Determine Eligibility for a State Adoption Maintenance Subsidy

When you receive an application for State Adoption Maintenance Subsidy (SAMS), you use Ohio SACWIS to determine whether the child is eligible to receive the subsidy. When the system determines a child's eligibility, it checks to see that certain criteria are met. Payments under this type of subsidy are managed in the system as a recurring payment.

You can enter a request for a SAMS only when an request for Adoption Assistance (AA) has been entered in the system and denied.

You cannot enter a SAMS request when a pending or approved AA or SAMS subsidy request already exists.

Determine a child's eligibility for a SAMS as follows:

1. From the Home screen, click the Financial tab.

2. Click the Eligibility tab.

3. Click the Adoption Subsidy link in the left navigation bar. The Adoption Subsidy Program screen appears.

4. Click Person Search and locate and select the child whose subsidy history you want to view. The system searches for the child's adoptive case first. If there is no adoptive case, the system searches for any case in which the child is a participant.

OR

5. Enter the child's person ID and click Go.
   
   When you select the child from the search results, the system returns you to the Adoption Subsidy Program screen. It displays the child's original person ID number, as well as the child's name, age, and case ID number.
   
   The Subsidy History table displays the records of any subsidies. The Review History table displays the records of any subsidy reviews.

6. Click Provider Search and locate and select the adoptive parents. You must select a provider before you can add a subsidy request.

7. Select SAMS in the Subsidy Type field.

8. Click Add Subsidy. The system displays the SAMS Subsidy screen.

9. Complete these date fields:
   
   Application Received Date
   Social/Med Date
   
   The system automatically fills in the Home Study Date field.

10. Click the Special Needs Criteria link and indicate any special needs the child may have.

    1. From the Special Needs Criteria screen, click the check box next to each special need description that applies to this child.
       
       The system draws the TPR (termination of parental rights) information from the legal records on the person profile.

    2. Click Save. You are returned to the SAMS Subsidy screen.

11. To determine whether the family exceeds 120% of Ohio's estimated median income, complete the Annual Gross Income and Family Size Including Adoptive Children fields, and click Calculate.

12. Click Determine Eligibility. The system determines the child's eligibility and responds with a determination decision and date on the screen above this button.

13. If the child is determined to be eligible, complete these fields to initiate the subsidy:
    
    SAMS Approval Date
    Subsidy Effective Date
    Subsidy Amount
    
    The projected end date of the subsidy is the child's 18th birthday. The adoption finalization date is drawn from the child's legal record.

14. Click Save to save the eligibility determination and return to the Adoption Subsidy Program screen. Once you save the eligibility determination, no further edits may be made to the subsidy record.
    
    Click Cancel if you do not want to save this eligibility determination record. The subsidy record remains in "Pending" status and can be edited until you save the eligibility determination.