Rule 5101:2-50-04 | Bridges Title IV-E eligibility and reimbursability determination.
(A) Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 675(8), a Title IV-E agency can extend foster care assistance for an emancipated young adult age eighteen but less than age twenty-one. This funding is provided in accordance with the federal "Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008" to cover foster care maintenance (FCM) payments, administration and training payments.
(B) Title IV-E FCM program eligibility and reimbursability shall be determined in the statewide automated child welfare information system (SACWIS) by the Title IV-E agency representative within thirty calendar days of any of the following:
(1) Voluntary participation agreement (VPA) effective date;
(2) Best interest ruling date;
(3) Annual reasonable efforts ruling date;
(4) The date a bridges participant is no longer residing in an approved supervised independent living setting; or
(5) Case transfer between regional bridges agencies.
(C) A bridges participant shall be considered Title IV-E FCM program eligible if, at the time eligibility is being determined:
(1) The emancipated young adult is program eligible for bridges and has signed a VPA pursuant to rule 5101:2-50-02 of the Administrative Code.
(2) The bridges participant met the aid to families with dependent children (AFDC) eligibility requirements per section 472(a)(3) of the "Act". AFDC eligibility is based on the bridges participant without regard to the parents/legal guardians or others in the assistance unit in the home from which the bridges participant was removed as a child.
(D) Once Title IV-E FCM eligibility is established, the bridges participant remains program eligible for the entire care and placement episode through the end of the month of the bridges participant's twenty-first birthday.
(E) The bridges participant is no longer program eligible for Title IV-E FCM when any of the following occur:
(1) The bridges participant has been terminated from bridges pursuant to rule 5101:2-50-03 of the Administrative Code; or
(2) The Title IV-E agency failed to acquire a best interest statement from the juvenile court in accordance with section 5101.1412 of the Revised Code. Eligibility ends at the end of the one hundred eightieth day of the signed VPA; or
(3) At the end of the month of the bridges participant's twenty-first birthday; or
(4) The bridges participant dies. Eligibility ends on the date of death.
(F) A new FCM eligibility determination in SACWIS must be completed if a bridges participant is terminated from bridges or voluntarily leaves the program and reenters the program by signing a new VPA.
(G) Title IV-E program reimbursability shall be determined for a bridges participant who is Title IV-E FCM program eligible at the time all parties signed the VPA. A Title IV-E FCM program eligible bridges participant shall be reimbursable when both of the following apply:
(1) The bridges participant's countable income is less than the cost of care paid by the Title IV-E agency.
(2) The bridges participant is residing in an approved supervised independent living setting, pursuant to rule 5101:2-50-06 of the Administrative Code and in accordance with section 5101.1411 of the Revised Code.
(H) The bridges participant is no longer program reimbursable for Title IV-E when any of the following occur:
(1) Reasonable efforts to finalize the permanency plan are not met in accordance with section 472(a)(2)(A)(ii) of the "Act" and 45 C.F.R. 1356.21(b)(2)(2012).
(2) The bridges participant is not residing in an approved supervised independent living setting, as outlined in paragraph (G)(2) of this rule.
(I) Title IV-E FCM reimbursement may be claimed for payments made toward an approved supervised independent living setting while a bridges participant is in one of the following types of leave, if the leave does not exceed fourteen calendar days and the bridges participant returns to the same living setting he or she was in prior to the leave:
(1) Whereabouts unknown;
(2) Hospital; or
(3) Vacation.
(J) Bridges participants who are otherwise Title IV-E FCM program eligible are not program reimbursable during their period of residence in the following settings or categories:
(1) Incarceration facilities;
(2) The home of a bridges participant's removal parent(s) or guardian(s); and
(3) Housing that is deemed uninhabitable.
Supplemental Information