225C.38  Payment — amount — reports.
  1.  If an application for a family support subsidy is approved by the department:
  a.  A family support subsidy shall be paid to the parent or legal guardian on behalf of the family member. An approved subsidy shall be payable as of the first of the next month after the department approves the written application.
  b.  A family support subsidy shall be used to meet the special needs of the family. This subsidy is intended to complement but not supplant public assistance or social service benefits based on economic need, available through governmental programs or other means available to the family.
  c.  Except as provided in section 225C.41, a family support subsidy for a fiscal year shall be in an amount determined by the department. The parent or legal guardian receiving a family support subsidy may elect to receive a payment amount which is less than the amount determined in accordance with this paragraph.
  2.  The department shall administer the family support subsidy program and the payments made under the program as follows:
  a.  In each fiscal year, the department shall establish a figure for the number of family members for whom a family support subsidy shall be provided at any one time during the fiscal year. The figure shall be established by dividing the amount appropriated by the general assembly for family support subsidy payments during the fiscal year by the family support subsidy payment amount established in subsection 1, paragraph “c”.
  b.  On or before July 15 in each fiscal year, the department shall approve the provision of a number of family support subsidies equal to the figure established in paragraph “a”. During any thirty-day period, the number of family members for whom a family support subsidy is provided shall not be less than this figure.
  c.  Unless there are exceptional circumstances and the family requests and receives approval from the department for an exception to policy, a family is not eligible to receive the family support subsidy if any of the following are applicable to the family or the family member for whom the application was submitted:
  (1)  The family member is a special needs child who was adopted by the family and the family is receiving financial assistance under section 600.17.
  (2)  Medical assistance home and community-based waiver services are provided for the family member and the family lives in a county in which comprehensive family support program services are available.
  (3)  Medical assistance home and community-based waiver services are provided for the family member under a consumer choices option.
  3.  The parent or legal guardian who receives a family support subsidy shall report, in writing, the following information to the department:
  a.  Not less than annually, a statement that the family support subsidy was used to meet the special needs of the family.
  b.  The occurrence of any event listed in section 225C.40.
  c.  A request to terminate the family support subsidy.
88 Acts, ch 1122, §5; 91 Acts, ch 38, §2, 3; 98 Acts, ch 1218, §71; 2006 Acts, ch 1159, §12, 13, 29; 2013 Acts, ch 138, §86