Child Welfare Newsletter 2012 Summer Edition
WE CAN HELP YOU FOR FREE
NCSL can help state child welfare systems develop ways to safely reduce the number of children in foster care through:
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Presentations, informal briefings and testimony before committees and hearings,
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Written research and analyses, or
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Informal telephone conference calls with state child welfare administrators, legislators and legislative staff in other states to discuss their experiences with child welfare reform.
CHILD WELFARE DEMONSTRATION WAIVERS
In September 2011, Congress and President Obama restored the authority of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to issue Title IV-E Child Welfare Waiver Demonstration projects through the Child Welfare and Family Services Innovation Act (Public Law Number 111-34). Click here for a summary of the Act.
On May 14th, 2012, HHS released an Information Memorandum (IM) inviting child welfare agencies to submit proposals for IV-E waiver demonstration projects for consideration in FYs 2012-2014. Through the projects, states can waive certain child welfare spending requirements to test innovative approaches to service delivery and financing, including investment in services to allow children to remain safely at home. HHS is authorized to grant 10 new waivers each year of the next three years.
Click here to view the June 18th, 2012, NCSL Webinar on the new waivers, “Guidance on New Title IV-E Child Welfare Waiver Demonstration Projects ,” hosted by Bryan Samuels, Commissioner, Administration on Children, Youth and Families. The Commissioner outlined what the applicants are expected to employ in terms of development of a waiver project, the procedures HHS will use to receive and review the waiver demonstration proposals and the principles HHS will use to determine granting a waiver demonstration proposal. Commissioner Samuels also discussed the Administration’s focus on well-being. Waiver demonstration proposals are due by July 9, 2012. They MUST be submitted electronically to the following email address: cwwaivers@acf.hhs.gov. Proposals received after the July 9th deadline may not be reviewed for FY 2012, but will be carried over for consideration in FY 2013. The link to the webinar includes the PowerPoint presentation.
CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES REVIEW (CFSRs) Archived Webinar and PowerPoint
Click here to view the June18th, 2012 NCSL webinar “Key Findings from Round 2 of the Federal Child and Family Services Reviews” which presented key findings from the analyses of state performance during the second round of Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) conducted during Federal Fiscal Years (FYs) 2007–2010. The purpose of the CFSRs is to help states improve safety, permanency and well-being outcomes for children and families who receive services through the child welfare system. The CFSRs are an important tool that enable the Children’s Bureau to: (1) ensure conformity with Federal child welfare requirements; (2) determine what is actually happening to children and families receiving child welfare services; and (3) assist states in enhancing their capacity to help children and families achieve positive outcomes.
This presentation provided a national picture of the strengths and areas needing improvement determined by the CFSRs and enhanced an understanding of the practices associated with high performance. It also touched on specific topic areas of interest to state legislators and the importance of quality improvement between rounds of the CFSRs. The link also includes the PowerPoint presentation.
MANDATORY REPORTING OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT Archived Webinar and PowerPoint
Approximately 102 bills in 30 states and the District of Columbia have been introduced in the 2012 legislative session on the reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect. Click here to view the April 16th, 2012 NCSL webinar “Reporting Child Abuse: Stopping the Silence,” which took a look at state actions in 2012 with highlights from legislators/legislative staff in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The link also contains the PowerPoint presentation and NCSL’s charts tracking 2012 legislation and providing a general overview related to child abuse reporting.
CHILD WELFARE REPORTS
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Click here to view key findings from a 50-state child welfare financing survey for state fiscal years 2008 and 2010, “Federal, State and Local Spending to Address Child Abuse and Neglect in State Fiscal Years 2008 and 2010.” The survey tracked the use of federal, state and local funds to meet the needs of child welfare-involved children and families and provides a snapshot of national and state-by-state approaches to funding child welfare services. To view state-by-state findings, download tables and compare findings by state, please see the State Child Welfare Policy Database at www.childwelfarepolicy.org
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Click here to see a new 2012 report on kinship care from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, “Stepping Up for Kids: What Government and Communities Should Do to Support Kinship Families” which includes 50-state charts on the numbers of children in kinship care, monthly TANF child only and foster care payment rates, the numbers of children in licensed and unlicensed kinship care and state educational enrollment and medical consent laws.
NCSL ASSISTANCE
NCSL has a subcontract from the Children’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to provide technical assistance (TA) to State legislators regarding child welfare. In particular, the project focuses on the role of State legislators in the federally mandated Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) in each State.
Through the reviews, the Federal Government, working in collaboration with a State, assesses State performance in achieving positive outcomes for children in families served through its child welfare system. States recently completed a second round of reviews and will be required to develop and implement a Program Improvement Plan (PIP) to address areas determined not to be in conformity. Failure to reach the negotiated levels of improvement specified in a PIP may result in financial penalties to the State. For more information on the CFSRs, please see this report: “The Child and Family Services Reviews: The Role of State Legislators”.
The project has resources to help you use the CFSRs to provide child welfare agency oversight and guide program improvements through a systems reform approach. The project also helps promote stronger working relationships between State child welfare agencies and State legislators on child welfare reform, including the CFSRs.
We offer several types of TA: onsite meetings and expert testimony for legislative committees, telephone TA designed to allow States to share their expertise regarding collaboration between legislators and agencies, and State-specific written products that provide background on the latest legislative developments in other States on specific topics in child welfare reform.
If you are interested in exploring or arranging a TA event, please contact me at nina.mbengue@ncsl.org, (303) 364-7700. Click here for more information and a list of project publications.
NCSL CHILD WELFARE QUICK LINKS
For questions about this newsletter or to be removed from our distribution list, please e-mail childwelfare@ncsl.org