Section 17-1620-7 - Eligibility requirements for adoption assistance(a) There shall be no income eligibility requirement or means test for adoptive or prospective adoptive parent(s) in determining eligibility for adoption assistance.(b) To be eligible for state funded adoption assistance, the following conditions shall be met: (1) The child under eighteen years of age (or the age of 21 if the child has a mental or physical disability which would warrant continuation of assistance) shall have been determined by the state to be a child with special needs. A child with special needs is defined as follows: (A) The child cannot return to the home of his or her parent(s) as evidenced by: (i) An order from a court of competent jurisdiction which terminates parental rights; or(ii) A petition to a court of competent jurisdiction for a permanent plan hearing for the purpose of terminating parental rights; or(iii) A signed relinquishment by the parent(s).(B) The child cannot be placed with adoptive parent(s) without adoption assistance including medical assistance under title XIX, because of one or more of the following specific factors or conditions: (i) Age four or older by the date of placement of the child with the prospective adoptive parent(s);(ii) Race or ethnic background;(iii) Member of a sibling group being adopted together; or is a child being adopted by adoptive parent(s) who have previously adopted another child(ren) born of the same mother or father;(iv) Presence of a severe or chronic medical, physical, mental, or emotional condition, behavioral disorder or other clinically diagnosed disability which has been established and documented in writing by a professional, other than the child's placement worker, who is competent to make an assessment and operating within the scope of his or her profession;(v) High risk of developing a severe or chronic medical, physical, mental, or emotional condition, behavioral disorder or other clinically diagnosed disability which has been established and documented in writing by a professional, other than the child's placement worker, who is competent to make an assessment and operating within the scope of his or her profession; or(vi) The child is an applicable child who meets all of the medical or disability requirements for Supplemental Security Income (SSI); and(C) Is a child for whom the department has determined that reasonable efforts to locate an appropriate adoptive home without adoption assistance have not been successful. These efforts shall include, but are not limited to: (i) Registration with the department or child-placing organization homefinding services; and(ii) Exploration or registration with the local adoption registry or exchange; or(iii) Exploration or registration with an out-of-state adoption registry or exchange; This subparagraph (C) shall not apply when the child has established significant emotional ties with the current resource family or with relative(s) and the current resource family or relatives has expressed an interest in adopting the child and have been approved in accordance with chapter 17-805 as an appropriate adoptive home for the child; and
(2) In addition, the child shall have been determined by the state to be: (A) Not the biological child of the adopting parent(s); and(B) Placed for adoption in an approved adoptive home in accordance with chapter 17-805 and HRS § 346-19.7 including fingerprint-based FBI criminal background checks and check of the child abuse and neglect registries for all adults residing in the prospective adoptive home, including checks in states where any adult residing in the home has resided in the last 5 years;(3) The department shall have entered into an adoption assistance agreement with the prospective adoptive parent(s) prior to the finalization of adoption;(4) The child shall be the subject of a Hawaii adoption assistance agreement and not the subject of another state's adoption assistance agreement; and(5) The adoptive placement shall not have occurred in violation of applicable laws, or(6) In the case where the child received adoption assistance in a prior adoption that is dissolved or in a prior adoption where both adoptive parents died, the child is subsequently adopted and the conditions of subsections (b)(1), (b)(3), (b)(4), and (b)(5) are met.[Eff DEC 09 2010] (Auth: HRS § 346-14) (Imp: HRS § 346-14; HRS § 346-19.7; 42 U.S.C. 673, 45 C.F.R. §§ 1356.40, 1356.41 ; ACYF-CB-PA-01-01)