(a) The department or county adoption agency may recover any overpayments of financial assistance under the Adoption Assistance Program, and shall develop regulations that establish the means to recoup them, including an appropriate notice of action and appeal rights, when the department determines either of the following applies:
(1) The adoptive parents are no longer legally responsible for the support of the child.
(2) The child is no longer receiving support from the adoptive family.
(3) The adoptive family has committed fraud in its application for, or reassessment of, the adoption assistance.
(b) Children on whose behalf an adoption assistance agreement had been executed prior to October 1, 1992, shall continue to receive adoption assistance in accordance with the terms of that agreement.
(c) Payment shall begin on or after the effective date of an adoption assistance agreement, or a deferred adoption assistance agreement, or a final decree of adoption, provided that the adoption assistance agreement has been signed by all required parties prior to or at the time the adoption decree is issued by the court. The amount and duration of assistance shall not be changed without the concurrence of the adoptive parents, unless any of the following has occurred:
(1) The child has attained 18 years of age, or 21 years of age where the child has a mental or physical disability that warrants the continuation of assistance.
(2) The adoptive parents are no longer legally responsible for the support of the child.
(3) The child is no longer receiving any support from adoptive parents.
(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 35, Sec. 111. (SB 1013) Effective June 27, 2012.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018