The bill would authorize states to receive federal support under the Title IV-E foster care and permanency program for services and programs provided to children and their families that are intended to prevent the need for children to enter foster care, by allowing them to remain safely at home with parents, or with kin. At the same time, the bill would restrict the ability of states to claim support for children in foster care who are placed in group settings rather than in foster family homes. Additionally, the bill would extend funding authority for the child and family services programs authorized in Title IV-B of the Social Security Act and it would revise the purposes of, including eligibility for, the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP) to make them more consistent with the goal of helping all youth who experience foster care at an older age make a successful transition to adulthood. Programs authorized in Title IV-B and Title IV-E of the Social Security Act are administered by the Children's Bureau, which is 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). On June 15, 2016, the House Ways and Means Committee agreed, by unanimous voice vote, to report the bill (Chairman Brady's Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute) favorably to the full House. On June 16, 2016, Senator Hatch, with Senators Wyden, Grassley, and Bennet, introduced the Senate companion ( S. 3065 ) to the Family First Prevention Services Act, as ordered reported by the House Ways and Means Committee. On June 21, 2016, the full House considered and passed H.R. The bill has been widely praised by a diverse group of more than 50 national, state, and local organizations and agencies, including child welfare advocacy groups and agencies representing public child welfare administrators; substance abuse treatment and prevention administrators and providers; pediatricians; social workers; biological parents, kin caregivers, and foster and adoptive parents; and courts and judges, among others. CBO Cost Estimate

CBO estimates that H.R. 5456 would reduce federal direct spending by $66 million over the next 10 fiscal years, FY2017-FY2026. Although certain changes in the bill are expected to increase direct spending, especially related to expanding uses of Title IV-E program funding, CBO estimates those costs would be more than fully offset by other changes that would reduce spending under that same program. 5456 / S. 3065 . Definition of "Qualified Residential Treatment Program"

For purposes of the Title IV-E program, a qualified residential treatment program means a program that meets all of the following requirements:
has a trauma-informed treatment model designed to address the clinical or other needs of children with serious emotional or behavioral disorders or disturbances; is able to implement the specific treatment identified as necessary for a child placed there; has registered or licensed nursing and other licensed clinical staff who are onsite during business hours, available 24/7, and provide care within the scope of their practice (as defined by state law); facilitates outreach to the child's family members (including siblings) and appropriate participation and integration of family members in the child's treatment program; provides post-discharge planning and family-based supports for at least six months after a child's discharge from the treatment center; documents each of these outreach and treatment program activities, including how sibling connections are maintained, and maintains contact information of any known biological family and fictive kin of the child; and is licensed (in accordance with state standards for child care institutions that provide foster care) and accredited by one of three independent and not-for-profit accrediting organizations specified in the bill (or any other independent, not-for-profit accrediting organization approved by the HHS Secretary).
The Family First Prevention Services Act of 2016 (H.R. 5456 and S. 3065) would amend the child welfare programs authorized in the Social Security Act to allow states to receive open-ended federal support under Title IV-E for time-limited services and programs that are intended to prevent the need for children to enter foster care by allowing children to remain safely at home with parents, or with kin. This change would respond to long-standing concern by state administrators, child welfare advocates, and some policymakers that federal child welfare support is largely available only after a child is placed in foster care and that little resources are provided to strengthen and stabilize families to prevent children's removal to foster care.
At the same time, the bill would restrict the ability of states to claim support for children in foster care who are placed in group settings rather than in foster family homes. With limited exceptions, this change would restrict Title IV-E foster care maintenance payment support for children in foster care to those otherwise eligible children placed in foster family homes or those placed in a "qualified residential treatment program" that offers a "treatment model" designed to address the clinical or other needs of children with emotional or behavioral disorders. In its 2015 report on use of "congregate care" in child welfare, the federal Children's Bureau concluded that while there is an "appropriate role for congregate care placements in the continuum of foster care settings" a child's placement in such a setting "should be based on the specialized behavioral and mental health needs or clinical disabilities of children."
Additionally, the bill would extend funding authority for the child and family services programs authorized in Title IV-B of the Social Security Act and it would revise the purposes of, and eligibility for, the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP) to make them more consistent with the goal of helping all youth who experience foster care at an older age make a successful transition to adulthood.
H.R. 5456 was introduced on June 13, 2016, and was ordered reported by the House Ways and Means Committee (unanimous voice vote) on June 15, 2016 (with amendment). A companion to the bill was introduced in the Senate (S. 3065) on June 16, 2016. On June 21, 2016, the full House passed H.R. 5456 (by voice vote), as it had been reported by the House Ways and Means Committee. The bill has been widely praised by a diverse group of national, state, and local organizations and stakeholders, including child welfare advocacy groups and agencies representing public child welfare administrators; substance abuse treatment and prevention administrators and providers; pediatricians; social workers; biological parents, kin caregivers, and foster and adoptive parents; and courts and judges, among others.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the bill will decrease direct federal spending by $66 million across the next 10 fiscal years, FY2017-FY2026. Although certain changes in the bill are expected to increase direct spending, especially related to expanding uses of Title IV-E program funding for prevention services and programs, CBO estimates those costs would be more than fully offset by other changes that would reduce spending under that same program.
Programs authorized in Title IV-B and Title IV-E of the Social Security Act are administered by the Children's Bureau, which is 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).