The Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act (H.R. 2883) reauthorizing Title IV-B of the Social Security Act (Child Welfare Services and Promoting Safe and Stable Families) and restates authority for HHS to grant states waivers in their use of federal foster care funds. Title IV-E funds, which normally can be accessed only when a federally eligible child has been placed in foster care, may be used under the waiver to provide a host of prevention and intervention services without regard for foster care status.
From my colleagues in California - California Alliance for Child and Family Services -
President Signs Bill Reauthorizing Title IV-B and Reinstating Waiver authority - Late last week, President Barack Obama signed legislation reauthorizing Title IV-B of the Social Security Act (Child Welfare Services and Promoting Safe and Stable Families) and reinstating the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) authority to grant Title IV-E foster care waivers.
Part 1 of Title IV-B, Child Welfare Services, provides funding to states that is used primarily for child welfare caseworkers. Promoting Safe and Stable Families, Part 2 of Title IV-B, is allocated to states for prevention and early intervention activities. The Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act (H.R. 2883), which received unprecedented bi-partisan support in both houses of Congress, also reinstates authority for HHS to grant states waivers in their use of federal foster care funds. Title IV-E funds, which normally can be accessed only when a federally eligible child has been placed in foster care, may be used under the waiver to provide a host of prevention and intervention services without regard for foster care status. California’s waiver has funded “capped allocation” projects in Alameda and Los Angeles Counties. Although the Obama administration had signaled early on that it was more interested in child welfare funding reform than in the proliferation of foster care funding waivers, his signing of the current bill suggests a rethinking of that position in the face of the current political climate in Washington.
Waivers Will Require States to Enact Program Improvement Priorities
The Act mandates that states enact program improvement priorities in order to qualify for a Title IV-E waiver. States will be required to show that demonstration projects meet at least one of three goals:
1. Permanency
2. Increase of positive outcomes for children and families (i.e., well-being)
3. Prevention of child maltreatment and re-entry into foster care (i.e., safety)
States must obtain an independent evaluation of their programs, but random assignment designs are
not required.
States must provide an accurate accounting of federal, state, local, and private investment made for two years prior to application, as well as during each year of the demonstration project. This provision is meant to provide greater clarity about whether flexible funding alone creates better outcomes, or if additional investment contributes to positive results.
Additionally, states must demonstrate they have implemented or will implement two of the following program improvement policies in order to qualify for a waiver. At least one of these policies must be previously unimplemented:
- A bill of rights for children in foster care
- A plan for meeting the health and mental health needs for children in foster care
- Kinship guardianship assistance agreements
- Including in the state plan the expanded definition of “child” as being up to age 21 with respect to
adoption assistance
- A plan to ensure appropriate congregate care and reducing use of such placement
- A plan to increase sibling placements
- A plan to improve recruitment and retention of high quality foster families trained to assist children in
achieving permanency
- Procedures to assist youth transitioning out of foster care
- Procedures for engaging youth older than 16 in the transition plan, including guidance and services to
help reconnect the youth with the biological family, when appropriate
- One or more prevention programs, such as intensive family finding, kinship navigator programs, family
counseling, family based substance abuse treatment programs, mentoring, and domestic violence
prevention
Act Highlights New Program Model for Domestic Violence
The Act specifies that states may use flexible funding for programs that identify and address domestic violence and for “long term therapeutic family treatment centers,” defined as:
A State licensed or certified program that enables parents and their children to live together in a safe environment for a period of not less than 6 months and provides, on-site or by referral, substance abuse treatment services, children’s early intervention services, medical care, mental health services, nursery and pre-school, parenting skills training, pediatric care, prenatal care, sexual abuse therapy, relapse prevention, transportation, and job or vocational training or classes leading to a secondary school diploma or a certificate of general equivalence.
Ten Waivers per Year to be Approved Under the new Act, ten states per year from 2012 through 2014 may be granted waivers, with no extensions. It is unclear at this time if under the new legislation California will be able to extend its current waiver after it expires in 2 years, or will be required to apply for a new waiver and, if so, if a new waiver would have to differ substantively from the current one.
Acknowledgement and Thanks
Someday Morning wishes to thank national partners The Alliance for Children and Families and the Child Welfare League of America for their advocacy on this bill and for the information contained in this article.
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