Section 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.