Emilie Stoltzfus

Child welfare services are intended to prevent the abuse or neglect of children; ensure that children have safe, permanent homes; and promote the well-being of children and their families. As the U. S. Constitution has been interpreted, states bear the primary responsibility for ensuring the welfare of children and their families. In recent years, Congress has appropriated just above or below $8 billion in federal support dedicated to child welfare purposes. Most of those dollars (97%-98%) were provided to state, tribal, or territorial child welfare agencies (via formula grants or as federal reimbursement for a part of all eligible program costs). Federal involvement in state administration of child welfare activities is primarily tied to this financial assistance. The remaining federal dollars dedicated to child welfare purposes are provided, primarily on a competitive basis, to a variety of eligible entities to support research, evaluation, technical assistance, and demonstration projects to expand knowledge and improve child welfare practice and policy. At the federal level, child welfare programs are primarily administered by the Children's Bureau, which is an agency within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). However, three competitive grant programs (authorized by the Victims of Child Abuse Act) are administered by the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) within the Department of Justice (DOJ). Final FY2014 child welfare funding was appropriated as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (P. L. 113-76). Because that act maintained discretionary funding at the statutory limit provided for in the recent Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2013 (P. L. 113-67), FY2014 funding for child welfare programs that receive discretionary funding was not affected by sequestration. While most federal child welfare programs receive discretionary funding, the largest amount of federal funding is provided to child welfare programs through mandatory funding authorized under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act. Nearly all of that funding (related to foster care, adoption assistance, kinship guardianship assistance, and services to youth aging out of foster care) is statutorily exempted from sequestration in every year. Finally, a few child welfare programs receive mandatory funding and may be subject to sequestration; principally this includes the mandatory funding provided for the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program. For FY2014, the final funding level for these nonexempt mandatory child welfare programs was reduced from their otherwise appropriated level by 7.2%. Child welfare support is provided via multiple federal programs. Title IV-B of the Social Security Act authorizes funding to states, territories, and tribes for a broad range of child welfare-related services to children and their families. Title IV-E of the Social Security Act entitles states to federal reimbursement for a part of the cost of providing foster care, adoption assistance, and (in states electing to provide this kind of support) kinship guardianship assistance on behalf of each child who meets federal eligibility criteria. Title IV-E also authorizes capped entitlement funding to states (and some discretionary funds as well) for provision of services to youth who "age out" of foster care, or are expected to age out without placement in a permanent family. Legislation concerning programs authorized in Title IV-B and Title IV-E, which represents the very large majority of federal child welfare dollars, is handled in Congress by the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committee.

While child welfare programs are a primary responsibility of state and local governments, the federal government appropriates close to $7 billion annually to support these programs (primarily for foster care and adoption assistance) and states are required to meet certain federal policies in order to receive this funding. Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) gauge state efforts and ability to achieve the primary goals of safety and permanence for children, and well-being for children and their families. The review is intended both to measure state compliance with federal child welfare policy and to strengthen and improve state child welfare programs. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) conducted the initial round of onsite reviews between March 2001 and March 2004. No state was found to be in substantial conformity with all of the outcomes and systems assessed. Some critics of the CFSR argue that while the outcomes reviewed are on target, the criteria established to determine state achievement of those outcomes may give misleading information about a state's performance. Although much attention has focused on states' uniform inability to meet all of the federal criteria, the reviews also showed certain relative strengths. States showed the greatest ability to ensure that children were not exposed to child abuse and neglect and remained safely in their homes whenever appropriate and possible, and in preserving their family relationships and connections. They had the most difficulty in achieving permanent and stable living arrangements for children, enhancing the capacity of families to meet the needs of their children and in seeing that appropriate mental and physical health services were available to children served. Information regarding ensuring provision of educational services to children was more mixed. In addition to reviewing outcomes, the CFSR assesses state compliance with federal child welfare policy by examining certain federally required systems. States were most likely to be found successful at operating a statewide information system; maintaining foster and adoptive parent licensing, training, recruitment and retention; and responding to community concerns. They were least likely to have a strong service array or case review system in place. Ratings of state quality assurance and training systems were more mixed. To avoid immediate assessment of penalties for failure to comply with federal policy, each state was required to develop a Program Improvement Plan (PIP). A PIP must address each one of the outcomes or systems with which a state was found to be out of substantial conformity and must describe the state's specific plan for moving toward full conformity with federal policy. A few states have successfully completed their PIPS but most are still in the process of implementing them. The Children's Bureau has begun planning for a second round of CFSRs and onsite reviews will likely begin in FY2006. This book describes the origins and design of CFSRs before turning to its primary discussion: state performance in the initial round of CFSRs.