(A) As used in sections5180.42to5180.4214of the Revised Code:
(1) "Adopted young adult" means a person:
(a) Who was in the temporary or permanent custody of a public children services agency;
(b) Who was adopted at the age of sixteen or seventeen and attained the age of sixteen before a Title IV-E adoption assistance agreement became effective;
(c) Who has attained the age of eighteen; and
(d) Who has not yet attained the age of twenty-one.
(2) "Child" means any of the following:
(a) A person who meets the requirements of division (B)(3) of section5153.01of the Revised Code;
(b) An adopted young adult;
(c) An emancipated young adult.
(3) "Emancipated young adult" means a person:
(a) Who was in the temporary or permanent custody of a public children services agency, a planned permanent living arrangement, or in the Title-IV-E-eligible care and placement responsibility of a juvenile court or other governmental agency that provides Title IV-E reimbursable placement services;
(b) Whose custody, arrangement, or care and placement was terminated on or after the person's eighteenth birthday; and
(c) Who has not yet attained the age of twenty-one.
(4) "Kinship guardianship young adult" means an individual that meets the following criteria:
(a) Was in the temporary or permanent custody of a public children services agency or a planned permanent living arrangement prior to the commitment described in division (A)(4)(b) of this section;
(b) Was committed to the legal custody or legal guardianship of a kinship caregiver at the age of sixteen or seventeen and attained the age of sixteen before a Title IV-E kinship guardianship assistance agreement became effective;
(c) Has attained the age of eighteen;
(d) Has not yet attained the age of twenty-one.
(5) "Relative" means, with respect to a child, any of the following who is eighteen years of age or older:
(a) The following individuals related by blood or adoption to the child:
(i) Grandparents, including grandparents with the prefix "great," "great-great," or "great-great-great";
(ii) Siblings;
(iii) Aunts, uncles, nephews, and nieces, including such relatives with the prefix "great," "great-great," "grand," or "great-grand";
(iv) First cousins and first cousins once removed.
(b) Stepparents and stepsiblings of the child;
(c) Spouses and former spouses of individuals named in divisions (A)(5)(a) and (b) of this section;
(d) A legal guardian of the child;
(e) A legal custodian of the child;
(f) Any nonrelative adult that has a familiar and long-standing relationship or bond with the child or the family, which relationship or bond will ensure the child's social ties.
(6) "Representative" means a person with whom the department of children and youth has entered into a contract, pursuant to division (B)(2)(b) of this section.
(7) "Title IV-E" means Title IV-E of the "Social Security Act," 94 Stat. 501, 42 U.S.C. 670 (1980), as amended.
(B)(1) Except as provided in divisions (B)(2) and (3) of this section, the department of children and youth shall act as the single state agency to administer federal payments for foster care, kinship guardianship assistance, and adoption assistance made pursuant to Title IV-E. The director of children and youth shall adopt rules to implement this authority. Rules governing financial and administrative requirements applicable to public children services agencies and government entities that provide Title IV-E reimbursable placement services to children shall be adopted in accordance with section111.15of the Revised Code, as if they were internal management rules. Rules governing requirements applicable to private child placing agencies and private noncustodial agencies and rules establishing eligibility, program participation, and other requirements concerning Title IV-E shall be adopted in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code. A public children services agency to which the department distributes Title IV-E funds shall administer the funds in accordance with those rules.
(2)(a) The department shall implement the state plan as amended under section5180.428of the Revised Code if the general assembly has appropriated sufficient funds to operate the program required under the plan as amended.
(b) The department shall have, exercise, and perform all new duties required under the plan as amended. In doing so, the department may contract with another person to carry out those new duties, to the extent permitted under Title IV-E.
(3) The department shall implement the state plan as amended under section5180.4213of the Revised Code.
(C)(1) Except with regard to the new duties imposed on the department or its contractor under division (B)(2)(b) of this section that are not imposed on the county, the county, on behalf of each child eligible for foster care maintenance payments under Title IV-E, shall make payments to cover the cost of providing all of the following:
(a) The child's food, clothing, shelter, daily supervision, and school supplies;
(b) The child's personal incidentals;
(c) Reasonable travel to the child's home for visitation.
(2) In addition to payments made under division (C)(1) of this section, the county may, on behalf of each child eligible for foster care maintenance payments under Title IV-E, make payments to cover the cost of providing the following:
(a) Liability insurance with respect to the child;
(b) If the county is participating in the demonstration project established under division (A) of section5180.421of the Revised Code, services provided under the project.
(3) With respect to a child who is in a child-care institution, including any type of group home designed for the care of children or any privately operated program consisting of two or more certified foster homes operated by a common administrative unit, the foster care maintenance payments made by the county on behalf of the child shall include the reasonable cost of the administration and operation of the institution, group home, or program, as necessary to provide the items described in divisions (C)(1) and (2) of this section.
(D) To the extent that either foster care maintenance payments under division (C) of this section, Title IV-E kinship guardianship assistance, or Title IV-E adoption assistance payments for maintenance costs require the expenditure of county funds, the board of county commissioners shall report the nature and amount of each expenditure of county funds to the department.
(E) The department shall distribute to public children services agencies that incur and report expenditures of the type described in division (D) of this section federal financial participation received for administrative and training costs incurred in the operation of foster care maintenance, kinship guardianship assistance, and adoption assistance programs. The department may withhold not more than three per cent of the federal financial participation received. The funds withheld may be used only to fund the following:
(1) The Ohio child welfare training program established under section5103.30of the Revised Code;
(2) The university partnership program for college and university students majoring in social work who have committed to work for a public children services agency upon graduation;
(3) Efforts supporting organizational excellence, including voluntary activities to be accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation organization.
The funds withheld shall be in addition to any administration and training cost for which the department is reimbursed through its own cost allocation plan.
(F) All federal financial participation funds received by a county pursuant to this section shall be deposited into the county's children services fund created pursuant to section5180.411of the Revised Code.
(G)(1) The department shall periodically publish and distribute the maximum amounts that the department will reimburse public children services agencies for making payments on behalf of children eligible for foster care maintenance payments.
(2) The department may issue a request for proposals to establish statewide rate cards for placement and care of children eligible for foster care maintenance payments. If a request for proposals is issued, the department shall review and accept the reasonable cost of providing the items described in division (C) of this section. Foster homes, as defined in section5103.02of the Revised Code, and kinship caregivers, as defined in section5101.85of the Revised Code, shall be exempt from the established statewide rates.
(H) The department, by and through its director, is hereby authorized to develop, participate in the development of, negotiate, and enter into one or more interstate compacts on behalf of this state with agencies of any other states, for the provision of social services to children in relation to whom all of the following apply:
(1) They have special needs.
(2) This state or another state that is a party to the interstate compact is providing kinship guardianship assistance or adoption assistance on their behalf.
(3) They move into this state from another state or move out of this state to another state.
Last updated October 3, 2025 at 9:47 AM