Waiver Legislation Promotes Child Welfare Reforms

As news of the U.S. credit rating continues to dominate headlines, the Senate will consider a bill that encourages flexibility in state child welfare programs through creative use of federal funds.

On May 17, Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) introduced the bipartisan State Child Welfare Innovation Act (S. 1013) to seek renewal of a waiver program that redirects federal funds toward innovative state strategies.  The act seeks to extend the expired waiver authority of the Department of Health and Human Services to fiscal years 2011-2014 for child welfare demonstration projects completed by September 30, 2018.

The State Child Welfare Innovation Act emerged after similar legislation stagnated in the Senate during the last Congressional session.  What makes this bill unique is its potential to encourage increased implementation of the 2008 Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act among state applicants.

Specifically, S. 1013 requires states to demonstrate a past or future commitment to at least three child welfare program improvement policies.   Of the 13 options listed within the bill, more than half align with the following focus areas of Fostering Connections:

• Kinship guardianship assistance agreements
• Child-specific health and mental health planning
• Educational stability
• Placements that keep sibling groups together
• Youth transitions out of foster care, particularly for youth ages 16 and older
• Family finding and kinship navigator programs
• Extended permanency subsidies and foster care services to age 21

Pennsylvania’s previous commitment to improving child welfare makes it a prime candidate for waiver funding under these terms.  As reported in a previous Porch Light Project blog, DPW/OCYF recently issued its guidance on Independent Living Services to provide clear instruction on how agencies should promote the permanency and well-being of youth in foster care.  Pennsylvania was also the first state in the country to amend its state plan to obtain kinship guardianship assistance through Fostering Connections. 

While it is too soon to know the final outcome of the proposed Child Welfare Innovation Act, Congress is clearly paying attention to the goals established by Fostering Connections.  Future funding opportunities—including HHS waivers—may eventually rest on how states choose to implement this comprehensive 2008 legislation.

Access the full text of the State Child Welfare Innovation Act and follow its progress here.

Joelle Ruben, MSW, is a Stoneleigh Foundation Emerging Leader Fellow at Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children.