SENATE BILL 59

46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2004

INTRODUCED BY

Ben D. Altamirano

AN ACT

RELATING TO ADOPTIONS; PROVIDING PAYMENTS FOR SUBSIDIZED ADOPTIONS UNTIL A CHILD REACHES TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE; AMENDING A SECTION OF THE CHILDREN'S CODE; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     Section 1. Section 32A-5-45 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 77, Section 172) is amended to read:

     "32A-5-45. ADMINISTRATION OF SUBSIDIZED ADOPTIONS.--

          A. The [social] protective services division of the department shall promulgate all necessary regulations for the administration of [the] a program of subsidized adoptions or placement with permanent guardians.

          B. Subsidy payments may include payments to vendors for medical and surgical expenses and payments to the adoptive parents or permanent guardians for maintenance and other costs incidental to the adoption, care, training and education of the child. The payments in any category of assistance shall not exceed the cost of providing the assistance in foster care and shall not be made after the child reaches [eighteen] twenty-one years of age.

          C. A written agreement between the adoptive family or permanent guardians and the [social] protective services division shall precede the decree of adoption or permanent guardianship. The agreement shall incorporate the terms and conditions of the subsidy plan based on the [individual] physical, emotional and developmental needs of the child within the permanent family. In cases of subsidies that continue for more than one year, there shall be an annual redetermination of the need for a subsidy. The [social] protective services division shall develop an appeal procedure whereby a permanent family may contest a division determination to deny, reduce or terminate a subsidy."

     Section 2. APPROPRIATION.--Sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the protective services division of the children, youth and families department for expenditure in fiscal year 2005 for the expense of providing payments for subsidized adoptions until a child reaches twenty-one years of age. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of the fiscal year 2005 shall revert to the general fund.

     Section 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2004.

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