HBA-MPM H.B. 1921 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1921 By: Maxey Human Services 3/4/2001 Introduced 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. House Bill 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 House Bill 1921 amends the Family Code to require the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (PRS) to continue providing adoption assistance to adoptive parents of a child with special needs after a child's 18th birthday under an adoption assistance agreement between the adoptive parents and PRS. If the child has a mental or physical disability that warrants the continuation of assistance, PRS is required to provide assistance until the child's 21st birthday as provided by federal law. If the child does not have a disability that warrants continuation until age 21, PRS is required to provide assistance, funded solely with state money, until the earlier of: _the date the child ceases to attend school regularly; _the date the child obtains a high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate; _the date the child's adoptive parents are no longer responsible for the child's support; or _the child's 19th birthday. 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.