws of this state and shall process and make payment on claims on behalf of such holder in the same manner and under the same conditions and procedures established for other recipients of medical assistance.

(d) The provisions of this article apply only to medical assistance for children under adoption-assistance agreements from a state that has entered into a compact with this state under which the other state provided medical assistance to children with special needs under adoption-assistance agreements made by this state. All other children entitled to medical assistance pursuant to an adoption-assistance agreement entered into by this state are eligible to receive such assistance under the laws and procedures applicable thereto.

(e) The department shall adopt rules necessary for administering this section.

ARTICLE VIII. Federal Participation

Consistent with federal law, the department and the agency, in administering this act and any compact pursuant to this act, must include in any state plan made pursuant to the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (Pub. L. No. 96-272), Titles IV(E) and XIX of the Social Security Act, and any other applicable federal laws, the provision of adoption assistance and medical assistance for which the Federal Government pays some or all of the cost. The department and the agency shall apply for and administer all relevant federal aid in accordance with law.