Incapacity of a parent

1. A child, if otherwise eligible for Medicaid benefits, is "deprived of parental support or care" when the child's parent has a physical or mental defect, supported by current competent medical testimony, of such a debilitating nature as to reduce substantially or eliminate the parent's capacity either to earn a livelihood or to discharge the parent's responsibilities as a homemaker and provider of child care for a period of thirty days or more. In making a determination of capacity to earn a livelihood, the department takes into account the limited employment opportunities of disabled parents. 2. The incapacity must be such that it reduces substantially or eliminates employment in the parent's usual occupation. It does not matter whether a parent was employed or fulfilled the role of homemaker prior to the onset of the asserted incapacity. Incapacity is established either when the parent is unable to earn a livelihood or to act as a homemaker. A parent may also establish incapacity by demonstrating that the parent has reached age sixty-five. 3. A determination that a parent is disabled or blind, made by the social security administration, constitutes adequate substantiation of incapacity for purposes of this section. 4. A parent continues to be incapacitated, for purposes of this section, if the incapacity is not reasonably subject to remediation, or if the parent makes reasonable progress towards remediation of the incapacity. For purposes of this section, "reasonable progress towards remediation of the incapacity" means cooperation with medical practitioners who prescribe a course of treatment intended to remediate or limit the effect of the incapacity, including physical therapy, counseling, use of prosthesis, drug therapy and weight loss, cooperation with vocational practitioners, cooperation with vocational and functional capacity evaluations, and reasonable progress in a course of training or education intended to qualify the parent to perform an occupation which, with that training or education, the parent would have the capacity to perform. 5. A parent who engages in activities inconsistent with the claimed incapacity may be determined to not be incapacitated. 6. The department may require a parent to demonstrate reasonable progress towards remediation of the incapacity, and may set reasonable deadlines for the demonstrations.