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Date: Friday, Feb. 14, 1997 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Michael Kharfen (202)401-9215
The announcement was made during a White House Valentine's Day event, as part of President's remarks on the administration's new adoption initiative.
Ohio will use funds currently invested in out-of-home care to develop community based services which will keep children safe and help families resolve problems. The goal is to help families earlier and to better manage costs.
"President Clinton is committed to supporting innovative projects to protect children and strengthen families. We are excited by Ohio's exciting new approach to providing important child welfare services," said HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala. "For the first time in the country, Ohio will use federal dollars to apply managed care principles to child welfare services to reduce program and administrative costs for foster care, allowing the state to invest in services for the best interest of children."
In this dramatic new managed care approach, federal and state foster care and administrative funds will be combined with county funds into a fixed amount for each participating county. With this fixed amount, counties will provide all the services needed by children and families in their child welfare system. Counties will have the financial and regulatory flexibility to develop new program approaches and incentives in order to improve performance and reduce costs. As the counties insure the protection of children and services for families with fewer funds spent for foster care, the county will be able to reinvest savings in other child welfare services.
The counties will focus on early intervention efforts with families to prevent child abuse or neglect. Other services could include intensive case management, respite care, parenting skills and family counseling. Under the demonstration, the state will use title IV-E foster care funds for these services. Previously, these funds could be used primarily to pay for the room and board of children in out-of-home care.
"Ohio's promising plan offers two significant opportunities to improve child welfare services: better management of public funds and increased local flexibility," said Olivia Golden, principal deputy assistant secretary for children and families. "Using these opportunities, this project can prove that more efficient and effective services can provide better outcomes for children and their families."
The demonstration will operate for five years and include a rigorous evaluation.