Federal Policy Update - Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening Families Act
As the 119th Congress gets underway, we are excited to share some exciting news in federal policy. You may have read about the end-of-year spending bill Congress passed just before Christmas. What you may not have read was that in the early morning hours of Saturday, Dec. 21, Congress passed H.R. 9076, the Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening Families Act. And just before the end of the year, the President signed the bill into law.
This strongly bipartisan legislation – the result of almost two years of work by the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance – reauthorizes the Title IV-B program with important policy improvements that reflect the work we are all engaged in through OPT-In. It is a significant step in aligning federal policy with the shifts in practice that families have been asking for and innovative communities have been testing: a prevention-oriented child well-being agenda that helps family address needs, including economic needs, before crisis occurs.
Title IV-B is a modest but important source of federal money that supports keeping families together. Although it represents about 4 percent of total federal child welfare funding, it is important because of its flexible structure and focus on families. In fact, the program’s flexibility complements the more rigorous requirements of the Title IV-E Prevention Services program created by the Family First Prevention Services Act. Title IV-B also allows states to serve families further upstream than when a candidacy determination under Family First would be made. Combined, Title IV-B and the Title IV-E Prevention programs provide a critical array of services to meet the needs of families.
Not only did H.R. 9076 reauthorize the IV-B program, it also made substantive policy improvements that signal Congress’s desire for states to do more on prevention. Here are a few highlights:
Provides an additional $75 million annually in the MaryLee Allen Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program. This funding increase is critical because funding for IV-B programs has remained the same for two decades. It was also fully paid-for, meaning that cost savings were found elsewhere in the federal budget – a sign of the bipartisan commitment by Congressional leaders to getting the bill done.
Allows Title IV-B funds to be used to provide concrete support. The bill clarifies that IV-B funding can be used for short-term financial assistance to prevent unnecessary foster care.
Requires states to establish policies to prevent children from entering foster care solely because of poverty. During the Ways & Means Committee’s markup of the bill in June, Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) shared his experience as a young attorney in rural Missouri where he saw families come to the attention of CPS for reasons related to poverty – not safety issues. He expressed his strong belief that the federal government should help to prevent this from happening.
Provides $5 million per year in grants to conduct evaluations of prevention programs and services. The bill creates new grants to help support the rigorous evaluation of prevention programs and services so they can be approved by the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse created by FFPSA.
Allows states to use PSSF funding for key prevention strategies, including family resource centers, peer support, and peer mentorship programs, and electronic and digital portals to facilitate community support.
These new provisions are an incredible opportunity to accelerate the important work already underway in states to promote prevention services for children and families. It is also an important validation of the work we are engaged in together.
Other provisions in the bill include: increased funding for the Court Improvement Program (from $30M to $40M), increased funding for the Regional Partnership Grant program (from $20M to $30M), the creation of a new $10M program to provide competitive multi-year grants to develop and evaluate kinship navigator programs, and new requirements for states to consult with individuals with lived experience in creating their child welfare plans, and for HHS to standardize Health Coordination and Oversight Plans to strengthen the health and mental health of children and youth in foster care.
We thank Reps. Jason Smith (R-MO), Richard Neal (D-MA),. Darin LaHood (R-IL), Danny Davis (D-IL), Gwen Moore (D-WI), and Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Crapo (R-ID), all of whom all worked hard to make sure the legislation got passed before the end of the year.
Looking ahead, we are encouraged by this significant policy reform and look forward to continuing to educate and inform Members of Congress and other federal policymakers about how to promote prevention for children and families. This legislation initiated a conversation on prevention that was different than what we have seen on Capitol Hill in the past: one that acknowledges there is far more to be done to support families upstream, and that the federal government has a role to play in helping to build out community-based systems of support for families. Imagine what is possible in the future!