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NCSL Child Welfare Policy Update
State Response to the Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2008
Tribal Foster Care Provision


The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (H.R. 6893/P.L. 110-351) was signed on Oct. 7, 2008. This law helps to: connect foster children with their relatives; better coordinate the health care and education of foster children; support permanent families through relative guardianship; and enhance adoption subsidies and supports to older youth in foster care. To view a summary of the act, click here.


Background

Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in 1978. ICWA is designed to protect the best interests of Indian children and promote the stability and security of Indian tribes and Native families by granting jurisdiction to the tribe in child custody matters involving Indian children and by creating a preference system for foster and adoptive homes designed to keep Indian children in an Indian family whenever possible.

Tribal provisions put tribal adoption and foster care one step closer to being on equal footing with states, giving tribes the ability to provide their children with culturally appropriate care.

Tribal Foster Care Provision in the Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2008:

The Act seeks to assure that there is equitable access for foster care and adoption services for Indian children in tribal areas. All Indian tribes are allowed direct access to IV-E funds which includes services to support foster care, adoption, and independent living. The legislation contains provisions that would provide new funding for technical assistance to tribes who seek to operate the Title IV-E program and onetime start up grants of up to $300,000 each year for a maximum of two years. Tribes are made eligible to receive a direct allocation from the federal government from the John H. Chafee Independence Program which would be calculated based upon the percentage of children in the state that are under a tribe’s custody and would be a deduction from the state’s allocation.
 

 

TRIBAL FOSTER CARE PROVISION OF THE

FOSTERING CONNECTIONS TO SUCCESS ACT OF 2008

STATE & BILL

SUMMARY (2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009)

  2012
Michigan
SB 1232, Act 565
(5) The department shall exercise due diligence to determine, document, and contact the Indian child's extended family members in accordance with the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, Public Law 110-351. If applicable, determinations and documentation should be conducted in consultation with the child or parent's tribe.

 

2011

 

No Tribal Foster Care Provisions Enacted

 

2010

 

No Tribal Foster Care Provisions Enacted

 

2009

California

AB 770, Chap.124

Maximizes the opportunities for Indian tribes to operate foster care programs for Indian children pursuant to the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008; requires the Department of Social Services to modify the state foster care plan to that end.

Indiana

SB 365, P.L. 131

 

Section 28: Requires the department to negotiate with any Indian tribe, tribal organization or tribal consortium in the state that requests to develop an agreement with the state to administer all or part of title IV-E of the federal Social Security Act on behalf of Indian children who are under the authority of the tribe, tribal organization or tribal consortium.

Minnesota

HB 1298, Chap. 88

Increases county program aid payable to Beltrami County in the calendar year 2009 to be used by the county to the governing body of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians for the cost of implementing the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.

 

 

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