HBA-MPM C.S.H.B. 1921 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1921 By: Maxey Human Services 3/29/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (PRS) provides adoption assistance to the adoptive parents of children who are adopted after having been in the conservatorship of Child Protective Services. This assistance includes Medicaid and a monthly adoption subsidy for the adoptive parents of children meeting special needs criteria. A child with special needs is one for whom the state has terminated the parental rights of a child's biological parents due to abuse or neglect and who, at the time of adoptive placement, is at least six years old, is two years old or older and a member of certain minority groups, is being adopted as part of a group of siblings, or has a verifiable physical, mental, or emotional handicap. These children often have needs that exceed those of children in other adoptive situations. These children and their adoptive families need continued adoption assistance to ensure that the child remains in school and the child's needs are met. Current law authorizes PRS to pay foster care assistance for certain children after the child becomes 18 years of age. However, adoptive assistance ends once a child turns 18. C.S.H.B. 1921 requires PRS to extend adoption assistance for children with special needs. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 1921 amends the Family Code to require the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (PRS), in accordance with PRS rules, to offer adoption assistance to adoptive parents of a child with special needs after a child's 18th birthday under an existing adoption assistance agreement between the adoptive parents and PRS until: _the first day of the month of the child's 21st birthday if PRS determines as provided by PRS rules that the child has a mental or physical disability that warrants the assistance, the child or child's adoptive parent has applied for federal benefits under the supplemental security income (SSI) program, and the child's adoptive parents are providing the child's financial support; or _if the child does not meet the above requirements the earlier of the date the child ceases to regularly attend high school or a vocational or technical program, the date the child obtains a high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate, the date the child's adoptive parents stop providing financial support to the child, or the first day of the month of the child's 19th birthday. C.S.H.B. 1921 authorizes PRS to conduct an assessment of the child's mental or physical disability or contract for the assessment to be conducted in order to determine the child's eligibility. PRS and any person with whom PRS contracts are required to inform the adoptive parent of the application requirements for federal benefits for the child under SSI, provide assistance to the parents and child in preparing the application, and provide ongoing consultation and guidance to the parents and child throughout the eligibility determination process. The bill provides that if the legislature does not appropriate sufficient money to provide assistance to all adoptive parents, PRS is required to provide assistance only to the adoptive parents of the children whose mental or physical disability warrants it until age 21. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 1921 differs from the original by requiring the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (PRS), in accordance with PRS rules, to offer under an adoption assistance agreement (agreement) rather than continue providing adoption assistance (assistance) to adoptive parents of a child with special needs under an existing agreement between the parents and PRS until the first day of the month of the child's 21st birthday if PRS determines as provided by PRS rules that the child has a mental or physical disability that warrants the assistance, the child or child's adoptive parent has applied for federal benefits under the supplemental social security income program (SSI), and the child's adoptive parents are providing the child's financial support. The original required PRS to provide the assistance to the child until the child is 21 years old as provided by federal law if the child has a mental or physical disability and warrants the assistance. The substitute includes provisions for the assessment of a child's mental or physical disability for purposes of determining eligibility and requires PRS and any agency it contracts with to conduct the assessment to provide ongoing assistance and support during the eligibility determination process for SSI to the adoptive parents and child.