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Federal Child Welfare Policy Update
Rebecca M. RobuckSenior Associate, ChildFocusSeptember 17, 2015
SPARC: A National Network of State Advocates
• The national child welfare landscape: Budget and Data
• Overview of P.L. 113-183, The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014
• Key opportunities and challenges regarding implementation
• New child welfare legislation on the horizon
• Questions
What I’ll Cover: Federal Legislative Update
• More than 1.7 million will live in poverty • More than 73,000 of those children will be abused or
neglected • More than 560,000 will not have health coverage • More than 3.3 million will be the children of immigrants,
many living in fear that the government will take their parents away
• 4 million will not be enrolled in pre-kindergartenAnnie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT Data Center
8 Million Reasons to Invest In Kids
Congress Invests Less than 8% in Kids
7.89%
Cutting Investments in Kids Disproportionately
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 20150%2%4%6%8%
10%12%14%16%18%20%
Children’s share of overall spending has dropped by 7.2% in five years
8.50% 7.89%
Investments in Kids Disproportionately Cut
Children Overall
-10.0%
-8.0%
-6.0%
-4.0%
-2.0%
0.0%
-9.4%
-4.1%
% Drop in Federal Spending 2011-2015 (inflation-adjusted)
Real Discretionary Children’s Spending Down
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015020406080
100120140160180200
90.42 82.26 79.95
Investments in children down 11.6% since 2010 (inflation-adjusted)
85.91
83.40 78.84 85.91
Real Education Funding Down 16.6% Since 2010
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 20150102030405060708090
100
46.8039.85 39.01
48.66 46.0539.34
$Billi
ons
Real Child Abuse and Neglect Funding Down 10.1%
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 20150
5
10
15
20
25
10.56 9.22 9.49 9.77 9.22 9.20
1. Annie E. Casey Foundations’ KIDS COUNT Data Center
Overview of Federal Child Welfare Financing
IV-E SSBG TANF XIX IV-BPrevention No X X Only as
health program
X
In Home Support
Limited X X Limited X
Foster Care X X X X Limited
Adoption/ Guardianship
X X X Only as health
program
Limited
Post Permanency
Limited X X Limited X
Total Federal Spending = $12.7 billionState/Local Spending = $15.4 billion
Title IV-E 51%
Title IV-B5%
TANF22%
SSBG12%
Medicaid8%
Other 3%
Child Welfare Financing: The National Dialogue
• Declining federal investment
• Competition for federal resources among systems that support various needy populations
• Federal investments are not aligned with what works best
• Largest federal funding source is inflexible
• Accountability for outcomes is not adequate
Percent of Total Spending from Federal vs. State Sources
2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 201230
35
40
45
50
55
60
51
48
46
43
4645
50 52
54
57
54 54
FederalState and Local
The Cost of Doing Nothing
Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Cost of Doing Nothing, Continued
Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Title IV-B: Also Declining
Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Social Services Block Grant (SSBG)
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2
2.2
2.4
2.6
2.8
32.8
1.7
Social Services Block Grant Appropriations$b
illio
nsP.L. 104-193 sets new ceiling of $2.38 billion
P.L. 105-178 sets new ceiling of $1.7 billion
President’s budget
included $.5 billion
cut H.R. 5652 repeals SSBG
H.Rept. 112-58 recommends repeal
of SSBG
“The Committee…has determined that the SSBG program has critical program flaws that argue for its elimination…The following key flaws in the SSBG program reflect how it clearly does not serve taxpayers well: No focus… Duplicative…No state partnership…No accountability”
Other Federal Priorities
• Over-prescription of psychotropic drugs among youth in foster care
• Overreliance on congregate care • Increasing kinship placements • Incentivizing prevention services to keep
children in their own homes
Key Child Welfare Reform Opportunities
• Implementation of the Strengthening Families Act
• The President’s FY 2016 Budget Proposal• New Legislation in Congress
• Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)• Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Strengthening Families Act: Three Major Focus Areas
Domestic Child Sex Trafficking
Increasing Permanency for Children and Youth in Foster Care
Promoting Normalcy Among Children and Youth in Foster Care
Provisions to Address Child Sex Trafficking
• Requires states to identify, collect and report data and determine appropriate services for victims of sex trafficking. (Within 1 year, states must develop policies and procedures (including caseworker training) to identify, document, and determine appropriate services; within 2 years, title IV-E agencies must demonstrate that they are implementing these policies and procedures.)
• Establishes a National Advisory Committee to develop guidelines for states and federal government. (Within two years HHS must create committee of up to 21 individuals; committee will produce an interim report within three years of its inception and final report within four years on best practices.)
• Requires states to develop plans to expeditiously locate any child missing from foster care and screen for victims of sex trafficking. (Within 1 year)
• Includes sex trafficking data in AFCARS. (Within 3 years)
Permanency Provisions: APPLA
• Prohibits states from using the case goal of APPLA for children younger than 16;
• Children under 16 must have a case goal of returning home, adoption, guardianship, or placement with a relative;
• For youth 16 and older, who may still have a case goal of APPLA, states must document ongoing efforts to achieve permanency and the rationale for why the other permanency options are not in the best interests of this particular youth
Other Permanency Provisions
• Extended the Adoption Incentive Program for three years to September 30, 2016 and authorized $43 million per year.
• Required HHS to collect data on adoptions and legal guardianships that end either after disruptions or during the disruption process;
• Ensured that children remain eligible for Title IV-E guardianship assistance if their first legal guardian dies or is unable to care for them and they are placed with a successor guardian identified in the IV-E guardianship assistance agreement;
• Requires notification of parents who are caring for a child through foster care or adoption if a sibling of that child enters foster care
• Reauthorized the Family Connections Grants: funds kinship navigator programs, family finding efforts, family group decision making programs, and residential family treatment programs.
• “De-linked” Title IV-E adoption assistance from outdated AFDC standards and required that states spend 30% of the savings on post- adoption and -guardianship services.
What is “Normalcy”?
• Normalcy = age and developmentally appropriate activities that allow children and youth to grow• Being able to engage in activities that are considered
“routine” for many teenagers • Opportunities for additional responsibilities and
freedoms • The crucial role adults in adolescent development through
providing appropriate supervision and boundaries
Normalcy in the Context of Child Welfare
• Child welfare agencies are inherently risk-averse • Safety concerns often trump goals of permanency and well-
being • Result: Caregivers rarely given the authority to make these
day-to-day decisions• Foster youth must navigate through multiple levels of
permission, authorization, and even court hearings to do things that most parents routinely allow their teenagers to do
Normalcy Provisions: Support to Older Youth
• Requires youth in care aged 14 and older can help develop their own case plan, including identifying up to two trusted adults who can be part of the case planning team;
• Requires child welfare agencies to provide written information to youth about their rights related to their health, visitation, and participation in court;
• Requires child welfare agencies to provide youth who are 18 and have spent at least six months with copies of the following documents: birth certificate, Social Security card, health insurance information, medical records, and state-issued ID;
• Requires child welfare agencies to provide young people age 14 and older with a free annual credit report and help them resolve any inaccuracies.
Normalcy Provisions: Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard
Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard• By September 29, 2015, states must implement what is
known as a “reasonable and prudent parent standard;” • States must revise licensing rules to incorporate this new
standard and also provide training to foster parents on the new standard;
• States must also ensure child care institutions designate an on-site caregiver who is trained in and authorized to use the reasonable and prudent parenting standard;
• Beginning in 2020, $3 million will be available through states’ independent living programs to support youth’s participation in age-appropriate activities.
What You Can Do to Help Implementation
• Help stakeholders and policymakers in your state understand the scope of the requirements:
• What is required vs. what would make the most difference?• How do they relate to other SFA provisions (reduction of
APPLA, increased youth involvement in case planning, etc.)• Bring necessary stakeholders together to develop
recommendations and an advocacy strategy• Make sure you and your organization are at the table during these
discussions! • Ask questions• Engage youth at all levels of discussion, advocacy and
implementation
Key Questions for Implementation
• Should a right to participate in age-appropriate activities be included in regulation and/or statute?
• Much focus is on decision-making of caregivers• Should policy make clear that the goal is improved youth
outcomes and experiences?• What types of decisions will the standard cover?• What factors should a caregiver consider in exercising the
standard? • Age, maturity, supporting development, safety, etc.• How should special needs of specific populations be taken into
account to ensure full access to opportunities?
Key Questions for Implementation, continued
• How can we ensure full application of the standards to congregate care?
• What is the scope of the liability protection for caregivers and the child welfare agency?
• How will the standard be enforced and monitored? • Court review• Case planning• Grievances
• How do we continue to build foster parent capacity, recruitment, and retention in light of this standard?
• Increases investments in prevention and post-permanency services
• Promotes family-based care as an alternative to congregate care
• Allows states to use Chafee dollars through age 23
• Demonstration to address over-prescription of psychotropics
The Administration’s 2016 Budget Proposal
Senator Wyden: Prevention Services
• Allows title IV-E reimbursement for time-limited (up to 12 months) family services when those services are needed to prevent entry into foster care or allow children to safely exit foster care to family placements.
• Defines eligible population as children identified as “candidates” for foster care (at imminent risk of entry into foster care) or who are in foster care, as well as to these children’s family members.
• After a 3-year implementation phase, establishes national performance measure and outcomes-based reimbursement rates to target federal dollars to cost-effective services.
• Increases funding for community-based prevention and intervention services through the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program
Senator Hatch: Congregate Care
• Proposal yet to be introduced• July 2015 hearing: Hatch said that he would be introducing a
bill to be marked up this fall• Past proposals have indicated strong interest in reducing
congregate care placements:• Restrictions on congregate care placements for children 14
and younger• Funding tied to outcomes
