234.39 - RESPONSIBILITY FOR COST OF SERVICES.
234.39 RESPONSIBILITY FOR COST OF SERVICES.
It is the intent of this chapter that an individual receiving
foster care services and the individual's parents or guardians shall
have primary responsibility for paying the cost of the care and
services. The support obligation established and adopted under this
section shall be consistent with the limitations on legal liability
established under sections 222.78 and 230.15, and by any other
statute limiting legal responsibility for support which may be
imposed on a person for the cost of care and services provided by the
department. The department shall notify an individual's parents or
guardians, at the time of the placement of an individual in foster
care, of the responsibility for paying the cost of care and services.
Support obligations shall be established as follows:
1. For an individual to whom section 234.35, subsection 1, is
applicable, a dispositional order of the juvenile court requiring the
provision of foster care, or an administrative order entered pursuant
to chapter 252C, or any order establishing paternity and support for
a child in foster care, shall establish, after notice and a
reasonable opportunity to be heard is provided to a parent or
guardian, the amount of the parent's or guardian's support obligation
for the cost of foster care provided by the department. The amount
of the parent's or guardian's support obligation and the amount of
support debt accrued and accruing shall be established in accordance
with the child support guidelines prescribed under section 598.21B.
However, the court, or the department of human services in
establishing support by administrative order, may deviate from the
prescribed obligation after considering a recommendation by the
department for expenses related to goals and objectives of a case
permanency plan as defined under section 237.15, and upon written
findings of fact which specify the reason for deviation and the
prescribed guidelines amount. Any order for support shall direct the
payment of the support obligation to the collection services center
for the use of the department's foster care recovery unit. The order
shall be filed with the clerk of the district court in which the
responsible parent or guardian resides and has the same force and
effect as a judgment when entered in the judgment docket and lien
index. The collection services center shall disburse the payments
pursuant to the order and record the disbursements. If payments are
not made as ordered, the child support recovery unit may certify a
default to the court and the court may, on its own motion, proceed
under section 598.22 or 598.23 or the child support recovery unit may
enforce the judgment as allowed by law. An order entered under this
subsection may be modified only in accordance with the guidelines
prescribed under section 598.21C, or under chapter 252H.
2. For an individual who is served by the department of human
services under section 234.35, and is not subject to a dispositional
order of the juvenile court requiring the provision of foster care,
the department shall determine the obligation of the individual's
parent or guardian pursuant to chapter 252C and in accordance with
the child support guidelines prescribed under section 598.21B.
However, the department may adjust the prescribed obligation for
expenses related to goals and objectives of a case permanency plan as
defined under section 237.15. An obligation determined under this
subsection may be modified only in accordance with conditions under
section 598.21C, or under chapter 252H.
3. A person entitled to periodic support payments pursuant to an
order or judgment entered in any action for support, who also is or
has a child receiving foster care services, is deemed to have
assigned to the department current and accruing support payments
attributable to the child effective as of the date the child enters
foster care placement, to the extent of expenditure of foster care
funds. The department shall notify the clerk of the district court
when a child entitled to support payments is receiving foster care
services pursuant to chapter 234. Upon notification by the
department that a child entitled to periodic support payments is
receiving foster care services, the clerk of the district court shall
make a notation of the automatic assignment in the judgment docket
and lien index. The notation constitutes constructive notice of
assignment. The clerk of court shall furnish the department with
copies of all orders and decrees awarding support when the child is
receiving foster care services. At the time the child ceases to
receive foster care services, the assignment of support shall be
automatically terminated. Unpaid support accrued under the
assignment of support rights during the time that the child was in
foster care remains due to the department up to the amount of
unreimbursed foster care funds expended. The department shall notify
the clerk of court of the automatic termination of the assignment.
Unless otherwise specified in the support order, an equal and
proportionate share of any child support awarded shall be presumed to
be payable on behalf of each child subject to the order or judgment
for purposes of an assignment under this section.
4. The support debt for the costs of services, for which a
support obligation is established pursuant to this section, which
accrues prior to the establishment of the support debt, shall be
collected, at a maximum, in the amount which is the amount of accrued
support debt for the three months preceding the earlier of the
following:
a. The provision by the child support recovery unit of the
initial notice to the parent or guardian of the amount of the support
obligation.
b. The date that the written request for a court hearing is
received by the child support recovery unit as provided in section
252C.3 or 252F.3.
5. If the department makes a subsidized guardianship payment for
a child, the payment shall be considered a foster care payment for
purposes of child support recovery. All provisions of this and other
sections, and of rules and orders adopted or entered pursuant to
those sections, including for the establishment of a paternity or
support order, for the amount of a support obligation, for the
modification or adjustment of a support obligation, for the
assignment of support, and for enforcement shall apply as if the
child were receiving foster care services, or were in foster care
placement, or as if foster care funds were being expended for the
child. This subsection shall apply regardless of the date of
placement in foster care or subsidized guardianship or the date of
entry of an order, and foster care and subsidized guardianship shall
be considered the same for purposes of child support recovery. Section History: Early Form
[C75, 77, 79, 81, § 234.39] Section History: Recent Form
83 Acts, ch 96, § 160; 83 Acts, ch 153, § 3; 89 Acts, ch 166, § 1;
90 Acts, ch 1270, § 45; 92 Acts, ch 1195, § 303, 304; 92 Acts, ch
1229, § 27; 94 Acts, ch 1171, §8; 95 Acts, ch 52, § 1; 96 Acts, ch
1213, § 36, 37; 97 Acts, ch 175, § 227; 99 Acts, ch 127, §1; 2005
Acts, ch 69, §1
Referred to in § 232.4, 232.78, 232.182, 234.8, 252A.13, 598.21C,
598.34, 600B.38