 
Child Welfare
Region IV State Child Welfare Web Sites |
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Alabama |
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Florida |
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Georgia |
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Kentucky |
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Mississippi |
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North Carolina |
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South Carolina |
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Tennessee |
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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.
There were 513,000 children in foster care as of September 30, 2005 a decrease from 523,000 in September 2003. During FY 2005, 311,000 children entered foster care and 287,000 children exited foster care. 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. In FY 2005, 51,000 were adopted with public agency involvement and of these 45,590 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 to help in the transition to independent living. The John H. Chaffee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP) provides grants to states for education and employment assistance, training in daily living skills, individual and group counseling, housing, emotional support and assured connections to caring adults for older youth in foster care as well as youth 18-21 who have aged out of the foster care system.
The Educational and Training Vouchers Program (ETV) for Youths Aging out of Foster Care was added to the CFCIP in 2002. ETV provides resources specifically to meet the education and training needs of youth aging out of foster care. In addition to the existing CFCIP program, the law authorizes $44 million for payments to States for post secondary educational and training vouchers for youth as they transition to adulthood after the age of 18. This program makes available vouchers of up to $5,000 per year per youth for post secondary education and training for eligible youth. These programs are funded jointly by the federal and state governments. Monthly payments to families and institutions vary from state to state.
Promoting Safe and Stable Families
The primary goals of Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) are to prevent the unnecessary separation of children from their families, improve the quality of care and services to children and their families, and ensure permanency for children by reuniting them with their parents, by adoption or by another permanent living arrangement. States are to spend most of the funding for services that address: family support, family preservation, time-limited family reunification and adoption promotion and support.
The services are designed to help State child welfare agencies and eligible Indian tribes establish and operate integrated, preventive family preservation services and community-based family support services for families at risk or in crisis. Funds go directly to child welfare agencies and eligible Indian tribes to be used in accordance with their 5-year plans. Other grant funds are set aside for nationally funded evaluation, research, and training and technical assistance projects. In addition, funds are set-aside for court improvement programs.
Child Abuse and Neglect Programs
An estimated 899,000 children were victims of substantiated child abuse and neglect in 2005, and approximately 1,460 child fatalities from maltreatment were reported by the states. About 60% were cases of neglect, 16.6% physical abuse, 9.3% sexual abuse and 7.1% emotional maltreatment. 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 Office on Child Abuse and Neglect (OCAN), located within ACF, allocates child abuse and neglect funds appropriated by Congress and coordinate the federal government's activities in this field. In FY 2006, the funding to 48 states was $27,280,000.
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. The states have been authorized $325 million for each of the Federal fiscal years (FY) 2007 through 2011 in which States must spend funds according to a newly established program purpose. The new program purpose is to: protect and promote the welfare of all children; prevent the neglect, abuse or exploitation of children; support at-risk families through services which allow children to remain with their families or return to their families in a timely manner; promote the safety, permanence and well-being of children in foster care and adoptive families; and provide training, professional development and support to ensure a well-qualified workforce.
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 2006, funding for Adoption Opportunities is $27 million and for Abandoned Infants Assistance, it is $12 million.