(a) At least 30 days prior to the date on which a prospective
permanent kinship conservator anticipates being granted permanent
managing conservatorship of the child by the court, the prospective
permanent kinship conservator must complete an application for permanency
care assistance, which can be obtained from the child's caseworker.
In addition to documenting the eligibility criteria for the receipt
of permanency care assistance, as specified in this subchapter, the
application may request additional information that will be used to
negotiate the amount of monthly payments for which the person may
be eligible.
(b) After receiving a completed application, and prior
to the date on which permanent managing conservatorship is awarded
to the prospective permanent kinship conservator, DFPS will notify
the applicant of whether or not benefits are approved and, if so,
negotiate the terms of the permanency care assistance agreement with
the prospective permanent kinship conservator.
(c) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section,
if through no fault of the prospective permanent kinship conservator
there is insufficient time to submit the application at least 30 days
prior to the date of an anticipated award of permanent managing conservatorship
by the court, the application should be submitted as soon as possible
and DFPS will expedite its handling of the application.
(d) The prospective permanent kinship conservator must
sign a permanency care assistance agreement prior to becoming the
child's permanent kinship conservator. Exceptions can be made to this
requirement only in certain circumstances, as described in §700.1059
of this title (relating to Can a child still get benefits if a permanency
care assistance agreement was not signed before the permanent kinship
conservator was granted permanent managing conservatorship of the
child?).
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