The District of Columbia provides Medicaid coverage to children under age (twenty-one) 21 who are residents of the District of Columbia, are US citizens or have eligible immigration status and are in District foster care under the care and custody of Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA). These children are categorically eligible for Medicaid in the District of Columbia.

 

Adopted Children with Special Needs

 

The District of Columbia provides Medicaid coverage to children under age twenty-one (21) who are residents of the District of Columbia, are US citizens or have eligible immigration status and are under an Adoption Assistance Agreement. These children are categorically eligible for Medicaid in the District of Columbia.

 

Children covered under a State Adoption Assistance Agreement must have special needs, which are barriers to adoption. These special needs are the result of medical, mental or emotional conditions that require periodic treatment or therapy. Other factors considered as special needs are the necessity of placing siblings together to maintain a family group, ethnic background, age or membership in a minority race. The State adoption agency is the only agency with the authority to make the determination on whether a child has special needs for an adoption subsidy. In the District of Columbia, the adoption agency is CFSA.

 

What is covered?

 

Federal law requires Medicaid to provide all medically necessary health care services to Medicaid-eligible children. This is called Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT). EPSDT services provide comprehensive screening, diagnostic, and treatment services for children. EPSDT is important because it provides early and regular medical and dental screenings for all Medicaid eligible-children and identifies treatments that are medically necessary to correct or ameliorate a defect, physical or mental illness or a condition that is identified through a screening examination.

 

 

For More Information on Child Welfare in the District, please contact CFSA:

 

Child and Family Services Agency

200 I Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003 

Phone: (202) 442-6100/ Fax: (202) 727-6505

TTY: 711

Email:cfsa.dc.gov