The annual audit procedure is not mandated by federal law or federal policy. Instead, we are told that annual registration is a government directive that was created to manage the program. An annual audit or recertification provides administrators with information on whether children are still living at home, how children and families are doing, and whether their needs have changed. The process should register with the family and determine whether the current agreement reflects the child`s actual needs, which could mean that the level of services is increased or reduced. States that have measures to revise agreements go from year to year to three years, but most of them check each year. Under Section 473 A (a) (3) of the Social Security Act, states cannot amend or amend an adoption assistance contract without parental consent. However, if a state reduces government care rates on a lump sum and subsidy rates are in line with those rates, the state would be required to reduce all adoption assistance agreements accordingly. This would ensure that grant payments do not exceed the rates requiring care, which are also imposed by federal law. To date, we are aware of only one federal state, Oregon, which has chosen this option by reducing all grant agreements by 7.5%. In this case, Oregon sent a letter to all families affected by the cuts, provided a copy of each amended new aid agreement, and asked parents to sign the agreement or risk losing overall aid. We are aware of a handful of families who have applied for an administrative complaint because of the budget cuts.
Parents often wonder under what circumstances the public authority can legally terminate an adoption assistance contract. In accordance with Section 8.2D.5 of the Child Welfare Policy Manual (CWPM), once signed and in force, an adoption assistance contract can only be terminated in three circumstances: parents adopt children with special needs and sign an adoption assistance agreement with the belief that, in most cases, benefits (financial services) will follow the child until the age of 18 or the bachelor`s degree. Unfortunately, some public and regional authorities are responding to deep cuts in the economy by making changes to these agreements. When a child does not live at home, some agencies automatically assume that the parents do not support the child and terminate monthly support.