Additional Compensation on Account of Children Adopted Out of Veteran's Family

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its adjudication regulations to clarify that a veteran will not receive the dependent rate of disability compensation for a child who is adopted out of the veteran's family. This action is necessary because applicable VA adjudication regulations are currently construed as permitting a veteran, whose former child was adopted out of the veteran's family, to receive the dependent rate of disability compensation for the adopted-out child, which constitutes an unwarranted award of benefits not supported by the applicable statute and legislative history. This document adopts as a final rule, without change, the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on December 2, 2014.