Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I am
pleased to present the President's budget request for the
Administration for Children and Families (ACF) for FY
1998. I am accompanied by Dennis Williams, Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Budget for the Department.
President Clinton has presented to Congress a budget
which addresses the concerns of Americans, serves their
interests, and creates opportunity; a budget that keeps
faith with the long-standing commitments of this
Department. In keeping with this Administration's policy
to increase support for programs that promote economic
security and independence and healthy development for our
children, while working toward more efficient government,
our increases are targeted in areas that have produced
significant payoffs.
The FY 1998 budget for the Administration for
Children and Families is $37 billion, of which $15 billion
is requested in new budget authority. The remaining
amount is available through the Personal Responsibility
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 which
appropriated $19 billion, and $3 billion of available
carryover balances in entitlement programs.
This budget meets the challenge of continuing
investments which will lead to future service
improvements, costs savings, and ultimately citizens who
are more independent. In a time of very tight resources,
we are seeking increases for Head Start, the Child Care
and Development Block Grant and the Violent Crime
Reduction programs. In addition, we are requesting funds
to address the urgent need to find permanent homes for
children who too often remain in the foster care system
for many years, with a goal of 54,000 children adopted or
placed in other permanent settings in the year 2002.
DISCRETIONARY PROGRAMS
The FY 1998 budget request includes $8 billion for
ACF discretionary programs.
To create a positive future, we must build on
people's strengths, hopes, and successes, and act together
to ensure appropriate and full opportunities to grow,
learn and thrive for all our children and youth. We must,
as well, create stability and economic security for our
families and communities.
While the Administration for Children and Families
funds a wide range of discretionary programs, over 65
percent of ACF's discretionary spending supports programs
serving young children through the Head Start and the
Child Care and Development Block Grant programs. I would
like to take this opportunity to highlight a few of our
key programmatic initiatives.
Head Start
The Head Start program gives children who are the
most at risk a better chance of learning and success in
life. In FY 1998, we are requesting $4.3 billion, a $324
million increase. This level will support an additional
36,000 children for total enrollment of 836,000 children
and their families. This increase continues to move us
toward the President's goal of providing services to 1
million children by the year 2002.
Because early investment in children gives them the
best chance of continued success, our FY 1998 request also
continues our commitment to the Early Head Start program
increasing 1997 enrollment of 27,000 children by 8,000
infants and toddlers.
In addition, this investment in the Head Start
program builds on our success over the past few years in
ensuring quality throughout the program. The performance
of Head Start grantees continues to be closely assessed.
Funds will be targeted to provide training and technical
assistance to poorly performing grantees. If grantees are
found to have deficiencies which are not corrected within
agreed-upon time frames, HHS terminates their Head Start
grant and appoints a replacement agency to serve that
community.
Child Care and Development Block Grant
The best safety net for our children is - and always
will be - strong families. And, whether they are
struggling to get jobs or keep them, we know that families
need quality child care to keep their children safe. In
FY 1997 Congress appropriated $937 for FY 1998 Child Care
and Development Block Grant funding. We are requesting an
additional $63 million for FY 1998, the amount needed to
fund the program at its full authorized discretionary
level of $1 billion. This amount, combined with the $2.1
billion provided in the Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Act of 1996, will further the Administration's
commitment to supporting working families and moving
families from welfare to work.
As welfare reform is implemented, states will face
increased pressures to provide child care to support the
new work participation requirements. Additional child
care dollars will provide critical support to State'
efforts to expand services while continuing their
commitment to providing quality child care services.
Nevertheless, even at this level, we anticipate a
shortfall in funding for needed child care assistance as
states continue to struggle to meet growing demands for
child care for working poor families.
Approximately 690,000 children are currently served
by the Child Care and Development Block Grant. Child Care
funds currently available for the working poor, however,
reach only a relatively small percentage of the estimated
9 million children in families with working parents that
could be eligible for Child Care and Development Block
Grant funds. On average, poor families pay 18% of their
income on child care. In December 1994 the General
Accounting Office reported that the availability of
affordable child care is a decisive factor allowing low-income mothers to work.
The Administration's FY 1998 request will allow
States to serve more families - keeping families off
welfare and giving parents peace of mind, knowing that
their children are safe and healthy in child care. We
must continue to expand child care opportunities to those
working parents who are struggling to remain out of the
welfare system. We must continue to build the quality of
those opportunities so that children are in care that is
safe, nurturing, and supportive of their development. As
we see welfare reform efforts require more and more
parents to work, we must not abandon them in their efforts
to provide care for their children.
Child Welfare and Child Protection
In addition, this budget reflects a strong
Administration commitment to the safety, permanence, and
well-being of children who have been abused or neglected
or are in danger of abuse or neglect. Each year, millions
of children are the subject of a report of abuse or
neglect. About 40% of these reports are substantiated,
affecting nearly 1 million children a year. At the end of
1995, over 450,000 children were in foster care, an
increase of almost 42% since 1988. While many of these
children will return home, nearly 100,000 will not. These
are large numbers, and the children behind these numbers
are our most vulnerable children; children whose safety,
well-being, and healthy development depend on how well our
services respond to them and their families.
The Administration seeks to improve this situation
through a major Adoption Initiative whose goal is to
double the number of children who are adopted from the
foster care system or placed in other permanent settings
in 2002. This will increase the number of children
adopted or placed from 27,000 in 1996 to our goal of
54,000 in 2002. In partnership with the States, we will
identify barriers to permanent placements, set individual
State goals for each year, and reward successful
performance and raise public awareness.
Programs to Reduce Violent Crime
In an effort to reduce the unacceptable violence that
threatens all of us and cuts short too many lives, our FY
1998 request includes $99 million. These funds include
$13 million for the Community Schools Youth Services and
Supervision Grant Program which provide communities with
resources to develop, coordinate, and deliver academic
enrichment and job training and employment activities
which promote the positive and healthy development of
youth, provide links to caring adults, and develop family
and community support in communities beset by crime and
violence; $70 million for the Family Violence Program,
including battered women's shelters, which provide
immediate assistance to victims of violence and their
dependents; and $1 million will continue the activities of
the National Domestic Violence Hotline. This national,
24-hour, toll-free hotline was first funded in FY 1995 and
began providing crisis assistance, counseling, and local
shelter referrals across the country on February 21, 1996.
Over 72,000 calls have been answered since the hotline
became operational.
ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS
Entitlement programs represent $26.6 billion of the
$35 billion budget for the Administration for Children and
Families. As a part of welfare reform, Congress
preappropriated $19 billion of the $26.6 billion needed in
FY 1998. New FY 1998 budget authority requested for
entitlement programs is $7.6 billion.
Last summer we made a new beginning on one of our
nation's most vexing problems: the welfare system. We
have begun to help many people in our national community
to help themselves. The children of welfare are more
likely to drop out of school, to run afoul of the law, to
become teen parents, to raise their own children on
welfare. The system no longer will fail these children
and their families, trapping many of them in a cycle of
dependency. The system will help people to move from
welfare to work. It will do so by requiring work of every
able-bodied person, by protecting children, by providing
child care, and by promoting parental responsibility
through tougher child support enforcement.
We have been working closely with States as they
tailor reform plans that work for their communities. To
date we have certified new welfare reform plans for XX
states.
Conclusion
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be happy to answer
any questions you and the committee may have at this time.