HD25 - Policies and Procedures Related to the Management of the Special Needs Adoption Subsidy Program


Executive Summary:
The purpose of adoption is to place children who have been permanently and legally separated from their birth parents with adoptive families and to prevent adoption dissolution by providing services to strengthen and support families after the adoption is finalized. The legislation creating the Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) in Virginia was passed in 1974. For more than 30 years, Virginia has developed laws, polices and procedures to improve adoption opportunities for children who historically would have remained in foster care with no permanent goal.

The Adoption Assistance Program was developed to promote the placement of children in adoptive homes that were deemed “unadoptable” due to their medical, physical, or emotional conditions; hereditary or congenital problems; birth injury; or individual characteristics such as age, race or sibling status. As the adoption laws and policy developed, the emotional attachment of the foster parents to the children also became a criterion for state supported adoption assistance subsidies.

This report is in response to the legislative mandate to study the policies and procedures related to the management of the special needs adoption subsidy program as a result of unexpected increases in the level of expenditure growth. The Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) in collaboration with the Virginia League of Social Services Executives (VLSSE) and the executive director of the Office of Comprehensive Services (OCS) formed a workgroup to identify the causes of the expenditure increases and to make recommendations for the program’s future administration.

The findings of the workgroup include:

• There was a growth in the number of adoptions from 2005 to 2006 that was likely a response to a requirement in the Program Improvement Plan (PIP) to achieve adoptions within 24 months. Increases in the numbers of adoptions would correlate with expenditure growth.

• Expenditure growth related to the program has slowed and there are indications that some local departments of social services have slowed or stopped state funded adoption subsidies. This is apparently due to concern that the General Assembly and VDSS may not continue to provide full funding for the program in light of increased expenditures although the General Assembly and VDSS have always provided funding to meet the needs of the program.

• There is a disconnection between program and finance policies and procedures.

• The lack of uniform terminology, inconsistent policy, and lack of systems training had resulted in missing or incorrect date in the Online Automated Services Information System (OASIS).

• There is a significant variation in the administration of the program among the 120 local departments of social services. In order to address these findings, the workgroup recommends that Virginia embrace a new adoption philosophy guided by three basic principles. The three basic principles are:

• Subsidy should be based on the identified needs of the child;

• Administration/management of the AAP should be uniform across the state; and

• AAP should encourage permanency and not discourage adoption.

The workgroup has developed the following recommendations to improve the operations of the AAP:

1. Create a uniform Adoption Assistance Agreement that encourages linkage between the child’s need and service payment level.

2. Increase the use of federal Title IV-E funding for adoption assistance payments to adoptive parents.

3. Ensure the accuracy of data in the child welfare information system.

4. Establish clear and consistent policy and procedures, including definitions, in order to ensure consistency between program and financial reporting.

5. Establish clear adoption assistance practice guidelines.

6. Eliminate competing permanency incentives and disincentives.

7. Continue support of Virginia’s Adoption Assistance Program by the General Assembly.

Implementation of the recommendations found in this report should not only lead to an increase in the quality and cost effectiveness of Virginia’s Adoption Assistance Program, but also an increased emphasis on permanency for children.