Child and Family Services State Grants
Background and Purposes
The Child and Family Services programs provide grants to States and Indian Tribes to help public welfare agencies improve their child welfare services with the goal of keeping families together. Services are available to children and their families without regard to income. The authorizing legislation for these grants is Title IV-B, subparts 1 and 2, of the Social Security Act (the Act), as amended, and governing regulations can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations at 45 CFR 1355 and 1357.
Program Objectives
Title IV-B, subpart 1objectives: The primary goals of the Child Welfare Services (CWS) program is to help State public welfare agencies, Indian Tribes and Territories to:
- (1) Protect and promote the welfare and safety of all children, including individuals with disabilities; homeless, dependent, or neglected children;
- Preventing or remedying, or assisting in the solution of problems which may result in the neglect, abuse, exploitation, or delinquency of children;
- Preventing the unnecessary separation of children from their families by identifying family problems and assisting families in resolving their problems and preventing the breakup of the family where the prevention of child removal is desirable and possible;
- Restoring to their families children who have been removed and may be safely returned, by the provision of services to the child and the family;
- Assuring adequate care of children away from their homes, in cases where the child cannot be returned home or cannot be placed for adoption; and
- Placing children in suitable adoptive homes, in cases where restoration to the biological family is not possible or appropriate.
Title IV-B, subpart 2 objectives: The Promoting Safe and Stable Families program provides funds to States and some Tribes to provide family support, family preservation, time-limited family reunification services, and services to promote and support adoptions. These services are primarily aimed at preventing the risk of abuse and promoting nurturing families, assisting families at risk of having a child removed from their home, promoting the timely return of a child to his/her home, and if returning home is not an option, placement of a child in a permanent setting with services that support the child's permanent family.
Other parts of the program include the Court Improvement Program which provides grants to help State courts improve their handling of proceedings relating to foster care and adoption. After an initial assessment of court practices and policies, States use these funds for improvements and reform activities. Typical activities include development of mediation programs, joint Tribal and State court coordination activities, joint agency-court training, one judge / one family models, time-specific docketing, legislative change and many others. There is also some discretionary grant funding that is announced through the Federal Register to demonstrate, research and evaluate areas of interest to the Children's Bureau in learning more about promoting safe and stable families.
To be eligible for its allocated funds of both programs, a State or Tribe must have an approved five-year Child and Families Services Plan (with yearly updates). The plan describes the publicly-funded State child and family services continuum and states the goals and objectives of the State's Child Welfare system both for improved outcomes for the safety, permanency and well-being of children and families and for service delivery system reform; specifies the services and other activities that will be undertaken to carry out the goals and objectives; and includes plans for program improvement and allocation of resources.
How Funds May Be Used
The two programs provide state directed services that include preventive intervention so that, if possible, children will not have to be removed from their homes. If children cannot remain at home, States provide services to develop, and place children in, alternative homes such as foster care or adoption homes. In addition, reunification services are available to encourage the return home, when appropriate, of children who have been removed from their families.
Child and Family program services are different by state and are determined by State statutes, policies and procedures. Most States contract some services locally to providers qualified to perform the needed prevention service.
Contact Information
The National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, a service of the Children's Bureau, is a national resource for professionals and others seeking information on child abuse and neglect and child welfare. The Clearinghouse maintains an online searchable database and publishes summary documents related to select State child abuse and neglect, child welfare, and domestic violence laws.
Where local groups and individuals can find out about local child welfare services:
National Clearinghouse on child Abuse and Neglect Information: http://www.calib.com/nccanch/prevention/resources.cfm;
1-800-394-3366;
or nccanch@calib.com
Children's Bureau:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/programs/
Geneva Ware Rice, 202-205-8354