Minnesota and Federal Legislation
Related to Adoption

How A Bill Becomes a Law in Minnesota

Directory of Minnesota House Members
Directory of Minnesota Senators

Not sure who your representatives are?  Find your state representative or senator through the Minnesota Secretary of State. 

House Information 
    651-296-2146 or 800-657-3550

Senate Information
    651-296-0504 or 800-234-1112

Existing Legislation

• Flexible Medical Coverage for Adoptive Families
• New Custody Law
• Reimbursement of Nonrecurring Expenses
• Children's Mental Health
• The Child Citizenship Act of 2000
• Communication or Contract Agreements Between Adoptive and Birth Families
• Rights of Birthfathers
• Minnesota Father's Adoption Registry
• Expenses Allowable To Be Paid to Birthparents in an Adoption

Flexible Medical Coverage for Adoptive Families

A new law was passed in the 2003 legislative session that exempts children who receive adoption assistance from the Prepaid Medical Assistance Program.  Families now have a choice of health coverage for their children, which means that children can continue to see the same professionals they did while in foster care.  House File 151 was introduced in the House by Representatives Marty Seifert (R-Marshall) and in the Senate by Senator Dennis Frederickson (R-New Ulm).  It was signed into law by Governor Tim Pawlenty on May 23 and becomes effective on July 1, 2003.

History:  In January 2002, Minnesota families with children who receive adoption assistance received letters from the state that required them to select a prepaid health maintenance organization (HMO) or be assigned to one by the state.  Families were not allowed to stay on the straight Medical Assistance (MA) fee-for-service program, unless they applied for and received a waiver.  HF 151 offers families a choice of medical coverage.

Finding medical or dental providers or adoption-competent mental health services is often difficult for families who have children with special needs.  It becomes even more difficult in greater Minnesota.  HF 151 allows families the flexibility to choose Medical Assistance providers who are not associated with a pre-selected HMO.  Often, these are the providers the child has come to trust when in foster care or with whom the child has a history.

Jeff Ronning, an adoptive parent from Marshall, MN, was instrumental in getting this bill introduced in the House.  Ronning saw other adoptive families struggle when their new health plan would not cover the therapists their children had come to trust.  His family chose to drive to the Twin Cities for dental care when their local clinic would no longer accept their MA card on behalf of their two boys.  As a result, Ronning met with Representative Seifert in his home district, and sent letters and called both his legislators about the struggles over coverage for Minnesota's adopted children with special needs.

In addition, parents working through the Minnesota Foster Doll Project contacted their legislators to voice support of HF 151 and the companion Senate Bill, SF 396.  "After the termination, so many things change in a child's life; it's wonderful that we can maintain the same health coverage for our children," states Judy Howell, President of the Minnesota Foster Care Association.  "It's a win-win bill for everyone involved."

Budget analysts with the Minnesota Department of Human Services and the House of Representatives analyzed the fiscal implications of the added flexibility for families and determined HF 151 was a no-cost bill.  Overall, this legislation allows for a wider range of medical coverage for the children adopted from the child welfare system.

How Can I Change My Child's Coverage?
The law becomes effective on July 1, 2003.  In time, families will receive direction from the Minnesota Department of Human Services Medical Assistance Office on how they can make changes to their current coverage, if they desire.  Parents should contact their local agency or worker to change from managed care to Medical Assistance fee-for-service; coverage will not automatically be changed.  It may also take time before county and private agency workers become familiar with the new law, so parents may need to educate their workers about the law change and advocate for a change in their family.

New Custody Law

Impacts Kinship Adoption:  Governor Tim Pawlenty recently signed a bill that modified last year's Defacto Custodian and Interested Third Party Law.  The defacto law provided that custody could be contained in three ways:

• by a custody consent decree

• as a defacto custodian

• as an interested third party

The law provides that in certain cases third parties such as grandparents and kinship providers can approach the court on a basis equal to parents in seeking custody of a child. A third party may file a petition for custody if it can be proven the parent has abandoned or neglected the child; placement of the child with the third party takes priority over preserving the day-to-day parent-child relationship due to the presence of physical or emotional danger; or any other extraordinary circumstances.  Not designed to impinge on parental rights, the law affects situations in which a third party has parented a child for an extended period of time or in instances of neglect or abandonment.  A defacto custodian is defined as someone who has cared for a child without a parent's consistent participation for a period of six months or more if the child is younger than three years, and for a period of one year or more if the child is three or over.  One important aspect to the law is that it clarifies that the time period no longer needs to be consecutive, but can be cumulative.

Kinship providers can learn more about this law from www.mkca.org where they can download Legal Steps, the 2003 edition of the Kinship Caregiver Resource Manual.

Reimbursement of Nonrecurring Expenses

Significance: Minnesota administers a one-time federal payment program not to exceed $2000 that helps families who are adopting children with special needs. This subsidy is available to parents of children adopted either from America or adopted internationally.

In order to qualify for the one-time Reimbursement of Nonrecurring Expenses:

• Parental rights of the child’s birthparents must have been terminated.
• The child must have one or more of the following special needs:
  1. Be a member of a sibling group who have been placed together and one sibling must be older than 15 months.
  2. Have documented physical, emotional, mental or behavior disabilities.
  3. Have a fragile background history indicating high risk for developing physical, emotional, mental or behavioral disabilities.

   

• Efforts to place the child without this reimbursement must be demonstrated.
• No violation of Minnesota or federal law regarding adoptions occurred.
  Costs refundable include:
• Agency adoption fees, including psychological and health evaluations
• Agency supervision of the adoption placement
• Transportation, food and lodging for the child and adoptive parents necessary to complete the adoptive placement or the legal adoption process
• Court filing fees
• Attorney fees
• Replacement birth certificate fees

The Minnesota Department of Human Services must approve the Nonrecurring Adoption Expense Agreement BEFORE the adoption is finalized in court.

TIME LIMIT: Claims for reimbursement must be submitted within 21 months of the adoption decree.

To get agreement forms and certifications, send a self-addressed stamped business size envelope to:

Adoption Reimbursement Forms
Minnesota Department of Human Services
444 Lafayette Road North
St. Paul MN 55155-3831

Need more information? Call: 651-215-9415
www.dhs.state.mn.us/ChildInt/Programs/adoption/reimburse.htm

For more information about subsidies: www.fpsol.com/adoption/checklist.html

For questions on Long Term Adoption Assistance, log onto:
www.nacac.org/adoptionsubsidy.html

Adoption Advocates provides a checklist and guidelines for Title 
IV-E Adoption Assistance and State Adoption Subsidies:
www.fpsol.com/adoption/checklist.html

Adoption and Financial Assistance:
Tools for Navigating the Bureaucracy by Rita Laws and Tim O’Hanlon helps parents and professionals understand federal adoption assistance. 
Available from Tapestry Books, 800-765-2367.

Children's Mental Health

Reprinted from Pact 4's newsletter Focus (Vol. 2, August 2001);
2200 23rd Street NE, Suite 2030; Willmar, MN 56201.
Phone: 800-960-7228 or 320-231-7030.

Significance: Parents of children diagnosed with autism may be able to gain county assistance. The Legislature amended the Comprehensive Mental Health Act to make counties responsible for children's mental health crisis services and increased annual county grant funds for that purpose by $500,000 statewide. Medical Assistance coverage was expanded to include applied behavioral therapy services for children with autism, effective January 1, 2003. By fiscal year 2005, the state share for these services is expected to rise to $3.7 million annually, with higher amounts possible in subsequent years.

Legislation passed in Minnesota in 2001 promises to improve services for children and families. You can find the full text of the Children's Mental Health bill at www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legis.htm and look for Special Session SF4, Art.9, Sec. 18.

The Child Citizenship Act Of 2000

Significance: Until the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, children adopted internationally were required to go through the process of becoming a United States citizen. Some children never completed the process and as adults were denied privileges such as voting. In some cases, adopted persons have been deported as non-citizens to countries in which they were born.

The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 grants automatic citizenship to children born abroad if they:

• Are under the age of 18.
• Are admitted to the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident
• Are in the legal and physical custody of at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen.

Children adopted abroad automatically become a U.S. citizen once they legally enter the United States. Children entering the U.S. on an orphan visa but whose adoption will be finalized in this country will granted automatic citizenship on the day their adoption is finalized. Children under 18 who had naturalization applications pending with INS were granted automatic citizenship on the day the law took effect. (February 27, 2001) Adoptive parents may apply for paperwork from the Immigration and Naturalization Service to verify their child’s U.S. citizenship.

Communication or Contract Agreements Between Adoptive and Birth Families

Significance: Under a new Minnesota law, Legalized Communication or Contact Agreements can be entered into to provide protections for all parties who agree in a written “contract” to continue contact after an adoption occurs.

Open adoption, kinship adoption and fost-adopt have traditionally included informal, non-enforceable verbal agreements regarding ongoing contact between participants. Such agreements have hinged on a level of trust that has developed between parties who view ongoing contact with the family of origin as being beneficial to the child. Or, the adoptive parents may continue to allow for the visitation of a child with birth family relatives with some restrictions imposed. While such arrangements may be based on “a promise” or “good will,” because they are informal they would not hold up in a court of law.

Minnesota Statute §259.58 addresses the issue of enforcing agreements for post adoption contact made between birth and adoptive families. Contact agreements that are entered into a court of law at the time of the adoption decree will be enforced in family court. Agreements may be made between the adoptive parents and a) birth relatives with whom the child resided before being adopted, and b) any birth relative if the child is being adopted by another birth relative in cases of the death of both birth parents.

In order for the agreement to be enforceable:

• The agreement terms must be in contained in a written court law.
• An order may be requested at the time before an adoption is granted, but must be issued within 30 days of being requested or 30 days after the adoption, whichever is earlier.
• Terms must be approved in writing by the adoptive parents, birth parents/relatives and an agency is the child is under the custody or guardianship of an agency. A birthparent must approve contact between a relative and adoptive parents in some cases.
• The identity of the parties need not be disclosed to make the agreement enforceable.
• The court must find the agreement is in the child’s best interests.
• The court shall mail a certified copy of the order to the parties or to their attorneys.

Rights of Birthfathers

Significance: Any adoption that bypasses a child’s birthfather for any reason may be at legal risk. Before an adoption takes place, it is important to take appropriate legal steps to include and inform the birthfather. In response to some high profile cases in which adoptions have been disrupted, some states have established a registry for fathers. Minnesota’s Father's Adoption Registry provides a way for a birthfather to take steps… should he wish to… have a say in the adoption. Failure to register may bar the birthfather from disrupting an adoption.

Minnesota Fathers' Adoption Registry

Any birthfather who believes that he may be the father of a child and who wishes to receive notice of the child’s adoption must register with the Minnesota Fathers’ Adoption Registry.

If a man wishes to veto an adoption plan or otherwise assert parental rights to a child, he must:

• File a paternity action within 30 days after his child’s birth or…
• If he is registered, after getting a father’s adoption registry notice, he must begin a paternity action within 30 days.
• If a man does not register within 30 days of the child’s birth and still wishes to register, he must prove that it as impossible for him to register and that the impossibility was not his fault.
  Information included in the registry or claim:
• Name, address, social security number, date of birth of putative father and birth mother
• If applicable, certified copy of court order adjudicating putative father to be the father
• Child’s name, gender, place of birth or anticipated date of birth
• Registration date
• Other information deemed necessary

All information is sent to the birthmother. The attorney for the adoptive parents can access the information, but the notice of registration does not go to the adoptive parents.

To register, contact: 

NOTE: Indigent birthfathers who are registered are entitled to free lawyers through the public defender system.

Relative Reading:  Birthfathers' Rights in Adoption:  A Minnesota Perspective, Walling & Berg, PA. 

Expenses Allowable To Be Paid to Birthparents in an Adoption

Significance: Although some living and health-related expenses for birthparents may be paid by adoptive or adopting parents, Minnesota imposes restrictions to prevent “baby selling” and to protect both the adoptive parents and birthparents.

The following expenses may be paid to birthparents:

• Counseling (paid directly to the provider of the service.)
• Medical expenses (paid directly to the provider of the service.)
• Legal fees (paid directly to the provider of the service.)
• Transportation, meals and lodging (incurred for placement of
  the child or in order to receive counseling, legal or medical services related to pregnancy, birth or placement.)
• Adoption services provided by agency (at the request of the birthparent, paid directly to agency.)
• Reasonable living expenses (if needed to maintain an adequate standard of living which the birthmother is unable to otherwise maintain because of loss of income or other support resulting from the pregnancy.)
• Payments for living expenses cannot extend beyond 6 weeks after delivery (unless the court determines within the 6-week period that the birthmother is unable to be employed due to physical limitations related to birth of the child.)
• Does not include lost wages, gifts, educational expenses or other similar expenses.

It is a gross misdemeanor for a person to give money or anything of value to the birth parent if the person is engaged or has engaged in any placement activity.

It is a gross misdemeanor to give or accept payment for the placement of a child for adoption.

A contract purporting to require a birthparent to reimburse expenses paid by the adoptive parents if the birthparent refuses to consent to adoption is void.

A licensed agency may receive payment for:

• Expenses related to adoption counseling
• Provision of services
• Supervision of children before legal adoption is complete
• Birth parent expenses.