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FY 2006 Budget in BriefAdministration for Children and FamiliesOn this page: Discretionary Spending Overview Table
Administration for Children and FamiliesThe Administration for Children and Families promotes the economic and social well-being of children, youth, families, and communities, giving special attention to vulnerable populations, such as children in low-income families, refugees, Native Americans, and the developmentally disabled. The Administration for Children and Families's (ACF's) over 60 programs provide services to children and families, including Native Americans, persons with disabilities, and refugees, and communities through cooperative efforts between Federal, State, local, and Tribal governments, and through public and private non-profit organizations. The FY 2006 budget request for ACF totals $45 billion, a net decrease of $4.3 billion, or 9 percent below FY 2005. Discretionary Spending The FY 2006 discretionary budget totals $13.1 billion, a net decrease of $719 million or 5 percent below FY 2005. This decrease primarily reflects the elimination of programs that have been unable to demonstrate long-term outcomes. Head Start The budget request includes $6.9 billion for Head Start to provide 919,000 children with services including 62,000 children in Early Head Start. The budget includes a $45 million increase to support the President's initiative to improve Head Start by funding nine State pilot projects to promote coordination of State preschool programs, child care programs, and Head Start into a comprehensive system of early childhood programs. Consistent with the President's comprehensive Head Start reauthorization proposal, these new pilot projects will provide States with assistance to strengthen the program and, through coordination, improve other preschool programs. ACF will continue to support the goals of the President's Good Start Grow Smart Initiative to strengthen Head Start by providing information on child development and early learning to teachers, caregivers, parents, and grandparents and by closing the gap between research and practice in early childhood education. Head Start programs help ensure that children are ready to succeed at school by supporting the social and cognitive development of children. Head Start programs provide comprehensive child development services, including educational, health, nutritional, social, and other services, to primarily low-income families. They also engage parents in their child's preschool experience by helping them achieve their own educational and literacy goals as well as employment goals, supporting parents' role in their children's learning, and emphasizing the direct involvement of parents in the administration of local Head Start programs. Abstinence Education The budget increases funding for Abstinence Education activities by $39 million totaling $206 million. Of this total, ACF will administer $193 million through two programs - the Community-Based Abstinence Education program and the Abstinence Education Grants to States program. Within the Office of Public Health and Science (OPHS), the budget also includes $13 million for the abstinence activities conducted through the Adolescent Family Life program. By 2008, funding for all abstinence education programs will increase to a total of $270 million. ACF's abstinence education programs provide grants to communities and States to develop and implement abstinence programs. These programs focus on educating adolescents, ages 12 through 18, and creating a positive environment within communities to support adolescent decisions to postpone sexual activity and, where appropriate, mentoring, counseling, and adult supervision to promote abstinence with a focus on those groups which are most likely to bear children out of wedlock. The budget provides up to $10 million for a public awareness campaign designed to help parents communicate with their children about health risks of early sexual activity. ACF and OPHS will work together on the public awareness campaign efforts. The budget also continues to support evaluation of abstinence education programs. Faith-Based and Community Initiative The budget maintains a commitment to fund faith-based and community organizations, including a total of $161 million in ACF to help grass-roots organizations expand services to their communities, mentor children of prisoners, and provide a safe place for young pregnant and parenting mothers. As part of the larger Faith-Based and Community Initiative, these programs help empower those at the community level who can best identify the social and health problems to address the unmet needs of Americans. The Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives works with Agencies across the Department to eliminate barriers in regulations, rules, internal guidance, policies and procedures, and practices to the participation of faith-based and other community organizations; to propose the development of innovative pilot and demonstration programs; and to expand Charitable Choice provisions. Compassion Capital Fund: The Compassion Capital Fund advances the efforts of community and charitable organizations, including faith-based organizations, to increase their effectiveness and enhance their ability to provide social services where they are needed. Among the priorities within the 2006 proposal is an emphasis on supporting anti-gang efforts through community and faith-based organizations. The budget provides $100 million, an increase of $45 million over the FY 2005 level. In its first two years, the Compassion Capital Fund, which began in FY 2002, awarded intermediary grants to 31 organizations which in turn awarded over $24 million in sub-awards to over 1,700 grassroots organizations. Grants are also directly awarded to faith-based and com- munity organizations for capacity-building activities, as well as for research into best practices and to develop a national resource center and information clearinghouse. These capacity-building mini-grants began in the second year of the program with 52 awards and grew to 102 awards the following year. Mentoring Children of Prisoners: The request includes $50 million, maintaining the FY 2005 level, to provide grants of up to $5 million to enable public and private organizations to establish or expand projects that provide mentoring for children of incarcerated parents and those recently released from prison. Grantees are required to become gradually more self-sufficient through public-private partnerships. These programs will establish approximately 33,000 mentoring relationships a year. Nearly 2 million children have a parent in a Federal or State correctional facility, a number that more than doubled over the 1990s. Research indicates that children with incarcerated parents are seven times more likely than the general population to become incarcerated themselves and are more likely to display a variety of behavioral, emotional, health, and educational problems. Maternity Group Homes: The budget includes $10 million for the Maternity Group Homes program, a recently authorized component of the Runaway and Homeless Youth program. These funds will support adult-supervised community-based group homes for young mothers and their children who cannot live safely with their own families. These women are vulnerable to abuse and neglect, and often end up in homeless shelters or on the streets. Grantees will provide a range of coordinated services such as child care, education, job training, and counseling and advice on parenting and life skills. Refugee Program Refugee and Entrant Assistance: The budget requests $489 million in FY 2006 to support services for refugees, asylees, Cubans/Haitians, and victims of torture and trafficking, $59 million more than the FY 2005 level. The increase will maintain access to a full eight months of cash and medical assistance and up to 60 months of social services programs such as English language training, case management, employment preparation, and job placement and retention services. The State Department's refugee entrant ceiling for 2006 is 70,000 or 20,000 higher than 2005. Between 1993 and 2003, the employment rate of refugees increased by almost 70 percent, to a level approaching the U.S. population as a whole. In addition, the request includes support for services, including rehabilitation, social, and legal services for those who have experienced torture as well as benefits and services for up to 1,000 victims of trafficking. Unaccompanied Alien Children: The Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) program provides a safe and appropriate environment for minors until custody can be transferred to a relative or appropriate guardian or until the child is returned to his or her country of origin. Since the program was transferred from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service in 2003, the Office of Refugee Resettlement has increased the use of less restrictive shelter and foster care placements, and provided necessary support for improved medical care. The FY 2006 budget for the UAC program of $63 is $9 million more than the FY 2005 level to meet anticipated increases in the number of minors in care. Current estimates indicate that the number of UACs will increase by over 30 percent from 6,200 in FY 2004 to almost 8,200 in FY 2006. In FY 2006, the Office of Refugee Resettlement will expand the pilot pro bono services program to a national level and continue efforts to reunite UACs with family members in the United States. Child Welfare, Adoption and Child Abuse The FY 2006 budget includes $648 million for a range of programs that support child welfare systems, adoption efforts, and child abuse prevention. Child Welfare: The Child Welfare programs support States and localities in their efforts to keep families together. Services offered include preventive intervention, where appropriate, so that children can remain in their homes; identifying alternative placements like foster care when necessary; and reunification services so that a child can return home. Grants are also provided to develop and improve education and training programs and resources for child welfare professionals and to prevent the abandonment of infants and young children exposed to HIV/AIDS and drugs. The budget requests $309 million for these efforts. The Independent Living Education and Training Vouchers program provides up to $5,000 for costs associated with college or vocational training for foster care youth ages 16 to 21. The FY 2006 request of $60 million will provide more than 2,600 additional youth with vouchers through this program. The Promoting Safe and Stable Families program provides funds for each State to operate a coordinated program of family preservation services, community-based family support services, time-limited reunification services, and adoption promotion and support services. The FY 2006 budget includes a total of $410 million, of which $105 million is financed through discretionary resources, and will be used to expand services provided to children and families. Adoption: The FY 2006 request includes $32 million for the Adoption Incentives program. States can earn bonus payments by increasing the number of adoptions of children in foster care over previous years. At the end of FY 2003, there were 523,000 children in foster care, of which 118,000 were waiting to be adopted. Bonuses are based on the total number of children adopted, the adoption of children with special needs who are under the age of nine, and, as part of the recent program reauthorization, the adoption of children over the age of nine. Data show that once a child waiting for adoption reaches eight or nine years old, that child is more likely to continue in foster care than to be adopted. This newest bonus recognizes the current reality and targets incentives to older children by providing a $4,000 bonus for each older child adoption over the baseline regardless of whether the State qualifies for the other bonuses. Payments can be used toward recruiting prospective adoptive parents, child welfare staff training, and post-adoption family support services. The budget also includes $40 million for grant programs that facilitate the elimination of barriers to adoption and support adoption efforts, including adoption of children with special needs, through training and a public awareness campaign. Child Abuse: The most recent annual HHS Child Maltreatment Report indicates that each year an estimated 896,000 children in the United States are victims of abuse and neglect. The budget includes a total of $102 million for programs to reduce the incidence of child maltreatment and provide services to those who are victims. The Child Abuse State Grant program plays a key role in the prevention of child abuse and neglect including post-investigative services such as individual counseling, case management, and parent education. Other programs help complete the continuum of prevention efforts by providing funds for community-based efforts including general public awareness and education activities and by supporting research on child maltreatment and training and technical assistance on improved methods and procedures to prevent and treat child abuse and neglect. Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) assessments completed this year concluded that the State child abuse prevention and treatment programs address specific and existing needs and are effectively managed. Child Care The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program to States, Territories, and Tribes provides direct child care assistance payments to low-income families when the parents work or participate in education or training. States have flexibility in developing child care programs and policies that meet the needs of children and parents within each State. CCDBG also supports research and evaluation of innovative child care subsidy policies and web-based access to reports, data, and other research-related information. ACF's most recent data indicates that $4.8 billion in total Federal child care funds, including $2.1 billion in discretionary funds, provide child care assistance to approximately 1.8 million children each month. However, when combined with other Federal and related State funds, child care assistance is available to 2.4 million children, representing an estimated 28 percent of children eligible under State rules. This year, a PART assessment found that CCDBG plays a critical role for families transitioning from welfare to work and that child care subsidies expand parental access to a range of care options. The assessment concluded that the program structure and use of vouchers maximizes parental choice and creates incentives for States to develop a single coherent system for families. Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program The FY 2006 budget requests a total of $2 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The request includes $1.8 billion for formula block grants to States and $200 million for contingency funding. The contingency funds are available for release in a heating or cooling emergency such as extreme temperature or high fuel prices or to meet energy needs related to a natural disaster. LIHEAP provides heating and cooling benefits to approximately 4.5 million households each year. Of the households receiving heating assistance, about one-third include a member 60 years or older, about half include a person with a disability, half include a child under age 18, and about one-third do not receive any other public assistance. Developmental Disabilities Today, there are nearly 4 million Americans with developmental disabilities. Developmental disabilities are severe, chronic disabilities attributable to mental and/or physical impairment, which manifest before age 22 and are likely to continue indefinitely. The budget requests $168 million for programs that support partnerships with State governments, local communities, and the private sector to assist people with developmental disabilities to reach their maximum potential through increased independence, productivity, inclusion, and community integration. Disabled Voter Services: The Voting Access for Individuals with Disabilities grant programs provide support to States to establish, expand, and improve access to the election process to the over 20 million individuals with disabilities who are of voting age. Of the $168 million for Developmental Disabilities, $15 million will support these efforts. Grant awards have supported a range of activities including developing a training video for election officials, poll workers, and volunteers on providing assistance to voters with visual impairments and surveying polling places to determine accessibility needs. Native Americans The programs of the Administration for Native Americans promote the goal of social and economic self-sufficiency. The budget request includes a total of $45 million for these programs which, through direct grants, contracts, and interagency agreements, provide financial assistance for social and economic development and governance, training and technical assistance, and research, demonstration and evaluation. Funds support a range of projects from establishment of new Tribal employment offices to the formulation of environmental ordinances and training in the use and control of natural resources. Community Services Programs The budget proposes $25 million for the Individual Development Accounts (IDA) program. IDAs are dedicated savings accounts for low-income individuals that can be used for purchasing a first home, paying for post-secondary education, or capitalizing a business. This demonstration program provides grants to agencies that in turn empower low-income individuals to save by providing matching contributions for savings and intensive financial counseling and economic literacy education. This year, a PART assessment found the IDA program to both provide benefits to low-income and low-wealth families and produce knowledge about the effects of the Federal asset-based policy on these families. The FY 2006 budget does not request funds for the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) and a number of smaller community services programs. The CSBG program has been unable to demonstrate results as noted in its previous PART assessment. The budget also does not request funds for Community Economic Development, Rural Community Facilities, Community Food and Nutrition, Job Opportunities for Low-Income Individuals, and National Youth Sports. The Administration proposes to focus economic and community development activities through a more targeted and unified program to be administered by the Department of Commerce. Other Children and Families Activities The budget maintains funds for programs that offer safe havens and access to services for victims of domestic violence and runaway and homeless youths. This year a PART assessment determined the programs serving victims of domestic violence allow States flexibility to provide a combination of shelter stays, related assistance, and non-residential services. The assessment also indicated that the National Domestic Violence Hotline is efficiently run and continues to respond to a steadily increasing number of calls while ensuring consistent quality of services. Based on the PART findings, ACF, working with an existing national advisory group, will develop appropriate national grantee-supported performance outcome measures and demonstrate improved efficiencies and cost effectiveness. The FY 2006 budget does not request funds to continue the Early Learning Fund, which was provided $36 million in FY 2005. The Administration continues to target resources on similar activities which promote early literacy in the Department of Education and the Head Start program. Research/Federal Administration There is continuing interest and need for sound research to help guide efforts to assist low-income families become and remain economically self-sufficient and to strengthen families. The FY 2006 budget includes $6 million in PHS evaluation funds for the Social Services Research and Demonstration program which will support cutting-edge research and evaluation projects in areas of critical national interest. The request includes $185 million in FY 2006 to support staffing and maintain activities to administer the programs of ACF. Consistent with the President's Management Agenda, the budget supports efforts to reduce erroneous and improper payments in several key ACF program areas, including Child Care, Head Start, and Foster Care, and supports a continued focus on the Public Assistance Reporting Information System (PARIS), a voluntary program for States to share public assistance data to maintain program integrity and detect and reduce erroneous payments. ACF: Entitlement Spending Overview Table
ACF: Entitlement SpendingThe ACF entitlement programs serve some of the Nation's most vulnerable populations through programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Child Support Enforcement (CSE), the Child Care Entitlement to States, Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, and Independent Living. ACF entitlement outlay estimates for FY 2006 are $33.5 billion, an increase of $149 million in entitlement spending from FY 2005. This overall increase is a combination of a small decrease in TANF outlays and typical growth in Child Support and Foster Care. This year's budget includes the anticipated reauthorization of TANF and the Child Care Entitlement to States. In the Child Support Enforcement program the budget also includes modifications, which increase both financial collections and medical support to families. In Foster Care, the budget includes an option for States to receive their foster care funds in the form of a flexible grant. The Foster Care budget also clarifies the eligibility definition and modifies the matching rate for the District of Columbia. Additional information on FY 2006 legislative proposals can be found in the TANF, CSE, Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, and Independent Living sections. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) dramatically changed the Nation's approach to income support for low-income families. PRWORA replaced the individual entitlement to welfare with time-limited assistance and work requirements. PRWORA also created a new partnership between States and the Federal Government, giving States considerable flexibility to design their own TANF programs. The President's TANF Reauthorization Proposal Strengthens the Federal-State-Tribal-Territories Partnership by Providing Full Funding and Flexibility:
Promote Child-Well Being , Healthy Marriage, and Responsible Fatherhood:
Improve Program Performance:
Program Integration:
TANF provides approximately $16.9 billion annually to States, Territories, and eligible Tribes for the creative programs to help families transition from welfare to self-sufficiency. States have tremendous flexibility in determining how to use their TANF dollars. Since welfare reform, States are spending less on cash assistance payments and more on education and training, child care, and other work supports to help families achieve self-sufficiency. For example, in 1998, States spent 63 percent of combined State and Federal funds on cash assistance; in FY 2003 States spent 39 percent. In addition, States may transfer up to a combined 30 percent of their TANF funding to either the Child Care and Development Fund or the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) with not more than 4.25 percent of this transferred to SSBG. The FY 2005 appropriations bill overrides the 4.25 percent transfer cap and provided for a 10 percent SSBG transfer authority. Welfare reform is widely regarded as a success. TANF caseloads continue to decrease. As of June 2004, 4.7 million individuals received TANF benefits- 61.4 percent fewer than in August 1996. From June 2003 to June 2004 caseloads dropped 4.4 percent for individuals and 3 percent for families. National data from the Current Population Survey suggest that even during the economic downturn, women leaving welfare or at risk for coming onto welfare continue to find employment. The TANF program expired at the end of FY 2002. To date, Congress has provided funding through March 31, 2005 for TANF State and Terroritory Family Assistance Grants, Supplemental Grants, Matching Grants to Territories, and the Contingency Fund. TANF Performance The TANF program achieved success towards its primary goal of moving TANF recipients from welfare to work and self-sufficiency. In FY 2003:
TANF Legislative Proposals The FY 2006 budget reproposes the President's FY 2004 and FY 2005 plan to build on the considerable successes of welfare reform and to reauthorize TANF. The President's proposal strengthens work requirements while allowing States greater flexibility in determining what should count as work. The proposal strengthens marriage and families, making child well-being a central tenet of the legislation (see the box outlining the President's TANF Reauthorization Plan on the previous page). The President's proposal includes $200 million annually to promote healthy marriage through demonstrations, research, and a matching grant program. The FY 2006 Budget also requests $40 million for the Promotion and Support of Responsible Fatherhood as mandatory funding. Child Care Entitlement to States The Child Care Entitlement to States, which was preappropriated under PRWORA, is a component of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). The Child Care Entitlement is composed of mandatory and matching funds. Two percent of the mandatory entitlement funds are reserved for eligible Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations. States are mandated to spend at least 70 percent of the Child Care Entitlement on families receiving TANF, transitioning from TANF, or at risk of becoming eligible for TANF. States must also spend a minimum of 4 percent of all child care funds to improve the quality and availability of healthy and safe child care for all families. For FY 2006, the budget funds the Child Care Entitlement at $2.7 billion. This is equal to the funding level provided in FY 2005. These funds will continue to provide valuable support for working families who are moving from welfare to work. Child Care Performance The Child Care and Development Fund helps families achieve and maintain self-sufficiency and improve the overall quality of child care. The Child Care Bureau collaborates with the Head Start Bureau, Department of Education, and the Health Resources and Services Administration to achieve these goals. In addition to improving access and affordability of child care, the Child Care Bureau is working with States to use early learning guidelines to improve the school readiness skills of young children from low-income families. In the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) assessment for the FY 2006 budget, the Child Care Entitlement received a "Moderately Effective" rating. The assessment notes that the program is critical to families transitioning from welfare to work, and that the program is improving how it tracks the availability, accessibility, and affordability of child care for low-income families. Child Support Enforcement The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program is a joint Federal, State, and local partnership that ensures financial and emotional support for children from both parents by locating non-custodial parents, establishing paternity, and establishing and enforcing child support orders. Child support services, as mandated in Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, are available for all families with a non-custodial parent, regardless of whether or not the custodial parent receives welfare. Child support collections play an important role for families transitioning from welfare to self-sufficiency, particularly in light of time limits on receipt of cash assistance. Families in which a custodial parent has never received cash assistance, receive all child support collected on their behalf. State and Federal Governments share child support collections on behalf of families receiving TANF and some collections on behalf of former TANF recipients. States can choose to pass through a portion of the State share of collections to these families as well. The Federal Government shares in the financing of this program by providing a 66 percent match rate for general State administrative costs and 90 percent for paternity testing. The CSE program also includes a capped entitlement of $10 million annually for grants to States to facilitate non-custodial parents' access to and visitation of their children. In addition, States receive incentive payments based on their performance on five key measures: paternity establishment, support order establishment, collections on current support, collections on past-due support, and cost effectiveness. In FY 2006, the Federal Government will spend an estimated $4.2 billion for all of these costs. CSE Performance The CSE program continues to make impressive gains on order and paternity establishment, and collections:
Highlights include:
In the PART assessments for the FY 2005 budget, CSE received a rating of "Effective" and continues to be one of the highest rated block/formula grants of all reviewed programs government-wide. This high rating is due to its strong mission, effective management, and demonstration of measurable progress toward meeting annual and long term performance measures. Child Support Legislative ProposalsThe budget anticipates the enactment of the child support provisions included in the President's TANF Reauthorization proposal, as well as two proposals from FY 2005 budget aimed at improving and increasing the collection of medical child support (see box outlining these child support proposals on the following page). These proposals will also improve automation tools, strengthen existing enforcement tools, and assist families in gaining self-sufficiency. Overall these proposals have a significant impact in terms of savings and increased collections for families:
Children's Research and Technical Assistance The FY 2006 President's Budget includes $49 million to support child support enforcement training and technical assistance efforts; operation of the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS), which assists States in locating absent parents; and welfare research. Of this amount, $34 million will be devoted to: 1) training and technical assistance ($11 million) and 2) operating FPLS ($23 million). The funds appropriated for these activities are equal to 1 and 2 percent respectively of the Federal share of child support collections during the preceding year. The remaining $15 million will fund welfare research as included in the President's TANF reauthorization proposal. Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, and Independent Living Programs The FY 2006 budget request for the Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, and the Independent Living programs is $6.6 billion. These programs, authorized by Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, provide essential services to vulnerable children by supporting safe living environments and preparing for independence older foster youth who are likely to age out of the system. Of the total request, $4.6 billion will support the Foster Care program. This is a $252.5 million decrease from last year's request and includes the effects of the legislative proposals described in the following section. The funds will be used for maintenance payments and administrative costs for approximately 230,300 children per average month, a 1.3 percent decrease over 2005. In addition, States may use the funds for training and for the operation and development of the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (SACWIS), a computer-based data and information collection system. The budget includes $1.8 billion for the Adoption Assistance program, which supports families that adopt special-needs children. This is an increase of $26.9 million over the FY 2005 request. These funds will be used to provide maintenance payments to adoptive families, administrative payments for the costs associated with placing a child in an adoptive home, and training for professionals and adoptive parents. The proposed level of funding will support approximately 369,500 children each month. The budget also contains $140 million for the Independent Living Program (ILP), the same as the FY 2005 request. This program funds a variety of services to ease the transition from foster care for youth who will likely remain in foster care until they turn 18 and former foster children between the ages of 18 and 21. Child Support Enforcement Legislative Proposals Proposals to Enhance and Increase Collection of Medical Child Support:
Proposals to Enhance Automation and Significantly Increase Collections to Families:
Proposals Under Welfare Reform to Further Assist Families Gain Self-Sufficiency:
Title IV-E Performance The Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, and Independent Living programs demonstrated success in improving safety, permanency, and well-being of children. Working with the States, the Children's Bureau strives to minimize the disruption to the continuity of family and other relationships for children in foster care by decreasing the number of placement settings per year for a child in care. The programs also provide children in foster care permanency and stability in their living situations by improving the timeliness of reunification, if possible, or guardianship and adoption. The Foster Care program received a rating of "Adequate" from the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) in FY 2005. This is an improvement over the "Results Not Demonstrated" rating received for FY 2004. The better rating can be attributed to completing adoptions for 268,000 children with child welfare involvement from FY 1997 through FY 2002. The programs also received a higher rating due to new program performance measures, an initiative to develop an error rate, and improved program management. The proposed alternative financing system for Foster Care, discussed in the next section, would address PART findings to further improve the program. In the PART assessment for the FY 2006 budget, ILP received a "Results Not Demonstrated" rating because the program needs to develop a data system to track program participation and outcomes. HHS is committed to improving PART ratings in line with the President's Management Agenda initiative on Budget and Performance Integration. Foster Care Legislative Proposals The FY 2006 President's Budget includes three legislative proposals for Foster Care and related programs. The alternative funding proposal, detailed in the Child Welfare Program Option box (see above), would allow States the option to receive their foster care funding as a flexible grant over five years to support a continuum of services to families in crisis and children at risk. This proposal will increase budget authority by $36 million in FY 2006, and it is budget neutral over five years. The second proposal would clarify the process for determining Title IV-E eligibility in the Foster Care program. On March 3, 2003, the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held in Rosales v. Thompson that a child living with an interim caregiver may be eligible for Title IV-E foster care even though the child would not have been eligible in the home from which the child was legally removed. The Rosales decision contravenes the Department's long-standing interpretation of the Social Security Act that eligibility is based upon the home from which the child is removed, not the home of the interim caretaker. HHS has never interpreted the statute to mean that States may consider whether the child is eligible in either the home from which the child is removed or the home where the child is living. This proposal would amend the statute to come into accord with the Department's long-standing policy. This proposal saves $84 million in FY 2006 and $399 million over five years. Child Welfare Program Option Proposal States That Choose the Grant Option Would Be Able to Use the Funds for:
Under the Flexible Funding Plan States Will Be Required to:
The proposal provides access to the TANF Contingency Fund from which States may receive additional funding under certain circumstances if a severe foster care crisis were to arise. A $30 million set-aside will be available for Federally recognized Indian Tribes, and a one-third of one percent set-aside will be available for monitoring and technical assistance of State foster care programs. The third proposal brings the Foster Care and Adoption Assistance matching rate for the District of Columbia in line with the District's matching rate in Medicaid and SCHIP. This would increase the Federal matching rate for the District of Columbia from 50 percent to 70 percent and cost the Federal government $8 million in FY 2006 and $40 million over five years. Promoting Safe and Stable Families The Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program, under Title IV-B of the Social Security Act is a capped entitlement program to assist States in coordinating services related to child abuse prevention and family preservation. These services include community-based family support, family preservation, time-limited reunification services, and adoption promotion and support services. States generally must spend at least 20 percent of their funds on each of the above four categories. The Adoption and Safe Family Act of 1997 (ASFA) established that a child's health and safety must be of paramount concern in any efforts made by a State to preserve or reunify a child's family. The FY 2006 request for PSSF includes $305 million in mandatory funds provided by formula to States. Social Services Block Grant The Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), a capped entitlement, under Title XX of the Social Security Act, provides funds to States for delivering social services and allows States substantial discretion in allocating funds in order to best suit their specific needs. SSBG is funded at $1.7 billion for FY 2006. This is the same level as FY 2005. Programs or services that are frequently supported by SSBG funds include child care, child welfare, home-based services, employment services, case management, adult protective services, prevention and intervention programs, and special services for people with disabilities. Child Support Enforcement: Collections and Costs
TANF Legislative Proposals
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