§ 454. Medical subsidy. 1. A social services official shall make
payments for the cost of care, services and supplies payable under the
state's program of medical assistance for needy persons, provided to a
handicapped child whom he or a voluntary authorized agency has placed
out for adoption or who has been adopted. Such payments shall not be
restricted to care, services and supplies required for the treatment of
the specific condition or disability for which a child was determined to
be a handicapped child. For the purposes of this section, a handicapped
child shall include, but not be limited to, a child with special needs
where a social services official has determined the child cannot be
placed with an adoptive parent or parents without medical subsidy
because such child has special needs for medical, mental health or
rehabilitative care. Such payments also shall be made with respect to a
hard to place child who has been placed out for adoption with a person
or persons who is or are sixty-two years old or over or who will be
subject to mandatory retirement from his or their present employment
within five years from the date of the adoption placement.

2. Payments pursuant to subdivision one of this section shall be made
to or on behalf of the person or persons with whom the child has been
placed or who have adopted the child and shall be made without regard to
the financial need of such person or persons.

3. Payments pursuant to subdivision one of this section shall be made
only with respect to the cost of care, services and supplies which are
not otherwise covered or subject to payment or reimbursement by
insurance, medical assistance or other sources.

4. An application for payment under this section shall be made prior
to the child's adoption; provided, however, that an application may be
made subsequent to a handicapped child's adoption if the adoptive
parents first become aware of the child's physical or emotional
condition or disability subsequent to the adoption and a physician
certifies that the condition or disability existed prior to the child's
adoption. An approval of an application for payments under this section
shall not be subject to annual review by the social services official,
and such approval shall remain in effect until the child's twenty-first
birthday. Applications for such subsidies shall be accepted prior to the
commitment of the guardianship and custody of the child to an authorized
agency pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, and approval thereof
may be granted contingent upon such commitment.

5. Upon the death of persons who have adopted the child prior to the
twenty-first birthday of the child, payments pursuant to subdivision one
of this section shall continue to the legal guardian of the child until
the child shall attain the age of twenty-one.