Title IV-E entitlement

Child welfare is running an evidence deficit. There are too few programs in circulation with credible evidence of their effectiveness in improving the safety, family permanence and well-being of vulnerable children.

As Youth Services Insider reported last week, the Trump administration presented a fiscal 2019 budget that offered full flexibility of child welfare funds to any state willing to take a capped allocation, also known as a block grant.

Talk to child welfare advocates about federal child welfare finance reform and the conversation almost immediately turns to Title IV-E of the Social Security Act. This is for good reason: Title IV-E, including the foster care, guardianship and adoption assistance programs, represents the only federal entitlement program targeted specifically to the needs of children who have experienced abuse and neglect.

The Family First Act has the support of the organizations representing state human services agencies and state advocacy groups. It is endorsed by the membership group representing many of the nation’s child welfare providers, many of which provide residential care.

If you read my first piece in this series on Title IV-E waivers, which are essentially short-term block grants, you can probably guess that I think converting Title IV-E into a block grant would be a terrible idea.