By Meghan McCann
How does your state pay for child welfare services?
NCSL’s new Child Welfare Financing 101 endeavors to help state legislators and legislative staff understand the various sources available to states and how they are spent in each state.
The largest source of funding dedicated to child welfare comes from the federal government via formula grants or as federal reimbursement for eligible programs like foster care. The largest sources are Titles IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act. Title IV-B includes the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services Program and the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program. Title IV-E includes Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, Guardianship Assistance and the John H. Chaffee Foster Care Independence programs.
In addition to Title IV-B and Title IV-E funds, which are dedicated to child welfare services, states also tap other federal funding streams, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Social Services Block Grant and Medicaid. These sources are considered nondedicated. States are allowed to use them for child welfare services but that they are also used for other purposes.
The variations among states is significant. Minnesota, California and Colorado, which use large amounts of local funds, while others don’t use any local funds. Another variation is how much states use Medicaid and TANF dollars, if at all. This 50-state compilation of data provides a snapshot of the funding in each state and provides a brief description of each funding stream.
Meghan McCann is a policy specialist with the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Children and Families Program. She covers child welfare issues.
Email Meghan.