BILL ANALYSIS
AJR 10
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 12, 2005
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Noreen Evans, Chair
AJR 10 (Chu) - As Introduced: March 15, 2005
SUBJECT : Foster care funding; Title IV-E Waiver.
SUMMARY : Urges federal approval of the California Title IV-E
Waiver Demonstration Project Application. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Urges the State Department of Social Services (DSS) to work
with counties and others to address ongoing issues and to
promptly submit a final revised Title IV-E Waiver application.
2)Urges the United States Department of Health and Human
Services to expeditiously approve the Title IV-E Waiver,
thereby allowing the State of California to make changes and
innovations necessary to improve outcomes and services for
vulnerable at-risk, abused, and neglected children.
3)Memorializes Congress and urges state and counties to enact
laws and policies that will allow for more flexible use to
federal child welfare funding to support the needs of children
and families at-risk, even if the child is not removed from
the home or formally made part of the child welfare system.
4)Makes findings and declarations about federal funding for
foster care.
EXISTING LAW requires counties to provide out-of-home care,
known as foster care for children removed from their homes by
court order due to abuse or neglect. Foster care is an
entitlement program funded by federal, state and county
governments.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Since its inception in 1935, federal financing for
child welfare services has been the key to protecting the health
and lives of millions of children at risk of abuse or neglect.
From 1961 to 1996 the federal government supported the
AFDC-Foster Care program to ensure that significant federal
funding would be available to provide care to children removed
AJR 10
Page 2
from their homes under court order.
Title IV-B of the Social Security Act was authorized by the
Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1993 and reauthorized in 2001. It
is a capped entitlement program (now called Promoting Safe and
Stable Families) which provides funding to states based on the
average monthly number of children receiving food stamp benefits
for the most recent three federal fiscal years. These dollars
are used to facilitate the delivery of family preservation
services and permanency options for children entering the foster
care system. The authorization of child welfare demonstration
waivers allows states to expand the range of services and
increase permanency options.
Title IV-E is an uncapped entitlement program that supports the
placement of children into foster care and funds related
administrative activities. However, these dollars are linked to
old rules created in the AFDC program rather than with its
replacement program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
(TANF). The eligibility rules have never been changed or
updated to reflect increases in inflation since program
inception. As a result the percentage of children who are
eligible for federal funding has dropped significantly.
A possible solution to this under-funding includes de-linking
AFDC and Title IV-E and making all children who enter foster
care eligible for services and supports. There is a compelling
case for changes in the funding structure -- first, California
has approximately 20% of the national foster care population and
second, Title IV-B would be used to facilitate the delivery of
family-centered services to additional children. In addition,
the Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for Title IV-E
funding could be reduced by a corresponding percentage in order
to maintain fiscal neutrality for the federal government during
the first year of implementation. The federal government could
carefully control its allocations to states and increase the
percentage of non-federal match to leverage additional dollars.
On May 24, 2004, the State of California, at the urging of the
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, submitted to the US
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) the California
Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration Project Application.
DHHS requested the California Department of Social Services
(DSS) revise portions of its Title IV-E Waiver. At the March
AJR 10
Page 3
16, 2005 Budget Subcommittee 1 Hearing, DSS reported that a
revised waiver had been submitted to DHHS as of Monday, March
14, 2005 and a response on the Title IV-E was expected as early
as July 2005.
According to the author, "?this waiver will allow social workers
to provide front-end services to help attend to the needs of
children and families without removing the child from the home
or initiating a judicial proceeding, thereby maintaining the
family unit when appropriate."
Expanding Title IV-B and de-linking Title IV-E could benefit
county, state and federal governments by allowing states and
counties to make investments to control foster care costs and
improve outcomes for families and children; encouraging counties
with already low foster care placement rates to expand and
enhance their efforts to keep families together and facilitating
the implementation of the state's Program Improvement Plan (PIP)
as required by the federal government.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Children's Law Center of Los Angeles (Sponsor)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Caitlin O'Halloran / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089