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 offer to complete an Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) with a verbal signature declaration or issue a Claim for Parental Leave Pay and Family Tax Benefit (FA100) to be completed signed and returned.

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

In some instances, birth mothers who cease to have care of the child as part of a surrogacy, as part of the process of adoption or due to a decision made by a state or territory child protection agency may have the child in their care for a period of time following the birth. In these cases, the customer may claim:

• Family Tax Benefit (FTB) including Newborn Supplement (NBS) and Newborn Upfront Payment (NBU), or
• Family Tax Benefit (FTB) and Parental Leave Pay (PPL) for the child.

Note: the birth mother/carer may receive either PPL or NBS/NBU for the newborn child. Customers cannot be paid both PPL and NBS/NBU for the same child.

Which payment(s) is the customer claiming?

• FTB (including NBS/NBU), go to Step 4
• PPL only or FTB/PPL combined, go to Step 5

FTB including NBS/NBU may be payable to a birth mother while the child is in their care and they are the primary carer of the child following the birth. For example, the surrogacy agreement stipulates the child is to remain in the birth mothers care for a specified period for breast feeding. Once the child leaves their care, eligibility for FTB including NBS will cease.

For:

• pre-birth, see Pre-processing checks for standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave payments. Procedure ends here
• post birth, go to Step 10

Select the option below based on the birth mother’s circumstance:

FTB

FTB, including NBS/NBU may be payable to a birth mother when the child remains in their care and they are the primary carer of the child following the birth. For example, the child remains in their care for a specified time for breast feeding. Once the child leaves their care, eligibility for FTB will cease.

PPL

Where the birth mother is eligible for PPL and the child remains in their care following the birth, the birth mother can be paid PPL days within the allowable payment period for maternal recovery purposes and up to the day before they relinquish care of the child, whichever is the later. They:

• must claim all of their PPL days within the allowable payment period or the day before they cease to have care of the child, whichever is the later
• cannot be paid PPL on a day they are performing paid work
• can share their entitlement with their partner. However, their partner ceases to be payable for any PPL days on or after the date the birth mother ceases to have care of the child

FTB

FTB is not payable as the customer does not have care of the child.

PPL

Birth mothers who cease to have care of their child immediately after the birth may still be eligible for PPL for maternal recovery purposes. The birth mother can only claim PPL days within the allowable payment period. To receive the maximum amount of PPL days the customer must claim all of their PPL days within the allowable payment period.

Depending on the date of birth of the child, they may be eligible for up to the maximum number of PPL days. The birth mother cannot:

• be paid PPL on a day they are performing paid work
• share any days with their partner or another person

If the birth mother claims and provides all 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.

Has the birth mother advised that the PPL child was removed from their care by a state or territory child protection agency?

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No, go to Step 9

Contact must be made with the birth mother before assessing their PPL claim for a child that was removed from their care by a state or territory child protection agency. Make 2 genuine attempts to contact the customer, over a 2-day period. Send a DEMC prior to contact. Confirm with the birth mother that the child was removed by a state or territory child protection agency and they no longer have legal custody of the child.

If contact is successful and the birth mother confirms they:

• no longer have care of the child, go to tep 7
• still have care of the child, within the claim:
  • key P1RKC in the Super Key to go to the PPL Relinquished Child Care Details (P1RKC) screen
  • delete the provisional Child removed by State/Territory line
  • annotate the progress of claim DOC and continue processing the claim. See Processing standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave scheme payments. Procedure ends here

If contact is unsuccessful, go to Step 7.

Within the claim:

• key P1RKC in the Super Key to go to the PPL Relinquished Child Care Details (P1RKC) screen
• delete the provisional Child removed by State/Territory line
• birth mothers who are partnered and the child was removed from their care from the child’s date of birth, key P1RE in the Super Key to go to the PPL Reserved Entitlement Exemption screen:
  • Select: Add
  • Exemption reason: Parenting Order in Force
  • Verified: Not Required
  • Select Save
• key P1FLX in the Super Key to go to the Parental Leave Pay (PPL) Days (P1FLX). If the child was removed from the birth mother’s care:
  • within the allowable payment period, delete any nominated PPL days that are outside the allowable payment period
  • outside the allowable period, delete any nominated PPL days the birth mother did not or will not have care of the child
• In the claim DOC and a DOA Fast Note, add the details below:
  • child’s name/DOB
  • date the child was removed
  • any remaining PPL days available that can only be paid if the child re-enters the birth mother’s care before the child’s second birthday on the (key date of child’s second birthday)
  • the DOA Fast Note expiry date is the child’s second birthday

Note: if all PPL days have not been claimed within the later of the allowable payment period or before the child has been removed from care, the PPL claim will remain Open (OPN). This allows the birth mother to claim any available PPL days if the child is returned to their care before the child’s second birthday. If the child does not re-enter their care before their second birthday, these days will be forfeited.

Is the birth mother partnered and/or the details of the biological father are known?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 9

Select the option below based on the birth mother’s circumstance:

For the partner of the birth mother or biological father (Approval Seeker) to be eligible to PPL for a child removed from care by a state or territory child protection agency they must have had care of the child.

This means if the child was removed from the birth mother’s care on the child’s date of birth of the child, the birth mother cannot share the PPL entitlement with another person. The Approval Seeker is not eligible to PPL for the child.

If the Approval Seeker claims PPL for this a child their claim will need to be manually rejected. To manually reject the claim:

• Select the PPL claim
• Within the claim, go to the PPL Claim Action (P1CA) screen
• On the P1CA screen:
  • Action, select REJ (reject)
  • Reason, use CNA (Claim not appropriate)
  • Effect Date, key the date the rejection is to commence

An error message will display if the information in each field is not consistent with the rejection reason.

Finalise the activity on the Entitlements (ELD) screen.

In the claim DOC and a DOA Fast Note, add the details below:

• child’s name/DOB
• date the child was removed
• any remaining PPL days available that can only be paid if the child re-enters the Approval Seeker’s care before the child’s second birthday on the (key date of child’s second birthday)

The DOA Fast Note expiry date is the child’s second birthday.

Cancel any MFUs generated from the Rejection.

If the child was removed from the birth mother’s care at a later date, the birth mother can share some of the PPL days with their partner or the child’s biological father (Approval Seeker) up to the date the child was removed from care.

The Approval Seeker is required to have care of the child on the days they are claiming PPL. If they have not claimed all of their available PPL days by the time the child was removed from care, the PPL claim will remain Open (OPN). This allows the Approval Seeker to claim any available PPL days if the child is returned to their care before the child’s second birthday. If the child does not re-enter their care before the child’s second birthday, these days will be forfeited.

If the Approval Seeker has claimed PPL for the child, before finalising the claim check the P1FLX screen within the new claim activity.

If the Approval Seeker has nominated future PPL days where the child is no longer in their care, reject these days with the reason Customer not caring for the child on PPL day:

• Annotate the Progress DOC and create a DOA Fast Note on the Approval Seekers record with the details below:
  • child’s name/DOB
  • date the child was removed
  • who provided verification of the loss of care i.e. letter from state or territory child protection agency/verbally confirmed with the Approval Seeker over the phone
  • any remaining PPL days available will only be payable if the child re-enters the Approval Seeker’s care before the child’s second birthday on the (key date of child’s second birthday)
  • The DOA Fast Note expiry date is the child’s second birthday

Procedure ends here. See Processing standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave scheme payments.

If the birth mother has not claimed any PPL days within the allowable payment period their PPL claim cannot be assessed due to error E991P1 no eligible days no assessment possible. The claim will need to be manually made not effective (NEF) Information/details not provided (INF). See Processing standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave scheme payments

If the birth mother has selected any PPL days after the allowable payment period, these days will be rejected.

Has the birth mother selected all of their PPL days within the allowable payment period?

• Yes, ensure the correct coding is completed on PPL Claim Details (P1CLM) screen and PPL Relinquishing Child Care Details (P1RKC) screen for:
  • Post birth claims for birth mothers who relinquished care of the child as part of a surrogacy arrangement or adoption, go to Step 10
  • Pre-birth claims and post birth claims for birth mothers whose child was removed from care by a state or territory child protection agency, procedure ends here. See Processing standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave scheme payments
• No, the birth mother may not receive the full PPL entitlement:
  • Confirm the birth mother has selected a PPL day
  • If the birth mother has not claimed any PPL days within the allowable period or selected any PPL days after the allowable payment period attempt to contact the birth mother. 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 for birth mothers who relinquished care of the child as part of a surrogacy arrangement or adoption, go to Step 10
  • For pre-birth claims and post birth claims for birth mothers whose child was removed from care by a state or territory child protection agency. See Processing standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave scheme payments. Procedure ends here

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 birth mother provided a name for the child?

• Yes, go to Step 11
• No, add the child to the birth mother’s record with a first name and surname of 'surrogate' (this applies for both adopted and surrogate children). Go to Step 12

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.

Go to Step 12.

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 mother’s 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 or Adoption)
  • Date of event. If updates are required select Edit
• Child Miscellaneous circumstance (CHM) screen (post-birth claims only):
  • Event Date, key the child’s date of birth
  • Adopted, use N
  • Principal Carer Type, use 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, income test or not effective due to information not provided), PPL will need to be manually rejected or made not effective (if all coding is correct and this is the expected outcome) by:

• within the claim, go to the PPL Claim Action (P1CA) screen by keying P1CA in the Super Key
• Select Add to insert a new line
• Code:
  • Action, use 'REJect' or ‘NEF not effective’
  • Reason, use 'OTHer'
  • Effect date, use the date of receipt of the claim
• Select Save

Note: when a claim for the birth mother 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 birth mother. Once claim has been finalised, issue a Q999 letter to advise the birth mother of the outcome. See Creating a Q999 or Q888 letter.

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.

Add '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