Foster Care 510-05-55-05

(Revised 6/1/21 ML #3623)

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For Medicaid purposes, a child is not considered to be in foster care unless the child is an Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) in the custody of Agassiz Valley Human Service Zone Director OR for non-URM youth and all the following requirements are met:

There is a current foster care court order;

A public agency has care, custody, and control of the child;

The child is a foster care child in the state foster care system through the state's Children and Family Services unit, or a Tribal 638 Foster Care child.

Children who are placed on Trial Home Visits, including those who are placed on a Trial Home Visit during the month they attain age 18, will be considered ‘in Foster Care’. Therefore, these children will meet the requirements to be eligible under the Former Foster Care Child group through the month they attain age 26, without requiring a budget test, if all other factors of eligibility are met.

Note: If a foster care child was on a trial home visit when the child attained age 18 prior to November 1, 2015, the child should now be considered to have been in ND foster care at that point in time for the purpose of determining current and future Medicaid eligibility for the former foster care eligibility group effective November 1, 2015.

A child who was previously found ineligible for coverage under the Former Foster Care group due to being placed on a Trial Home Visit may meet the requirement for eligibility beginning November 1, 2015. The child’s eligibility cannot be changed prior to November 1, 2015, including any THMP months prior to November 1, 2015.

Children who were determined eligible based on the Foster Care eligibility criteria and who no longer meet one of the criteria listed above are no longer considered Foster Care children. Eligibility must be determined based on non-Foster Care criteria.

Children who are removed from the parental home and placed directly into a Psychiatric Residential Treatment facility (PRTF) and meet the three (3) criteria listed above are considered a foster care child.