Minnesota Health Care Programs

1.4.2 State Residency for Adoption Assistance, Kinship Assistance, and Foster Care

Children who receive adoption assistance or who are in foster care have special rules for determining their state of residency.

Adoption Assistance

Children who live in Minnesota and receive Title IV-E adoption assistance or non-Title IV-E adoption assistance are Minnesota residents. This includes children who receive adoption assistance from another state. Under the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance (ICAMA), a child who lives in Minnesota and receives non-Title IV-E adoption assistance from another state is automatically eligible for Medical Assistance (MA) in Minnesota, if the adoption assistance agreement from the other state includes health care coverage.

Children who live in another state and receive non-Title IV-E adoption assistance from Minnesota are residents of the other state if that state has a reciprocity policy under the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA), also known as COBRA-Reciprocity. COBRA-Reciprocity, administered through the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance (ICAMA) provides automatic health care eligibility in a state when an adoption assistance recipient moves there from another state and the adoption assistance agreement includes healthcare. If the state does not have a COBRA-Reciprocity policy, the child remains a Minnesota resident, for the purposes of health care coverage. See the Medicaid State-Funded (Non-Title IV-E) Adoption Assistance COBRA Reciprocity Chart on the Association of Administrators of the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance (AAICAMA) website for a state by state listing.

Northstar Kinship Assistance

State residency for children who receive Northstar Kinship Assistance from Minnesota or Guardianship Assistance from another state is determined according to EPM 1.4 MHCP State Residency.

Foster Care

Children in foster care in Minnesota who are Title IV-E eligible are Minnesota residents. A person who lives in Minnesota and receives these payments is a Minnesota resident; a person who receives these payments who lives in another state is not a Minnesota resident.

Children in foster care in Minnesota who are not Title IV-E eligible are Minnesota residents if a Minnesota social services agency placed them in foster care, or if another state placed them in foster care in Minnesota with a relative or important friend.

A “relative or important friend” means any of the following:

A person related to the child by blood, marriage or adoption
The legal parent, guardian or custodian of the child's siblings.
An individual who is an important friend of the child or of the child's parent or custodian, including an individual with whom the child has resided or had significant contact or who has a significant relationship to the child or the child's parent or custodian.

Children placed in foster care in Minnesota by another state who are not Title IV-E eligible are not Minnesota residents if they are placed with a person who does not meet the definition of “relative or important friend,” including placements in facilities or institutions. These children are residents of the state that arranged for the child to be placed in foster care (including the state agency, county agency, or other entity under contract with the state) and therefore are not eligible for any Minnesota Health Care Program.

Legal Citations

Code of Federal Regulations, title 42, section 435.403

Minnesota Statutes, section 256B.056, subdivision 1

Minnesota Statutes, section 260C.007, subdivision 27

Minnesota Statutes, section 256L.09