Overview

There are children in the New York State/City’s foster care system whose age, race, ethnic background, or handicapping condition often becomes a significant obstacle to being adopted.  In order to increase the likelihood of these children finding permanent homes where they can receive the love and care all children need, New York State has enacted legislation which allows payments to be made for the care and maintenance of these children when they are adopted.

An adoption subsidy is a monthly payment mandated by law to be made for the care, maintenance, and/or medical needs of a child who fits the definition of handicapped or hard-to-place as defined by State law and regulations.  These payments must be made by the local social services official, documented in a written agreement, and may not be changed by any amelioration, remission or cure of the handicapping condition.  Subsidy payments are available to all eligible children until the age of 21 regardless of the adoptive parent’s income.  These payments are discontinued only when it is determined by a social services official that the adoptive parent(s) is no longer legally responsible for the support of the child or that the child is no longer receiving any support from the parent(s).

This following section will assist adoptive families with various post-adoption issues.  The following topics are covered:

1. Rate Adjustments
2. How to get a copy of an adoption subsidy budget letter
3. What to do if you have a lost, stolen or non receipt of a subsidy check
4. Recertification
5. Change of case name
6. Change of address
7. Medicaid questions
8. Direct Deposit
9. Adoption Subsidy Hotline

1. Rate Adjustments

Requesting post finalization subsidy or a post adoption subsidy upgrade

In limited circumstances, a child adopted without subsidy may be eligible for a post finalization request for subsidy if the child had a pre-existing condition that was unknown to the adoptive parent(s) and had been diagnosed after the adoption was finalized.  Additionally, children adopted with a subsidy may undergo a worsening of the conditions for which the subsidy was initially approved.  If these conditions change to the extent that the qualifications for a higher rate are met, a post adoption subsidy upgrade may be requested.

In order to process your upgrade request, you will need to submit a copy of a current examination/evaluation administered either by a physician (M.D.), a psychiatrist (M.D.), or a psychologist (Ph.D.).  The following elements must be in the evaluation:

• The child’s evaluation must include the child’s diagnosis/diagnoses as categorized by DSM-IV format.  The evaluation should describe the current behavioral or health management needs of the child with a history and description of the special needs that the parent must address.  Doctor’s need to be specific about child need, describing behaviors, frequency and severity of the problems, intervention requirements, testing, results, diagnosis/diagnoses (and date of diagnosis), treatment recommendations and prognosis.  The doctor’s recommendation must be included on the evaluation and it must bear the doctor’s signature stamp and state license number.  Please note that this evaluation must be no older that one year. 
• The evaluation must either show that the condition was pre-existing and not known to the parent or diagnosed prior to finalization of the adoption, or that it was a known condition that has now worsened and requires a higher level of care.  Upgrade requests for unchanged or stable conditions that existed at the time of the adoption but which were not fully documented will not be approved.

Aside from the medical evaluation, you will need to submit copies of all of the following:

• A photocopy of the Birth Certificate of the adopted child
• A full copy of the Original Adoption Subsidy Agreement (for subsidy upgrade requests only)
• A copy of the Original Adoption Certificate

Additionally, on a separate piece of paper, please include all of the following information:  The adoptive parent(s)’ or Legal Guardian(s)’ name(s), complete address (including city, state, and zip code), daytime telephone number, evening telephone number, name of the adoptive child, adoptive child’s date of birth and the date the adoption was finalized.

When all of the aforementioned documentation and information has been gathered, please submit the package to the following address:

NYC/Administration for Children’s Services
Post-Adoption Subsidy Upgrade
150 William Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10038
Attn: Nelida Jimenez

Important Note: Packages that are missing any of the aforementioned documents, cannot be processed and will be returned to you.  Please only send copies of all of the requested documentation and to provide full copies of each of these documents.

There are other reasons for a subsidy rate to change which require no request on the part of the adoptive parent. The rate changes occur systematically.  Those reasons are,

• Age adjusted rate: this adjustment is age dependent.  Rates can be adjusted up to five times before a child reaches his or her 21st birthday.  This will depend on the child’s age group at the time the child was adopted.  The group ages are: 0-3 years old, 4-5 years old, 6-11 years old, 12-15 years old, and 16-21 years old.
• Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA):  Periodically, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services will adjust the subsidy rate. 

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2. How to request a copy of  an Adoption Subsidy Budget Letter
(Income Verification letter)

Provide your case name, case number, child identification number (CIN), and your current mailing address to the Adoption Subsidy Customer Service Desk at (212) 676-2825, the requested letter will be mailed to you within 7 business days.

3. Lost/stolen/non-receipt of the Subsidy Checks

Checks are normally mailed during the first week of each month.  However, you may not receive your check for one or more of the following reasons:

• You did not complete your case recertification.
  Solution: Contact Adoption Subsidy Customer Service at (212) 676-2825 to request a copy of recertification in order to complete your case recertification process. Refer to section #4 Recertificationfor more detail.
• You moved and did not notify us.
  Solution: Refer to section #6 Change of a case name and follow the instruction on how to change your case address.
• Your child has aged out.
  

If you have not received your subsidy check, we recommend you to do the following:

• Wait until the 15th of the month has passed before beginning the lost or stolen check process.  It is not unusual for your subsidy check to arrive later than the regular time of the month due to  postal service delays. 
• If 15 days have elapsed and you still have not received your subsidy check, fill out two copies of the Statement of Loss, Theft, or Non-receipt of Social Services Check (click the link below to download the form).  Make sure the affidavit forms are notarized and bear the signatures of both the adoptive father and mother, if applicable.  Mail the completed forms (two copies) to your caseworker (see section #7 for caseworker information) to the following address:

Once we have received a copy of the duly signed and notarized Statement of Loss, Theft, or Non-receipt of Social Services Check (affidavit form), your caseworker will determine the next step, which might be one of the following:

• If the check was not cashed and your request was received before the 10th of any given month, a stop payment will be required and the check will be reissued to you the next payment date.
• If the check was cashed, your Statement of Loss, Theft, or Non-receipt of Social Services Check (affidavit form) will be forwarded for further investigation and a reconciliation process will be initiated.  This process may take up to three months.

If  you  receive the original check after returning the complete form, please forward it to the above address.  Check forgery investigations may take three to six month. We ask your patience and assure you that you will hear from us in writing regarding the status of your request. 

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4. Recertification

It is your responsibility to inform your Subsidized Adoption Caseworker when you  are no longer  legally responsible for the child(ren), or are no longer providing support for the child(ren) for whom you are receiving adoption subsidy payments in your household.
A recertification letter is sent out annually to adoptive parents two months before their certification is to expire.  You must complete, sign and notarize the affidavit on the  reverse side of the recertification letter as required. Please mail  the signed and notarized recertification letter to:

• School Attendance Record
• Driver ID / Non-driver ID (copy)
• School Report Card
• Medical Immunization Card (Age 6 and under)

Mail the signed recertification letter and supporting documentation to:

Administration for Children’s Services
Attn:  Valerie McPherson
Adoption Subsidy Unit
150 William Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10038

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5. Change of case name

In order to change your case name, you must provide us with a copy of the following applicable documentation:

• Marriage certificate;
• Divorce certificate;
• Death certificate; or
• A notarized document from either one of the adoptive parents requesting his/her name to be removed from the subsidy check.

Please mail the request to your caseworker (see section #7 for caseworker information):

Administration for Children’s Services
Attn: (Name of your caseworker)
Adoption Subsidy Unit
150 William Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10038

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6. Change of address

We encourage adoptive parents to notify us any address change as soon as possible in order for us to send the check to the correct address.  To change your address, you must send us a written notarized request signed by the adoptive parent or both adoptive father and mother.  The request must clearly state your old and new addresses and include a contact telephone number where you can be reached during the day.  Please mail the change of address request to your caseworker (see section #7 to find caseworker information):

Administration for Children’s Services
Attn: (Name of your caseworker)
Adoption Subsidy Unit
150 William Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10038

Or you can fax your request to (212) 676-7511 or (212) 341-3660, to the attention of your caseworker.  If we receive your request before the 10th of any given month, you will receive your subsidy check the following month at the new address.

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7. Medicaid

Adoption Subsidy Medicaid stops when the child reaches his or her 18th birthday for basic hard-to-place child and 21st birthday for handicapped child. However, under the new initiative all such children are automatically transitioned to community Medicaid for a period of 4 months. Before the expiration of the 4 months extension, adoptive parent(s) will receive a recertification package from Medical Assistance Program (MAP). It is the responsibility of the adoptive parent(s) to complete and return the recertification package to MAP. Once MAP receives the package, a determination of your child(ren) eligibility to continuing receiving Medicaid coverage would be made.

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8. Direct Deposit

Direct Deposit (DD) is now available for your monthly  payment  to be deposited directly into your bank account. Click here to learn more and download the enrollment form

Direct deposit will ensure that your payment arrives safely and reliably on the same scheduled date every month.  You will no longer have to go to the bank to deposit a paper check, and you can access the electronic payment immediately instead of having to wait for a check to clear.

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9. Adoption Subsidy Hotline

Please call the Adoption Subsidiy Hotline at (212) 676-2825 to if one of the following situations occurs:

• You have not received the child’s Medicaid card;
• The card has been lost or stolen;
• You are unable to access services with the card;
• You require further information.

To learn more about subsidized adoption, please visit New York State Adoption Services Website at: http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/adopt

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