The President's FY2016 budget seeks new authority under the federal foster care, adoption assistance, and kinship guardianship assistance program (authorized in Title IV-E of the Social Security Act) to support services intended to prevent children's entry to foster care and ensure appropriate care and treatment for those in foster care. It also proposes additional federal support for tribes to implement Title IV-E programs, makes some policy proposals related to permanency planning for children in care and serving youth who have "aged out" of care, and again proposes a requirement that child support payments be used only in a child's best interests. The Children's Bureau is the agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) that administers nearly all federal child welfare programs. Title IV-E Funding Request

Under the Title IV-E program, states are entitled to open-ended reimbursement for a part of the cost of providing to eligible children foster care, adoption assistance, and (in states that choose to provide it) kinship guardianship assistance. The FY2016 current law request for Title IV-E funding is $7.601 billion. This is $258 million more than funding expected to be used under the Title IV-E program for FY2015 ($7.343 billion). Proposed Law Funding Request

Apart from the request for additional funds to meet current law commitments, the Administration seeks $430 million in additional FY2016 Title IV-E budget authority to support various legislative proposals. Not all of this requested funding is expected to be spent in FY2016, however. Proposed Title IV-E Policy Changes and Estimated Costs

As mentioned earlier, the Administration seeks legislative authority to implement several new policies under the Title IV-E program. The combined cost (budget authority) of the proposals included in the President's FY2016 budget is estimated by HHS/ACF to be $430 million for FY2016 and $1.358 billion over 10 years. The proposals, along with some policy proposals that do not have any associated costs, are briefly described in the remainder of this report. Permit Title IV-E Support for Services to Prevent Entry, or Re-entry, to Foster Care

The Administration seeks authority to provide federal Title IV-E reimbursement for a part of the cost states incur in providing "evidence-based" or "evidence-informed" services to prevent the otherwise expected entry (or re-entry) of children into foster care. It estimated this proposal would have an initial one-year cost of $78 million in FY2016, but that across 10 years it would reduce Title IV-E spending by $69 million. The Administration estimates this proposal would cost $27 million in FY2016 and $114 million across 10 years. 112-34 ), Congress required state child welfare agencies to adopt specific protocols for the use of psychotropic medications for children in foster care. Among other things, this proposal would end the current law requirement that states return a portion of child support collected on behalf of children in foster care (who are Title IV-E eligible) to the federal government as reimbursement for a part of the cost of providing foster care maintenance payments to the child. With regard to the Title IV-E program, it is estimated to cost $45 million in FY2016 and $476 million across 10 years. Eliminate the Permanency Plan "Another Planned Permanent Living Arrangement" (APPLA)

The Administration proposes to eliminate APPLA as a permanency plan for any child in care. Under current law, as a condition of Title IV-E funding, states must ensure every child in foster care has a "permanency" plan designed to allow the child to be reunited with his/her family, or to find the child a new permanent family via adoption, legal guardianship, or placement with a fit and willing relative. Allow Certain States to Spend Chafee Service Funds for Youth Up to Age 23

The Administration would permit some states to use funding under the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP) to serve young people who were formerly in foster care up to the age of 23. The Administration proposes this increased flexibility only for those states that have taken the current law option to extend Title IV-E assistance to youth up to 21 years of age (as of February 2015, 22 states, including the District of Columbia, offer extended Title IV-E assistance), or for any state that provides comparable extended Title IV-E foster care assistance using state or other funding.
Under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, states are entitled to open-ended reimbursement for the cost of providing foster care, adoption assistance, and (in states that choose to provide it) kinship guardianship assistance. Additional mandatory funding is available, on a capped basis, for services to youth who "age out" of foster care, or are expected to, and for Tribal Title IV-E plan development and technical assistance. Each year the President's budget estimates the amount of funding necessary to meet federal commitments under Title IV-E based on current law and, if included in the budget, provides estimates related to proposed changes to the law. While the current law estimate reflects funding needed to support policies that have already been placed in statute, Congress would need to make changes to the law to enable the proposed policies (and any related spending) to be implemented.
For FY2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) estimates that, under current law, $7.601 billion will be needed to meet the costs of all Title IV-E program components (including those with open-ended funding and those with capped funding). The overall funding level is $258 million above what HHS/ACF expects to need under the program for FY2015 ($7.343 billion). The primary reasons HHS/ACF assumes a need for this additional FY2016 funding are expected growth in the number of children receiving Title IV-E foster care maintenance, adoption assistance, and guardianship assistance payments; and increased program administrative costs tied to implementation of new program requirements.
The Administration also seeks legislative authority to implement several new policies under the Title IV-E program. Combined, it estimates these policies would require an additional $430 million in Title IV-E budget authority in FY2016 and a total of $1.358 billion in additional funding across 10 years (FY2016-FY2025). Specifically, it seeks budget authority of
$30 million in FY2016 ($587 million across 10 years) to enable federal support for a part of the cost of providing services needed to prevent the entry or re-entry to foster care of children who are at imminent risk of this outcome; $78 million in FY2016 (but an estimated savings of $69 million across 10 years) to require states to meet new Title IV-E requirements before placing a child in a congregate care setting, while also providing enhanced Title IV-E support to expand the capacity of states to provide family-based care for children in foster care, including those with identified behavioral problems or clinical mental health concerns; $27 million in FY2016 ($114 million over 10 years) to offer enhanced Title IV-E support to enable tribes with approved Title IV-E plans to implement them; $250 million in FY2016 (total 10-year cost of $250 million) to address concerns about prescription of psychotropic medication for children in foster care (additional funding is sought under the Medicaid program as part of this same proposal); and $45 million in FY2016 ($476 million over 10 years) to ensure child support payments for children in foster care are used only in the child's best interest (and not as reimbursement to federal or state government).
Finally, the Administration also proposes two policy changes that do not have an associated cost (or savings): (1) requiring states to have a permanency plan for each child in foster care that involves reunification, adoption, legal guardianship, or placement with a fit and willing relative (by eliminating entirely the permanency plan option known as "another planned permanent living arrangement," or APPLA); and (2) permitting states that offer foster care assistance to youth up to age 21 to spend Chafee Foster Care Independence (CFCIP) funds for otherwise eligible youth up to age 23 (current law limits the use of these funds to otherwise eligible youth up to age 21).