8412.4 Post Adoption Counseling
CPS November 2006
CPS contracts for post adoption counseling to address therapeutic and behavioral issues arising from:
• an adopted child's history of abuse or neglect, including the child's removal from his home and placement into substitute care;
• an adopted child's physical, mental, or emotional disabilities; or
• an adoptive family's difficulties in coping with an adopted child's history of abuse, neglect, or disabilities.
8412.41 Providing Available Services
CPS January 2026
Either directly or through subcontractors, each contractor must offer the following post-adoption counseling services:
- Diagnosis and assessment, which includes psychiatric, psychological, neuropsychiatric, neuropsychological, and developmental testing, evaluation, and interpretation.
- Individual counseling.
- Group counseling.
- Family counseling.
- Day treatment, which consists of intensive short-term professional treatment based on a professionally developed treatment plan.
Note: Day treatment usually includes four or more hours of counseling per day provided on an outpatient basis in a licensed hospital, a licensed facility for emotionally disturbed children, or a licensed treatment facility for drug and alcohol abuse.
Therapeutic or specialized camps have the general characteristics of a day camp or residential camp. Camps may also be primarily for residential, athletic, religious, or educational activities. Only adopted children are eligible for therapeutic or specialized camp through the Post-Adoption Services program.
8412.42 Determining Eligibility
CPS January 2026
Post-adoption counseling services are ordinarily restricted to adopted children and adoptive parents who meet the requirements specified in 8411.1 Determining Eligibility.
Siblings under the age of 18 living in the adoptive family’s household may also receive post-adoption counseling services if the need for counseling derives directly from the adopted child’s placement in the family.
Additional Restriction
Diagnostic and assessment services are restricted to adopted children only. For an adopted child to receive diagnostic and assessment services, the child's case record must include written documentation that the child is not eligible to receive diagnostic testing under state or federal programs that provide such testing through the child's school.
8412.43 Identifying Alllowable Costs
CPS January 2026
Post-adoption counseling services must be provided by professionals who meet both of the following criteria:
- Are appropriately licensed by the State of Texas to perform the services or certified to provide the services specified in this section.
- Have experience with the therapeutic and behavioral issues specified under 8412.4 Post-Adoption Counseling.
8412.44 Defining Units of Service
CPS November 2006
CPS recognizes the following units of service for post adoption counseling services:
• For diagnosis and assessment, the unit of service is one hour or one testing battery.
• For individual counseling, the unit of service is one hour per client.
• For group counseling, the unit of service is either one hour per client or one hour per group. The contractor must negotiate with each subcontractor to determine which unit applies.
Note: When the unit of service is one hour per group, the payment rate for each client equals the unit rate for the group divided by the number of clients in the group.
• For family counseling, the unit of service is one hour per family.
Note: Family counseling is billed under the name of the adopted child.
• For day treatment and camping, the unit of service is one day.
8412.45 Authorizing in Advance
CPS November 2006
The contractor must authorize post adoption counseling services before they are provided.
At any one time, no family may be authorized to receive:
More than eight sessions of: |
Or more than six weeks of: |
|---|---|
• diagnosis and assessment, • individual counseling, • group counseling, and • family counseling. Note: The contractor can authorize any combination of the assessment and counseling services listed above. |
• day camping, or • therapeutic or special-skills camping. Exception: The regional contract manager can give the contractor written approval to authorize more services at one time for a particular child or family. |