Sponsored by:
Senator M. TERESA RUIZ
District 29 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Permits payments in subsidized adoption until child becomes 21 years of age under certain circumstances.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning subsidized adoptions and amending P.L.1973, c.81.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 3 of P.L.1973, c.81 (C.30:4C-47) is amended to read as follows:
3. Payments in subsidization of adoption shall include but are not limited to the maintenance costs, medical and surgical expenses, and other costs incidental to the care, training and education of the child. Such payments may not exceed the cost of providing comparable assistance in resource family care and shall not be made after the adoptive child becomes 18 years of age, except that payments shall be made until the child becomes 21 years of age if the child is either enrolled as a student of a secondary school or its equivalent, or is otherwise designated as eligible for such payments under rules and regulations adopted by the Commissioner of Children and Families.
(cf: P.L.2005, c.169, s.12)
2. This act shall take effect on the 180th day after the date of enactment, but the Commissioner of Children and Families may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill amends section 3 of P.L.1973, c.81 (C.30:4C-47), concerning payments to adoptive parents on behalf of a hard-to-place child in a subsidized adoption, to provide that payments may be made until the child becomes 21 years of age if the child is designated for such payments under regulations adopted by the Commissioner of Children and Families. Under current law, the payments on behalf of a child may be made until the child becomes 21 years of age only if the child is enrolled as a student of a secondary school or its equivalent.
The bill has a delayed effective date of 180 days following its enactment to allow time for the Commissioner of Children and Families to adopt regulations designating which children would be eligible for such payments.