Senate Title IV-E Waiver Bill Signals Child Welfare Reform Priorities

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), acting as chairman and ranking Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee, have introduced The State Child Welfare Innovation Act (S.1013).

The bill would extend authority for Title IV-E waiver demonstration projects.

Both Senators praised waivers as a vehicle for flexible funding, which gives states the ability to try new approaches.

But, both also have made statements about the need for more general child welfare reform. The legislation points to a number of possible reform priorities.

The original intent of the waiver program was to provide a means for states to test promising approaches. Since waivers have been in place, some states have produced programs with promising results, while others have had less success.

Baucus indicated in his statement that the original intent of waivers is being expanded: “It’s important for us to understand that the goal of reauthorizing child welfare waivers is not simply to develop and test new service delivery models, but to put in place sound practices.”

The legislation proposes three main goals:

• Permanency
• Improved outcomes
• Maltreatment prevention

To receive waivers, states must implement three of the following Program Improvement Policies (they may choose only one if two have already been in place since the passage of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008):

• A bill of rights for children in foster care
• A plan for meeting the health and mental health needs for children in foster care
• Procedures and protocols for educational stability
• Kinship guardianship assistance agreements
• Procedures to protect children from inappropriate use of psychotropic medication
• A plan ensuring appropriate congregate care and reducing use of such placement
• Plan to increase kinship guardian adoption and sibling placements
• Plan to improve recruitment and retention of high quality foster families trained to assist children in achieving permanency
• Procedures to assist youth transitioning out of foster care
• Procedures for engaging youth over 16 years in their transition plans, including guidance and services to help reconnect the youth with their biological families, when appropriate
• One or more prevention program, such as intensive family finding, kinship navigator programs, family counseling, family based substance abuse treatment programs, and domestic violence prevention

Another indication that waivers are being viewed as more than a laboratory for promising practice is the relaxation of the evaluation standard. While states would still be required to have their programs independently evaluated, they would no longer be required to adhere to the rigorous random design standard.

The bill changes the current law by shortening waiver projects from five to three years and requiring an accounting of funds used to support the programs.

States would be required to account for federal, state, local, and private funds (except those used as a IV-E match) used in the two years before the application and during the life of the project.

A bill pending in the U.S. House also requires the states to provide an accounting of funds used, but otherwise substantially continues current law.

Baucus and Hatch say they hope to consider the bill in committee soon.