On September 20, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) brought the Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act (S. 1542) for mark up before the Committee.  While supporting the bi-partisan legislation, both spoke of the need for continued reform of the child welfare system beyond this legislation.  Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) mentioned the need to continue improving outcomes for youth in care and agreed with the need for further reforming child welfare financing. The bill passed without objections and now heads to the Senate Floor.

On September 21, the House passed the legislation with a vote of 395 – 25.  The legislation incorporates several pieces of proposed legislation that had set in committee.  The act addresses reauthorization and makes changes to Title IV-B, Part 1 – Child Welfare Services (CWS), and Part II, Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) through 2016. The legislation also reinstates Social Security Act, Title IV-E waiver authority.

CWS funding is maintained at its current authorization level at $325 million. In addition, requirements are added to a state agency’s submission of the Child and Family Services Plan. HR 2883 adds the following requirements for the Title IV-B state plan:

Ongoing oversight and coordination of health care services including 1) how emotional trauma needs associated with a child’s maltreatment and removal identified in health screenings are monitored and treated, and requirements and 2) establishment of protocols for the appropriate use and monitoring of psychotropic medications in the oversight of prescription medicines.

• Provide a description of state activities aimed at reducing the length of time children under the age 5 are without a permanent family and state activities addressing the developmental needs of children under age 5.
• Inclusion of a description of the sources of child maltreatment death information and includes a requirement for states to incorporate an explanation if information on sources is unavailable.
• The bill also revises the caseworker visit requirement in CWS. 

Since October 1, 2008, caseworker monthly visits were established at a goal of 90%.  The new legislation maintains the 90 percent goal, as well as a tiered financial participation reduction for failure to comply, but it requires only that the total visits in a year to equal the amount of visits if a child were visited monthly.  The tiered reduction for failure to comply is added for a new goal of 50 percent of caseworker visits occurring in the residence. 

PSSF funding is both mandatory and discretionary. The legislation reduces the mandatory from $365 million to $345 million and maintains the authorization of $200 million is discretionary funding. HR 2883 adds a requirement for states to identify populations most at risk of maltreatment and describe how services are targeted to those populations. PSSF targets four categories of services to children and families; family support services, family preservation, time-limited reunification, and adoption promotion and support. The legislation expands the definition of family support services is amended by clarifying that enhancing child development can be accomplished through mentoring. Also, the definition of time-limited reunification services adds as examples of services – peer to peer mentoring, support groups for caregivers and services, and activities to facilitate parent and sibling visiting with children in care. The legislation amends the PSSF annual report to include actual spending in addition to planned spending by service category for the program. This report is required to be posted publically on the HHS’s Web site. 

Two additional PSSF grants for targeted purposes – to support monthly caseworker visits and regional partnership grants to address permanency affected by parental substance abuse – are both maintained at $20 million allotments each. The legislation also requires mandatory and discretionary funding for grants for highest state courts that carry out child welfare activities, adds a requirement regarding the court improvement plans and training for legal personnel training.

The Child and Families Improvement and Innovation Act adds part III to Title IV-B, titled “Common Provisions.”  This subpart is comprised of a section on “Data Standardization for Improved Data Matching” which requires HHS to work with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to designate standard data elements for any category of information required to be reported in IV-B. Under the legislation additional requirements tied to Title IV-E to include:

• Clarifying the requirement for educational stability for children in care refers to each placement, removing confusion beyond first placement.
• Documenting savings from the de-link of adoption assistance payments from Title IV-A requirements.
• Requiring as part of case review system an additional responsibility of the state to obtain a copy of a consumer report yearly for all children over the age of 16 related to a child’s credit report and when necessary ensure assistance to interpret or resolve inaccuracies.

The legislation reinstates the waiver authority for Title IV-E demonstration projects.   As part of the legislation, HHS may issue up to 10 waivers each year from 2012 and 2014.  The waiver cannot exceed five years or end after 2019.  To qualify, a state must increase permanence by reducing time in foster care, increase positive outcomes for children and families, or prevent maltreatment and re-entry into care.  In addition, the state must have or plan to implement at least two of the following policies:

• Establishing a bill of rights for children in care
• Implementing a health and mental health plan for children in care,
• Covering kinship/subsidized guardianship with IV-E funding,
• Extending IV-E foster care to 21
• Implementing a plan to reduce congregate care
• Increasing the placements of siblings together
• Implementing a plan to improve the recruitment and retention of quality foster families
• Establishing procedures to assist youth in transitioning out of care
• State plan inclusion of older youth guidance in the transition plan
• Establishment of one or more programs to prevent placement in care and provide permanency

Further, the bill includes reporting requirements that must include two years prior to the waiver application, account for all child welfare spending during the time of the waiver, provide periodic reports and obtain independent evaluation.  Indian tribes are eligible to apply for waivers if they are running a IV-E plan.