Lawrence and Gallia Counties' October 2022 Adoption Assistance Payments Reveals Non-Compliance with Federal and State Policy
Compelling Cases for State Intervention
On November 18, 2022, I published a post on Ohio Adoption Assistance payment rates that included all payments for the month of October, broken down by county agency. In subsequent weeks, I have reported on adoption assistance payment rates for individual counties in various sections of the state.
Reporting on the widely varying patterns of adoption assistance payments in various counties, of course, by itself does not tell us a great deal about whether the process for putting them in place was consistent with federal and state negotiation requirements. Lawrence and Gallia Counties, however, stand as conspicuous exceptions. The October, 2022 adoption assistance payment information for Lawrence and Gallia Counties alone presents a compelling case for non-compliance with federal and state policy, even without additional information.
Lawrence County
All 80 of Lawrence County’s October 2022 Adoption Assistance payments were for $250 per month. It is hardly a coincidence, that until January, 2023, Federal and state dollars covered the first $250 in adoption assistance payments. Up to that amount, the county paid nothing. See attached.
An agency obviously cannot negotiate adoption assistance payments based on the needs of an individual child and the circumstances of an individual family and always wind up insisting on $250 per month. Lawrence County told its adoptive parents that it would not agree to adoption assistance payments above $250, regardless of the child’s needs and family circumstances.
Stranger still, Lawrence County gave no indication that it would agree to adoption assistance payments over $250, even after an increase in the state’s financial participation. On October 26, 2022, Family, Children and Adult Services Procedure Letter No. 400, provided the following:
The state participation rate for the non-federal match for AA payments for any initial Title IV-E adoption assistance agreement becoming effective on or after January 1, 2023 is $350. Public children services agencies (PCSA) will be responsible for providing the non-federal match amount for any payments above $350.
See “Breaking News.”
After January 1, Lawrence County could agree to adoption assistance payments of $350, without incurring any cost. At this writing there is no indication that the agency intends to make $350 its new minimum payment.
Gallia County
Gallia County presents a somewhat different picture than Lawrence, but one that screams non-compliance just as loudly. One of the agency’s 30 adoption assistance payments is $600. All of the remaining payments were $250 or less. In fact, 23 of the 30 adoption assistance payments are below $250 per month, the amount at which Gallia pays nothing. Faced with this pattern, it is safe to conclude that there is little to no negotiation going on, at least not the kind required in state and federal law.
Warren County displayed a similar pattern of Adoption Assistance payments below, $250 per month prior to a 2018-19 class action lawsuit filed by adoptive families. The suit revealed that Warren County did not negotiate adoption assistance agreements in accordance with policies and procedures set forth in federal and state law. Payment levels seem to have improved following a consent agreement.
Lawrence and Gallia’s low adoption assistance payments stand in marked contrast to other nearby Appalachian counties, such as Scioto, Jackson, Meigs and Pike.