Federal and state policy updates, Rebecca Roebuck, Megan Branham

1. Federal Child Welfare Policy Update
Rebecca M. Robuck
Senior Associate, ChildFocus
September 17, 2015

2. SPARC: A National Network of State Advocates

3. • 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

4. • 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-kindergarten
Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT Data Center
8 Million Reasons to Invest In Kids

5. Congress Invests Less than 8% in Kids
7.89%

6. Cutting Investments in Kids Disproportionately
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
20%
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Children’s share of overall spending has
dropped by 7.2% in five years
8.50%
7.89%

7. Investments in Kids Disproportionately Cut
-9.4%
-4.1%
-10.0%
-8.0%
-6.0%
-4.0%
-2.0%
0.0%
Children Overall
% Drop in Federal Spending
2011-2015 (inflation-adjusted)

8. Real Discretionary Children’s Spending Down
90.42
82.26 79.95
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Investments in children down 11.6% since
83.40 78.84
85.91

9. Real Education Funding Down 16.6% Since 2010
46.80
39.85 39.01
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
48.66 46.05
39.34
$Billions

10. Real Child Abuse and Neglect Funding Down 10.1%
10.56
9.22 9.49
0
5
10
15
20
25
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
9.77 9.22 9.20

11. 1. Annie E. Casey Foundations’ KIDS COUNT Data Center
Overview of Federal Child Welfare Financing
IV-E SSBG TANF XIX IV-B
Prevention 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 billion
State/Local Spending = $15.4 billion
Title IV-E
51%
Title IV-B
5%
TANF
22%
SSBG
12%
Medicaid
8%
Other
3%

12. 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

13. Percent of Total Spending from Federal vs. State Sources
51
48
46
43
46
45
50
52
54
57
54 54
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
Federal
State and Local

14. The Cost of Doing Nothing
Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation

15. The Cost of Doing Nothing, Continued
Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation

16. Title IV-B: Also Declining
Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation

17. The Social Services Block Grant (SSBG)
2.8
1.7
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2
2.2
2.4
2.6
2.8
3$billions
Social Services Block Grant Appropriations
P.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”

18. 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

19. 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)

20. 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

21. 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)

22. 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

23. 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.

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. 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

29. 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?

30. 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?

31. • 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

32. 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

33. 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

34. www.firstfocus.net
childwelfaresparc.org
@ChildWelfareHub
Rebecca M. Robuck
rebecca@childfocuspartners.com