The Division’s philosophy and practice in the adoption and legal guardianship subsidy program is to promote and develop a collaborative effort between Division staff and the adoptive or guardianship family to meet the special needs of the child.

For the Division to subsidize an adoption or legal guardianship, the adoptive parent(s) or guardian(s) must sign an Agreement. This Agreement will cover only those services for which the Division has agreed to pay. In many instances services may be purchased only from a provider with whom the Division has a contract. In other instances a child’s needs may require a service that is not available from a provider with whom the Division has a contract. Such services must be included in the Agreement and approved by the Division Director prior to the services being utilized. These services will be reimbursed to the adoptive parent(s) or guardian(s) or, whenever possible, a child-specific contract will be developed with the service provider to allow payment to the provider directly from the Division.

Subsidy agreements are to be signed only by the adoptive parent(s)/guardian(s) and the DFAS Director/DFAS Designee.

In the event that a two parent family has an active foster home license/contract, but only one parent will be pursuing guardianship/adoption; only the guardian/parent pursing guardianship/adoption will sign the subsidy agreement. Both names, however, will remain on the DVN and in FACES for the duration of the foster care period.  Once the guardianship/adoption finalizes, the second parent will need to be removed from the DVN and the foster care license/contract closed.  IF both parents are continuing to foster other children together or have an active subsidy, a new DVN will need to be created for the one parent on the guardianship/adoption subsidy. A new AD approval will need to be added under the new DVN for the adoptive parent/guardian to be associated with the guardianship/adoption subsidy.

If the parent with the primary tax ID in FACES is the one who needs to be removed from the DVN, it can only be removed by the payment unit.  This can be completed by emailing your request to DFAS.FACESPaymentUnit@dss.mo.gov.

Payment for services included in the Agreement must not begin until the DFAS Director/DFAS Designeehas signed the Agreement.

Providers will be reimbursed directly if they have a contract with the Division. Adoptive parent(s) or guardian(s) will be paid for the service after an invoice or a “paid” receipt has been submitted. All receipts submitted for reimbursement must be submitted within 6 months of the service being provided.

Payment for maintenance, MO HealthNet, childcare, respite and other special services are authorized through an adoption or guardianship subsidy Agreement. There is to be no means test utilized in developing these Agreements.

Adoption and legal guardianship Agreements may continue until the child reaches age 18. All subsidy Agreements are reviewed by staff at least annually to insure best services to children and families are provided, and more frequently at the request of the family when changes are necessary because of the needs of the child/youth.

Additionally, this Division assists the Division of Youth Services (DYS), the Department of Mental Health (DMH) and licensed child-placing agencies by authorizing an adoption or legal guardianship subsidy for eligible children who are in their custody and are placed for adoption or guardianship. These children must meet eligibility requirements for the subsidy programs.

It must be remembered that, although there may be a subsidy in place, the family is an adoptive or guardianship family. Therefore, we must recognize that the family, like other families, has the same rights and responsibilities to manage their own lives and that of their child after the final decree of adoption or legal guardianship is granted. The family, like other families, may utilize any appropriate community service or resource (including the Division) to assist with service needs which develop at a later time. However, with the Division’s commitment to seek permanency for children with special needs through adoption or legal guardianship, it is recognized that families providing permanency for these children may need placement support services beyond the granting of a decree of adoption or legal guardianship. We are to extend to these families our assistance to make the adoption or legal guardianship a success. The family should be informed that staff will be available to provide needed and appropriate services, i.e., the family may request additional adoption or guardianship support services be added to their subsidy any time after the decree of adoption or legal guardianship.

The adoption subsidy and subsidized guardianship Agreements are contracts and are considered legally binding. Because these documents are contracts and are legally binding, no pencil, white out, or other alterations may be made in the pre-printed template of the Agreement.

In the event that a requested service entered on the Agreement or any Amendment is not approved by the Division Director or the amount of payment is changed, or a correction needs to be made, the change may be handled by “crossing out” the item, writing in the change and requesting the adoptive parent(s)/guardian(s) to initial the change and date their initials. If more than one change must be made on the Agreement or Amendment, a new Agreement or Amendment will need to be prepared and signatures obtained again.

NOTE: changes of any kind cannot be made to the pre-printed template contents or the four pages of the adoption subsidy agreement, cd ad.

Scanned copies of the Agreement will only be accepted by the Adoption Subsidy Unit with prior approval and must be legible.

NOTE: the adoption subsidy agreement and legal guardianship agreement must be approved by the division director or designee prior to the final decree of adoption or award of legal guardianship.

Related Practice Alerts and Memos:

7-1-19 – CD19-52 – FY20 Rate Increases

12-4-19 – PA19-AD-06 – Transitional Living Placements and Subsidy Agreements

1-10-20 – PA20-AD-01 – Legal Fees for AD and LG Subsidies

10-29-2020 – PA20-AD-06 – Child Summary

01-13-21 –CD-21-01 -Contractors Negotiation/Completion Of The Initial Adoption Or Legal Guardianship Subsidy Agreement