Children and Youth

Foster Care/Adoption Assistance/Independent Living

For those children who cannot remain safely in their homes, foster care
provides a stable environment that assures a child's safety and
well-being while their parents attempt to resolve the problems that led
to the out of home placement, or when the family cannot be reunified,
until the child can be placed permanently with an adoptive family.
Foster Care and Adoption Assistance programs provide federal
matching funds to states which directly administer the programs.

Children in foster care numbered more than 560,000 in
September1998, up from 340,000 in 1988. Most of these children will
return to their homes, but more than 120,000 cannot return safely.
Many of these children are considered to have "special needs" because
they are older, members of minority or sibling groups, or physically,
mentally or emotionally disabled. They often need special assistance in
finding adoptive homes. Currently, over 100,000 children receive Title
IV-E adoption assistance, which is a subsidy to families who adopt
special needs children.

Assistance is also available to current or former foster care youths age
16 and older to help in the transition to independent living. The
Independent Living program provides grants to states for education
and employment assistance, training in daily living skills, and individual
and group counseling.

In FY 2000, approximately $4.5 billion is available for Foster Care, $1
billion for Adoption Assistance, and $140 million for Independent
Living. In FY 2001, $5 billion is available for Foster Care and $1.2
billion for Adoption Assistance. In December 1999, "The Foster Care
Independence Act if 1999," was signed into law to help ensure that
young people who leave foster care get the tools they need to make the
most of their lives. The Act doubles the annual funding for the
Independent Living program and invests $350 million more over five
years in these services. These programs are funded jointly by the
federal and state governments. Monthly payments to families and
institutions vary from state to state.

Family Preservation and Family Support

Family Preservation and Family Support Services grants focus on
strengthening families, preventing abuse, and protecting children. These
grants help state child welfare agencies and Indian tribes operate
preventive family preservation services and community-based family
support services for families at risk or in crisis.

Family Support Services, often provided at the local level by
community-based organizations, are voluntary, preventive activities to
help families nurture their children. They include respite care for parents
and caregivers, early developmental screening of children to identify
their needs, tutoring, health education for youth, and a range of
center-based activities. Family Preservation Services typically are
activities that help families alleviate crises that might lead to
out-of-home placements of children because of abuse, neglect, or
parental inability to care for their children. Funding for Family
Preservation and Family Support Services is $295 million in FY 2000.
For FY 2001, the Administration requests $305 million for these
services.

Child Abuse and Neglect Programs

Just over 900,000 children were victims of substantiated child abuse
and neglect in 1998, and 1,100 child fatalities from maltreatment were
reported by the states. About half were cases of neglect, a quarter
physical abuse, and about one in seven sexual abuse. Maltreated
children were found in all income, racial, and ethnic groups, and
incidence rates are similar in urban, suburban, and rural communities.

The Child Abuse and Neglect program funds states and grantees in
several different programs authorized by the Child Abuse and Neglect
Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). The programs provide funds
and technical assistance for prevention and intervention; support
research, service improvement programs, and demonstration projects;
collect data about the problem, its consequences, and the effectiveness
of prevention and treatment services; facilitate information
dissemination and exchange; and support policy development and
professional education.

The Child Abuse and Neglect program provides grants to states to
improve and increase prevention and treatment activities. The National
Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN), located within ACF,
allocates child abuse and neglect funds appropriated by Congress and
coordinates the federal government's activities in this field. In FY 2000,
$72 million was available for child abuse and neglect activities.

Child Welfare Services

Child Welfare Services help state public welfare agencies keep families
together. They are available to children and their families without regard
to income. State services include: preventive intervention aimed at
keeping children within the home; services to develop alternative
placements, such as foster care or adoption, if children cannot remain
at home; and reunification services so children can return home if
possible.

In FY 2000, approximately $292 million was available for Child
Welfare Services. Each state receives a base amount of $70,000;
additional funds are distributed by formula.

HHS/ACF has other programs that address the welfare of children at
risk. The Adoption Opportunities program eliminates barriers to
adoption and helps to find permanent homes for children, particularly
those with special needs, who would benefit by adoption. The
Abandoned Infants Assistance program provides grants to help identify
ways to prevent the abandonment of children in hospitals and to
identify and address the needs of infants and young children,
particularly those with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
and prenatal drug or alcohol exposure. In FY 2000, funding for
Adoption Opportunities is $27 million; for Abandoned Infants
Assistance, it is $12 million. In FY 2001, funding for Adoption
Opportunities is $27 million; for Abandoned Infants Assistance, it is
$12 million.

Head Start

Head Start is a national program which provides comprehensive
developmental services for America's low-income, preschool children
ages three to five and social services for their families. Approximately
1,400 community-based nonprofit organizations and school systems
develop unique and innovative programs to meet specific needs.

Grants to conduct Head Start programs are awarded to local public or
private, nonprofit agencies. At least 10 percent of the enrollment
opportunities in each program must be made available to children with
disabilities.

In FY 1999, the enrollment of approximately 830,000 preschool
children from low- income families was made possible by grants
amounting to $4.66 billion. Funding for Head Start services totals
$3.867 in FY 2000. Since its inception in 1965, more than 15.3 million
children and families have received services.

President Clinton's signing of the Head Start Act Amendments of 1994
also established the new Early Head Start program, which expands the
benefits of early childhood development to low income families with
children under three and to pregnant women. Services include quality
early education in and out of the home; home visits; parent education,
including parent-child activities; comprehensive health services,
including services to women before, during, and after pregnancy;
nutrition; and case management and peer support groups for parents.
Projects must coordinate with local Head Start programs to ensure
continuity of services for children and families.

In FY 1999, Early Head Start funds were more than 5 percent of the
total Head Start appropriation, or $340 million.

Child Care and Development Fund

The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) has made available
$3.45 billion to states in FY 2000. Tribes received approximately $71
million for FY 2000. This program, authorized by the Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, PL
104-193, assists low-income families receiving temporary public
assistance, and those transitioning from public assistance in obtaining
child care so they can work or attend training/education. The award
represents an increase in child care funding of approximately $372
million for States and Tribes over FY 1999.

The Child Care and Development Fund program has changed federally
subsidized child care programs in States allowing them to serve families
through a single, integrated child care system. All child care funding is
now combined under the Child Care and Development Block Grant
(CCDBG) Act. Revised final CCDBG regulations which apply to the
combined Child Care and Development Fund program were issued on
July 24, 1998.

A minimum of four percent of CCDF funds must be used to improve
the quality of child care and offer additional services to parents, such as
resource and referral counseling regarding the selection of appropriate
child care providers to meet their child's needs. An additional set aside
of $50 million was made available to improve the quality of care for
infants and toddlers. Congress made available $19 million to improve
school-age care and Child Care Resource and Referral Services.

All States and Tribes must submit comprehensive plans every two
years.

Child Support Enforcement Program

The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program is a federal/state
partnership which promotes family self-sufficiency by securing regular
and timely child support payments. State CSE programs locate
parents, establish paternity, establish and enforce support orders, and
collect payments.

Welfare reform legislation that President Clinton signed in 1996
provides strong measures for ensuring that children receive the support
due them; tough new penalties, such as license revocation and seizure
of assets, will be available when child support obligations are not met.
The 1996 legislation also recognizes the importance to children of
access to their noncustodial parent.

Child Support Enforcement services are available automatically for
families receiving assistance under the new Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) programs and they are also available to
families not receiving TANF who apply. During FY 1999, an estimated
$15.5 billion in child support payments was collected. In FY 1998,
paternity was established for more than 1.5 million children through the
CSE program and voluntary in-hospital acknowledgments, providing
vital links between the children and their noncustodial parents. Almost
1.1 million new child support orders were established through the
program in FY 1998. The Federal government collected a record $1.3
billion in delinquent child support by intercepting income tax refunds of
non-paying parents for tax year 1998.

Youth Programs

Enacted in 1974 under the Runaway Youth Act, and subsequently
expanded to include homeless youth, this program was created in
response to widespread concern about the alarming number of
runaways who cross state lines and are exposed to exploitation. Today
an estimated 500,000 to 1.5 million young people run away from or
are forced out of their homes, and an estimated 200,000 are homeless.

Grants to public and private agencies provide short-term shelter, crisis
intervention, and family reunification services to runaway and homeless
youth and their families. Each year, a network of 400 Basic Centers
nationwide provides shelter, food, clothing, counseling, and other
support services to approximately 80,000 young people age 11 to 18.
In FY 1997, 66 percent of the youth receiving these services were
reunited with their families or guardians while approximately one-third
were placed in other appropriate living arrangements.

The national Runaway and Homeless Youth Program also
encompasses the Transitional Living Program for Homeless Youth,
which assists homeless youth aged 16 to 21 in making the transition to
independent living. For FY 2000, a total of $64.1 million is available to
support Basic Center and Transitional Living programs.