Claiming payments for children leaving care as part of the process of adoption, surrogacy arrangement, or a child removed by state/territory child protection agency 007-02010010

FTB can include Newborn Supplement (NBS) and Newborn Upfront Payment (NBU) if the customer is not eligible for PPL.

Has the customer lodged a claim for payment?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 2

Encourage customers to complete an online claim for family assistance and PPL. This is the preferred service offer. It gives customers a streamlined experience.

Help the customer register for online services if necessary. Make sure they can access an 'active' online account before directing them to claim online.

If it is unreasonable for the customer to claim online, Service Officers can issue a Claim for Parental Leave Pay and Family Tax Benefit (FA100).

Extra assistance is available to help remote Indigenous customers make a claim.

Will the customer be the carer of the child after the birth, but before they relinquish care of the child?

• Yes, they may be eligible for PPL and FTB for the child. Note: the birth mother/ carer may receive either PPL or NBS for the newborn child. Customers cannot be paid both PPL and NBS for the same child. Go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 4

Birth mothers who cease to have care of their child after the birth may still be eligible for PPL for maternal recovery purposes.

Birth mothers cannot be paid PPL on a day they are performing paid work.

For children born on or after 1 July 2024:

• birth mothers may receive up to 110 days (22 weeks) of PPL, in addition to the gaining parent/carer. They cannot share any days with their partner or another person
• For the birth mother, PPL will only be payable during the first 22 weeks (154 calendar days) immediately following the birth of the child

For children born between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024:

• birth mothers may receive up to 100 days (20 weeks) of PPL, in addition to the gaining parent/carer. They cannot share any days with their partner or another person
• For the birth mother, PPL will only be payable during the first 20 weeks (140 calendar days) immediately following the birth of the child

If they claim and provide relevant documents more than 100 days following the birth, PPL may only start within 100 days from the date all information is received. This means they may receive less than the full entitlement.

Note: gaining parents in a surrogacy and adoptive parents can also receive up to the maximum entitlement of PPL for the same child. See Claiming payments for children entrusted to care as part of the process of adoption or surrogacy (dept.local).

Has the customer lodged an effective claim (post birth) and provided all relevant documents within 14 days of the birth of the child?

• Yes, confirm the customer has selected the child's date of birth as their nominated start date for PPL.
• For post birth claims, go to Step 5
• For pre-birth claims, ensure the correct coding is completed on PPL Claim Details (P1CLM) screen. Procedure ends here
• No, the customer may not receive the full PPL entitlement
• Confirm the customer has selected a PPL day
• If the customer has selected a date later than the DOB or more than 154 days (children born on or after 1 July 2024) or 140 days children born between 1 July 2023 - 30 June 2024) after the birth of the child, try to call them as a later start date will prevent them receiving the full PPL entitlement. Make 2 genuine attempts to contact the customer, over a 2 day period. Send a DEMC prior to contact. If contact has been unsuccessful, finalise the claim with the dates provided
• For post birth claims, go to Step 5
• For pre-birth claims, go to Step 8

Tell the customer to claim PPL days before the child is:

• 154 calendar days (22 weeks) old - for children born on or after 1 July 2024
• 140 calendar days (20 weeks) old - for children born between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024

Any PPL days that are rejected or withdrawn after the customer has worked are returned to the customer’s balance of unclaimed PPL days. These can be claimed on another eligible date within their allowable payment period, following the child’s birth. See Claiming and managing Paid Parental Leave (PPL) days for children born or entering care on or after 1 July 2023.

Is the customer advising that they have worked on a PPL day since giving birth to the child?

• Yes, they may not be eligible for the PPL day they are working on. See Claiming and managing Paid Parental Leave (PPL) days for children born or entering care on or after 1 July 2023. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 6

Children must be named, but if care of the child has been relinquished as part of the process of adoption or a surrogacy arrangement and the child was never in the care of the birth mother, a claim can be accepted for the child without a name being given.

Has the customer provided a name for the child?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, add the child to the customer's record with a first name and surname of 'surrogate' (this applies for both adopted and surrogate children). Go to Step 8

Before processing the claim, search for a previous Customer Reference Number (CRN) for the child. The commissioning parent/adoptive parent may already have claimed for the child. See Searching for a customer on the system.

When there is a previous record for the child, do not update or link the existing child CRN to the birth mother’s record.

Do not use the same child CRN linked to the other carers. This would be a privacy issue. A new child record is required to protect the identity of the child, birth parents and other carers. If unsure about creating an additional record, contact Service Delivery Support Team - Families & Child Care Portfolio.

For general claim processing requirements, see:

• Pre-processing checks for standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave payments
• Processing standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave scheme payments

Once completed, return to this step.

With the birth mothers record in context, ensure the correct coding in Process Direct, on:

• PPL claim Details (P1CLM) screen: check Relationship to Child: is Birth Mother
• PPL Relinquishing Child Care Details (P1RKC) screen, check:
• the Relinquishing child care reason (Surrogacy, Adoption or Child removed by State/Territory)
• the Date of event. If updates are required select Edit
• Child Miscellaneous circumstance (CHM) screen (post-birth claims only):
• Event Date: code the child’s date of birth
• Adopted: N
• Principal Carer Type: Natural/artificial conception/legal surrogacy
• Child Relationship (CHRE) screen (post birth claims only): check the Relationship: Parent
• Child in Customer Care (CHC) screen (post birth claims only): Check the in Care Status is In Customer Care

Where the outcome of the claim results in a rejection for a birth mother relinquishing care (e.g. rejected due to not meeting the work test) error E991P1 - No eligible days, no assessment possible can occur. PPL will need to be manually rejected (if all coding is correct and this is the expected outcome) by:

• within the claim, navigate to the PPL Claim Action (P1CA) screen by entering P1CA in the Super Key
• Select Add to insert a new line
• Code:
• Action field using 'REJect'
• Reason field as 'OTHer'
• Effect date: Use the date of receipt of the claim
• Select Save

Note: when a claim for the customer is processed on a date after the allowable payment period following the child’s birth, the claim will grant and cancel in the same activity. Due to this an automatic advice will not issue to the customer. Once claim has been finalised, issue a Q999 letter in Customer First to advise the customer of the outcome. See Resources page for letter text.

Surrogacy arrangements

A surrogacy arrangement includes the formal surrogacy agreement or supporting evidence of a surrogacy agreement. If unable to make a determination using the information provided, access technical support who may determine that a referral to the Level 2 Policy Helpdesk via the Online Form is required. See the Resources page for a link to the form.

Once the claim has been assessed for the child, refer the child's Customer Reference Number (CRN) on the birth mother's record to Service Delivery Support Team - Families & Child Care Portfolio.

Insert 'New adopted/surrogate child record' in the subject line.

Include in the referral:

• the child's name and CRN and previous child CRN (if other carers have claimed)
• any reference to surrogacy papers/adoption papers or documents stored on the record

The CRN will be promoted to a 'PER'son record (if it was a 'CHI'ld record) and will remain visible. Action by Service Delivery Support Team - Families & Child Care Portfolio will prevent any future use of that CRN.

Referral for other issues:

Other CRN issues to refer to the Families and Child Care helpdesk include:

• pre-adoptive care
• child names
• aliases
• privacy issues