Colorado State Adoption Assistance Program

ttp://www.cofosterandadopt.org/adoption.html

Colorado state-specific medical assistance:
https://www.healthfirstcolorado.com/

Colorado adoption assistance:
https://co4kids.org/faqs/

Colorado Revised Statutes 26-7-101 through 26-7-108:
http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/Colorado/
Click on the folder Colorado Revised Statutes.
Click on Title 26–Human Services Code, then click on Article 7–Subsidization of Adoption

Colorado Regulations 12 CCR 2509-4 Vol.7.306.4 to 7.306.6:
https://www.sos.state.co.us/CCR/GenerateRulePdf.do?ruleVersionId=7208&fileName=12%20CCR%202509-4

In Colorado a child must be legally free for adoption and have special needs to be eligible for assistance. Special needs are the specific factors or conditions that may prevent a child from being adopted without support. For a child to be considered as having special needs, the following three statements must be true:

• One or more of the following factors or conditions must exist:
  • Seven years old or older
  • Member of a sibling group of two or more children placed together in an adoptive placement
  • Physical disability (such as hearing, vision, or physical impairment; neurological conditions; disfiguring defects; and, heart defects)
  • Intellectual disability (such as developmental delay or disability, perceptual or speech/language disability, or a metabolic disorder)
  • Emotional disturbance
  • Developmental disability resulting in educational delays or significant learning processing difficulties
  • Hereditary factors documented by a physician or psychologist
  • High risk of developing a disability (such as HIV-positive, drug-exposed, or alcohol-exposed in utero)—this will be a $0 Dormant agreement with Medicaid at finalization.
  • Ethnic background or membership in a minority group that may be difficult to place.
• The state has determined that the child cannot or should not be returned to the home of the birth parent; and
• The agency that placed the child for adoption must document that, except where it would be against the child’s best interests, made a reasonable but unsuccessful effort to place the child for adoption without adoption support.

Colorado has been been creating a system to provide more consistency in adoption assistance from county to county and for families.  Currently Colorado has been developing an adoption assistance negotiation worksheet that will factor the child’s needs to calculate the maximum daily rate.  The worksheet will also factor the family circumstance, which the results generate a percent range of the appropriate foster care rate.  The range based on the family circumstances may be significantly lower than the foster care rate.

Current maximum subsidy rate:

Adoption assistance benefits typically continue through the month of the child’s 18th birthday. In some cases, assistance will continue until age 21, if the county department has determined that the child has a developmental or physical disability that warrants continued assistance.

Case and Medical Services are available as part of the adoption assistance agreement. Case and Medical Services:

• must be included in the initial subsidy agreement;
• must relate directly to the barrier(s) or special needs identified at the time the initial subsidy agreement is approved; and
• cannot be used for services covered by Medicaid or the adoption assistance agreements.

Case and Medical Services are not available for treatment of any physical or developmental disability or emotional disturbance identified after adoption finalization.Colorado has several nonprofit organizations dedicated to adoption that provide advocacy, information, and pre- and post-adoption services:

• Colorado Coalition for Adoptive Families (COCAF)—http://www.cocaf.org; 303-562-9864 (provides advocacy and information for pre- and post-adoptive and kinship families)
• The Adoption Exchange— https://www.raisethefuture.org/family-support/colorado

Colorado has a Relative Guardianship Assistance Program, to learn more about it visit https://cdhs.colorado.gov/relative-guardianship-assistance-program