	Introduction

Foster care is a temporary living arrangement for children who cannot remain safely in their own homes. Under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, states, territories, and tribes who meet those requirements are entitled to claim partial federal reimbursement for the cost of providing foster care, adoption assistance, and kinship guardianship assistance to children who meet federal eligibility criteria. The Title IV-E program, as it is commonly called, provides support for monthly payments on behalf of eligible children, as well as funds for related case management activities, training, data collection, and other costs of program administration. In FY2011, states (including the 50 states and the District of Columbia) spent $12.4 billion under the Title IV-E program, and received federal reimbursement of $6.7 billion, or 54% of that spending. At the federal level, the Title IV-E program is administered by the Children's Bureau, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF). Roughly two-thirds of the Title IV-E dollars spent in FY2011 supported provision of foster care. Title IV-E Supports Children in Foster Care, Adoption, and Kinship Guardianship

The Title IV-E program funds foster care maintenance payments to provide direct financial assistance for children who are placed in foster care for their safety. These are primarily focused on ensuring the safety, permanence, and well-being of children in foster care. Although Title IV-E administrative plan requirements mostly address meeting the needs of children while they are in foster care, those requirements are meaningful to other children served under the program because most children who receive Title IV-E adoption assistance, and all of those who receive Title IV-E kinship guardianship assistance, were previously in foster care. Spending for maintenance payments represented just 29% of all Title IV-E foster care spending for FY2011 while spending for general foster care administrative purposes under the Title IV-E program represented close to half of the total (46%). Title IV-E Foster Care Maintenance Payments

Federal support is available to states for 50%–83% of the cost of providing foster care maintenance payments to eligible children in foster care. Case Planning and Case Management

More than half of all state and federal Title IV-E foster care administrative spending in FY2011 (53%, or $2.0 billion in FY2011) was for child-specific case planning and management activities. In FY2006, Title IV-E foster care administrative costs comprised 55% of all Title IV-E foster care spending, compared to 35% for Title IV-E foster care maintenance payments. The increased number of children adopted from foster care helped to drive significant growth in the number of children who receive Title IV-E adoption assistance. As of FY1997, there were about 146,400 children receiving Title IV-E adoption assistance on an average monthly basis. Membership in a sibling group, or having a diagnosed medical condition or physical, social or emotional disability, represents the primary factor or condition identified for a little more than half of all children determined to have special needs. Under provisions of Title IV-E, any child who is eligible for Title IV-E adoption assistance payments is also eligible for Medicaid. Sibling of a Child Who Is Eligible for Title IV-E Kinship Guardianship Assistance

A state may, but is not required to, provide Title IV-E kinship guardianship assistance to a sibling of a child who is eligible for that assistance, provided the sibling is placed with the same relative guardian as the eligible child and both the relative guardian and the Title IV-E agency agree that this joint placement is appropriate for the siblings. The agreement must, at a minimum, stipulate that it will remain in effect without regard to the state in which the relative guardian lives and must specify: (1) the amount of, and manner in which, the kinship guardianship assistance payments will be made on the child's behalf, including the manner in which the amount may, in consultation with the relative guardian, be adjusted periodically based on the circumstances of the relative and the needs of the child; and (2) the additional services and assistance the child and relative will be eligible for under the agreement, including the procedure the relative guardian may use to apply for additional services as needed; and (3) that the state will pay all non-recurring expenses associated with obtaining legal guardianship of the child, or $2,000 of those expenses, whichever is less.
Under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, states, territories, and tribes are entitled to claim partial federal reimbursement for the cost of providing foster care, adoption assistance, and kinship guardianship assistance to children who meet federal eligibility criteria. The Title IV-E program, as it is commonly called, provides support for monthly payments on behalf of eligible children, as well as funds for related case management activities, training, data collection, and other costs of program administration. In FY2011, states (including the 50 states and the District of Columbia) spent $12.4 billion under the Title IV-E program and received federal reimbursement of $6.7 billion, or 54% of that spending. At the federal level, the Title IV-E program is administered by the Children's Bureau, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
More than two-thirds of all Title IV-E spending supports provision of foster care, which is a temporary living arrangement for children who cannot remain safely in their own homes. Title IV-E foster care maintenance payments are subsidies provided to foster caregivers to support the daily living costs of eligible children. Title IV-E program administration primarily supports caseworker and agency efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of each child in foster care and to plan for, and achieve, permanency for them via family reunification, adoption, or legal guardianship. Just 29% of the $8.3 billion in total (state and federal) Title IV-E foster care spending for FY2011 was used for maintenance payments, while close to half (46%) of those Title IV-E foster care dollars supported program administration (primarily for case planning and case management).
Close to one-third of all Title IV-E spending (state and federal) supports children in permanent adoption or guardianship placements. Title IV-E adoption assistance payments are monthly subsidies provided for eligible adopted children (most of whom were previously in foster care), for whom the state determined they could not be returned home and that there was a condition or factor that precluded their adoption without assistance (e.g., age, medical condition, or membership in a sibling group). Kinship guardianship assistance payments are ongoing subsidies for eligible children placed with a legal relative guardian, for whom returning home from foster care is not possible or appropriate and for whom the agency also determines adoption is not appropriate. In FY2011, more than 80% of the total spending for Title IV-E adoption assistance ($4.0 billion) and Title IV-E kinship guardianship assistance ($51 million) supported ongoing subsidies for eligible children.
States receiving Title IV-E funding are required to provide foster care and adoption assistance to eligible children. They may also choose to provide kinship guardianship assistance to all eligible children. Federal eligibility for all types of Title IV-E assistance is limited by age. Additional criteria vary by the kind of assistance but often require children to have been removed from low income households. Each month during FY2011, an average of 168,400 children received a Title IV-E foster care maintenance payment and 413,800 received Title IV-E adoption assistance. On a national basis, children who received Title IV-E foster care maintenance payments comprise less than half of all children in foster care and about one-quarter of those receiving ongoing adoption subsidies.
The number of children in foster care overall, as well as the number of those children receiving Title IV-E foster care support has been in decline for most of the past decade; the amount of money spent for Title IV-E foster care is also declining. During most of the same time period, however, the number of children receiving Title IV-E adoption assistance and the amount of spending for Title IV-E adoption assistance grew rapidly. Although representing a small part of the program now, both the number of children assisted via Title IV-E kinship guardianship assistance and the amount of spending for that purpose are expected to increase.