GEORGIA DIVISION OF FAMILY AND CHILDREN SERVICES

CHILD WELFARE POLICY MANUAL

Chapter:
Policy
Title:
Policy
Number:

(9) Eligibility
IV-E Reimbursability
9.9

Effective
Date:

August 2014

Previous
Policy #:

1003.9
1003.10

CODES/REFERENCES
Title IV-E of the Social Security Act Section 471 (a) (1)
Title IV-E of the Social Security Act Section 472
Title IV-E of the Social Security Act Sections 475 (4) (A) & (B)
45 CFR Parts 1355 and 1356
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) a/k/a
The Welfare Reform Act
REQUIREMENTS
The Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) shall determine a child IV-E
reimbursable when:
1. The child is under 18 years of age;
2. The child meets financial need criteria (based only on the childs income and resources
once initial IV-E eligibility has been established);
3. The child resides in a IV-E reimbursable placement;
4. The child is in the custody of DFCS or another public agency under contract with the
Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS);
5. There is a judicial determination of reasonable efforts to finalize the childs permanency
plan that is in effect within 12 months of the childs removal and at least every 12 months
thereafter while the child is in foster care; (See policy 9.5 Eligibility: Reasonable Efforts
and 3.1 Legal: The Juvenile Court Process)
6. For those children in DFCS custody under a Voluntary Placement Agreement (VPA),
Federal Financial Participation is claimed only for foster care maintenance expenditures
within the first 180 days of a childs placement in foster care unless there has been a
judicial determination of contrary to the welfare or best interest by a court; otherwise
the child is only IV-E reimbursable for the first 180 days.
Federal regulations, effective March 27, 2000, require that a foster family home (relative or nonrelative) and a residential child care facility must meet the standards for full approval as a foster
family or residential childcare facility. Temporary approvals of foster families or residential
childcare facilities do not meet the full approval/licensure requirement.
There are four types of providers which meet the legal definition of IV-E reimbursable facility:
1. A licensed or approved foster family home; (See policy 14.1 Resource Development:
Safety and Quality Standards)
2. A licensed or approved relative foster home; (See policy 14.1 Resource Development:
Safety and Quality Standards)
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3. A private, non-profit group home or childcare facility licensed by the state; (See policy
16.0 Room Board and Watchful (RBWO): Introduction to RBWO) and
4. A public (government) non-medical child group home or child care facility licensed for no
more than 25 children.
The Social Services Case Manager (SSCM) shall notify the Revenue Maximization (Rev Max)
Specialist, via a Notification of Change (NOC) in the GA Statewide Automated Child Welfare
System (Georgia SHINES) of any changes that may affect a childs IV-E status including, but not
limited to:
1. The child turning 18;
2. Childs income or resources changes;
3. Placement changes;
4. Legal custody of child changes or expires;
5. All judicial proceedings and court order changes.
A child cannot receive two IV-E payments for the same day.
PROCEDURES
The SSCM will:
1. Communicate any changes to the Rev Max Specialist that may affect the
childs IV-E status by sending an NOC and updating the childs information in
SHINES;
2. If a child is moved from one IV-E reimbursable placement to another the same day,
decide where the child spends the night as the IV-E payment will be made to that home;
3. When notified of a concurrent payment to another IV-E placement, notify the Rev Max
Specialist through a Georgia SHINES NOC that the concurrent payment must be paid
from State funds while the IV-E per diem to the original placement continues. When the
information is provided, the Rev Max Specialist will authorize payment from IV-B funds to
a concurrent placement.
The Rev Max Specialist will:
1. Conduct a IV-E reimbursability redetermination at six month intervals to coincide with the
six month Medicaid redetermination;
2. With each redetermination, reimbursability for each of the past six months and for the
next six months is established;
3. When the SSCM reports changes, determine if IV-E eligibility or reimbursability is
affected;
4. When notified of a concurrent payment, authorize payments from State funds to the
concurrent placement;
5. Inform the SSCM of any changes in IV-E eligibility or reimbursability via the Georgia
SHINES Eligibility Summary page, to include the correct funding source and effective
date;
6. Document any loss of IV-E eligibility or reimbursability in the Georgia SHINES Contacts
and Summary page;
7. Notify Accounting of the need for any re-rates in funding.

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PRACTICE GUIDANCE
The SSCM must understand the concepts of IV-E Eligibility and IV-E Reimbursability, and
how IV-E reimbursement can fluctuate from month to month. Eligibility is determined on a onetime basis when the child initially enters care. It is based on the childs situation at the time of
removal. Once established, a childs eligibility continues as long as the child remains in DFCS
custody. Reimbursability refers to the federal share in paying for the maintenance costs of a
child in care; i.e., charging the cost of care to IV-E Foster Care (IV-E FC). The state may also
claim IV-E administrative costs when a child is IV-E reimbursable. A child may lose and regain
reimbursability status depending on changes in:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Placement (based on whether the placement is in a IV-E reimbursable setting);

Financial Need (based only on the childs income and resources);
Legal responsibility for the placement and care of the child;
Judicial determination of reasonable efforts to finalize the childs permanency plan
obtained within 12 months of the childs removal and at least every 12 months thereafter
while the child is in care.

Generally, IV-E reimbursability is for the entire month; therefore, if a child is IV-E reimbursable
for any part of a month, the child is IV-E for the entire month. The only exception to the whole
month rule occurs with a change in the childs placement. A change in placement affects the
reimbursability as of the date of change.
Any time reimbursability is lost, the child is reclassified as Child Welfare Foster Care (CW-FC)
which is IV-B State Funds.
Concurrent Payments
A situation that requires consideration of payment sources is when a child is in a concurrent
placement. A concurrent placement is defined as follows: It is the planned, purposeful absence
of a child from his original foster home/facility which continues to be paid at the same time his
temporary payment is made.
Non-IV-E Reimbursable Placements
Non-IV-E reimbursable placements include the following:
1. Regional youth detention centers (RYDC);
2. Youth forestry camps (YFC) (secure and non-secure);
3. Youth development centers (YDC) and other public or private facilities (secure and nonsecure) that are operated primarily for the detention of delinquent children, which must be
(a) physically restricting and (b) likely to be non-operational without a population of
children adjudicated delinquent (i.e., hardware secure, locked facilities);
4. Medical facilities;
5. Relative homes that are not approved foster homes.
If a child enters a reimbursable foster care placement for part of a month, but is subsequently
moved to a non-reimbursable facility for part of the same month, the childs cost of care is not
reimbursable beginning on the date of placement in the non-reimbursable placement. The child
is not IV-E reimbursable until entering a reimbursable placement.

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Financial Need (Income and Resources)

The child must have financial need in Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) terms for
each month that he or she is in care. Only the childs income and resources are considered. In
determining initial eligibility, the total income of the removal family, including the child, was
considered. The income available to the child must be less than 185% of monthly foster care
per diem expenses. The Rev Max Specialist determines whether the childs income meets the
standard after applying certain deductions and disregards. The childs resources must not
exceed $10,000 in any single month. If the child in care is working, it is important for the Rev
Max Specialist to know if the child is a full-time student in order to determine how to count the
childs income.
Legal Responsibility for Placement and Care
The county department must continue to have a valid court order or Voluntary Placement
Agreement (VPA) giving DFCS placement responsibility for the child.
Fatal Flaws with IV-E
The following circumstances are fatal to IV-E eligibility; i.e., the child loses IV-E eligibility and
reimbursability for the entire placement episode in foster care when:
1. The child reaches the age limit for the program (age 18);
2. DFCS has terminated custody;
3. DFCS fails to acquire a court order within 180 days of a VPA that contains the judicial
finding that continued placement is in the best interest of the child;
4. A judicial determination of contrary to the welfare or best interest is not obtained in the
first order that sanctions the removal of the child;
5. A judicial determination of reasonable efforts to prevent removal or reasonable efforts
are not required is not obtained within 60 days of the childs removal (Applies to court
order removals only.);
6. The child is on a trial home visit beyond six months or the trial home visit exceeds the
time frame authorized by the court; or
7. The child is on runaway status beyond six months.
FORMS AND TOOLS
N/A

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