States Should Use New Guidance to Stop Charging Parents for Foster Care, Prioritize Family Reunification
End Notes
[1] Children’s Bureau, Office of the Administration for Children & Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Child Welfare Policy Manual, “8.4C Title IV-E, General Title IV-E Requirements, Child Support,” June 8, 2022, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cwpm/public_html/programs/cb/laws_policies/laws/cwpm/policy_dsp.jsp?citID=170&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cwpmqaCB060322; Aysha E. Schomburg and Tanguler Gray, Joint Letter Regarding Assignment of Rights of Child Support for Children in Foster Care, Administration for Children & Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, July 29, 2022, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cb/letter_regarding_assignment_rights_child_support_for_children_foster_care.pdf.
[2] Children’s Bureau, Office of the Administration for Children & Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Title IV-E Foster Care Eligibility Reviews Fact Sheet,” https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/fact-sheet/title-iv-e-foster-care-eligibility-reviews-fact-sheet.
[3] Federal Register, “Federal Financial Participation in State Assistance Expenditures; Federal Matching Shares for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and Aid to Needy Aged, Blind, or Disabled Persons for October 1, 2021 Through September 30, 2022,” National Archives, Table 1, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/11/30/2020-26387/federal-financial-participation-in-state-assistance-expenditures-federal-matching-shares-for. Congressional Research Service, “Medicaid’s Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP),” updated July 29, 2020, https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R43847.
[4] Office of Child Support Enforcement, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Recoupment of the Federal Share of Collections Made on Behalf of Children in Foster Care,” current as of November 26, 2021, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/recoupment-federal-share-collections-made-behalf-children-foster-care.
[5] Children’s Bureau, “8.4C Title IV-E, General Title IV-E Requirements, Child Support.”
[6] Erin Sugrue, “Evidence Base For Avoiding Family Separation in Child Welfare Practice: An Analysis of Current Research,” Alia Innovations, July 2019, https://www.aliainnovations.org/research-brief?hsLang=en; Joseph J. Doyle, Jr., “Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care,” American Economic Review, Vol. 97, No. 5, December 2007, https://www.jstor.org/stable/30034577.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Carol Chellew, Jennifer L. Noyes, and Rebekah Selekman, “Child Support Referrals for Out-of-Home Placements: A Review of Policy and Practice,” Institute for Research on Poverty, October 2012, https://www.irp.wisc.edu/research1/childsup/cspolicy/pdfs/2011-12/Task6_CS_2011-12_CSPII.pdf.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Maria Cancian et al., “Making parents pay: The unintended consequences of charging parents for foster care,” University of Wisconsin-Madison, Institute for Research on Poverty, October 13, 2016, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309200041_Making_parents_pay_The_unintended_consequences_of_charging_parents_for_foster_care.
[11] Schomburg and Gray, op. cit.
[12] Melissa Dolan et al., “NSCAW II Baseline Report: Introduction to NSCAW II,” Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, August 2011, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/opre/nscaw2_intro.pdf.
[13] Jennifer Hook et al., “Trajectories of economic disconnection among families in the child welfare system,” Social Problems, Vol. 63, No. 2, May, 2016, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33883781/; Ji Young Kang et al., “Family earnings and transfer income among families involved with child welfare,” Child Welfare, Vol. 97, No. 1, 2019, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48623577.
[14] Trish Skophammer, “Child support collections to offset out of home placement costs: A study of cost effectiveness,” Dissertation for The Graduate School of Hamline University, June 2017, https://www.dshs.wa.gov/sites/default/files/ESA/dcs/documents/Skophammer%20Dissertation%202017.pdf.
[15] Maria Cancian et al., “Interactions of the Child Support and Child Welfare Systems: Child Support Referrals for Families Served by the Child Welfare System,” Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin – Madison, May 2012, https://www.irp.wisc.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Task13A_CS_09-11_Final.pdf.
[16] Joseph Shapiro, “States send kids to foster care and their parents the bill — often one too big to pay,” NPR, December 27, 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/12/27/1049811327/states-send-kids-to-foster-care-and-their-parents-the-bill-often-one-too-big-to-.
[17] Emily Smith Goering and Terry V. Shaw, “Foster care reentry: A survival analysis assessing differences across permanency type,” Child Abuse & Neglect, Vol. 68, June 2017, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.03.005; Sangmoo Lee, Melissa Jonson-Reid, and Brett Drake, “Foster Care Re-entry: Exploring the Role of Foster Care Characteristics, In-home Child Welfare Services and Cross-sector Services,” Children and Youth Services Review, Vol. 34, No. 9, September 1, 2012, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2012.05.007.
[18] K. Wells and S. Guo, “Reunification of foster children before and after welfare reform,” Social Service Review, Vol. 78, No. 1, pp. 74–95, 2004, https://doi.org/10.1086/380766; K. Wells and S. Guo, “Welfare reform and child welfare outcomes: A multiple-cohort study,” Children and Youth Services Review, Vol. 28, pp. 941–960, 2006, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2005.10.009.
[19] Cancian et al., 2012.
[20] Emily Madden and Laura Radel, “Freeing Children for Adopting within the Adoption and Safe Families Act Timeline: Part 1 – The Numbers,” Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, February 2021, https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/private/pdf/265036/freeing-children-for-adoption-asfa-pt-1.pdf.
[21] Erin Sugrue, “Evidence Base for Avoiding Family Separation in Child Welfare Practice,” Alia, July 2019, https://aliainnovations.egnyte.com/dl/Wz6o3au5hP?__hstc=215842504.101d185362cb008fc6ef08eb2f0b634e.1662133857642.1662133857642.1664464681901.2&__hssc=215842504.1.1664464681901&__hsfp=817607603&submissionGuid=53fbe13e-bd30-4568-8487-c738104eab4c.
[22] Terry-Ann L. Craigie, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, and Jane Waldfogel, “Family Structure, Family Stability and Outcomes of Five-year Old Children,” Families, Relationships and Societies, Vol. 1, No. 1, March 1, 2012, pp. 43–61, https://doi.org/10.1332/204674312X633153; Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Supporting Successful Reunifications,” October 2017, https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/supporting_reunification.pdf.
[23] Becci A. Akin, “Predictors of Foster Care Exits to Permanency: A Competing Risks Analysis of Reunification, Guardianship, and Adoption,” Children and Youth Services Review, Vol. 33, No. 6, June 2011, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2011.01.008; Sarah Carnochan, Chris Lee, and Michael J Austin, “Achieving timely reunification,“ Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, Vol. 10, No. 3, May 24, 2013, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15433714.2013.788948.
[24] Jude Mary Cénat et al., “Overrepresentation of Black children in the child welfare system: A systematic review to understand and better act,” Children and Youth Services Review, Vol. 120, January 2021, 105714. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105714; Shamani Ganasarajah, Gene Siegel, and Melissa Sickmund, "Disproportionality Rates for Children of Color in Foster Care (Fiscal Year 2015),” National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, September 2017, www.ncjfcj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/NCJFCJ-Disproportionality-TAB-2015_0.pdf; S.J. Wells, “Disproportionality and disparity in child welfare: An overview of definitions and methods of measurement,” in Challenging racial disproportionality in child welfare: Research, policy, and practice, D.K. Green et al. (Eds.), (pp. 3–12), CWLA Press, 2011.
[25] Kids Are Waiting and National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA), “Time for Reform: A Matter of Justice for American Indian and Alaskan Native Children,” November 2007, https://www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/reports/foster_care_reform/nicwareportpdf.pdf; Tanya Asim Cooper, “Racial Bias in American Foster Care: The National Debate,” Marquette Law Review, Vol. 97, No. 2, April 2014, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2426210.
[26] Kids Count Data Center, “Children in foster care by race and Hispanic origin in the United States,” Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2020, https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/6246-children-in-foster-care-by-race-and-hispanic-origin?loc=1&loct=1#detailed/1/any/false/574,1729,37,871,870,573,869,36,868,867/2638,2601,2600,2598,2603,2597,2602,1353/12992,12993.
[27] Cooper, op. cit.; Megan Martin and Dana Dean Connelly, “Achieving Racial Equity: Child Welfare Policy Strategies to Improve Outcomes for Children of Color,” Center for the Study of Social Policy, 2015; Mark D. Shroder and Michelle P. Matuga, Housing Discrimination Today, Office of Policy Development and Research, Cityscape, Vol. 17. No. 3, 2015, https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/cityscpe/vol17num3/index.html; Margery Austin Turner et al., “Housing Discrimination Against Racial and Ethnic Minorities,” Urban Institute, June 11, 2013, https://www.huduser.gov/portal/Publications/pdf/HUD-514_HDS2012.pdf; Patrick M. Kline, Evan K. Rose, and Christopher R. Walters, “Systemic Discrimination Among Large U.S. Employers,” National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 29053, revised May 2022, https://www.nber.org/papers/w29053; National Public Radio, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, “Discrimination in America: Final Summary,” January 2018, https://cdn1.sph.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/94/2018/01/NPR-RWJF-HSPH-Discrimination-Final-Summary.pdf.
[28] Dorothy Roberts, Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare, Civitas Books, 2002, pp. 67–70; National Indian Child Welfare Association, “Indian Boarding Schools,” updated 2022, https://www.nicwa.org/boarding-schools/.
[29] Roberts, pp. 60–67.
[30] Margaret Simms, “Identifying Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Human Services,” Urban Institute, November 2017, https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/94986/identifying-racial-and-ethnic-disparities-in-human-services_1.pdf; Dennette M. Derezotes, John Poertner, and Mark F. Testa, eds. Race Matters in Child Welfare: The Overrepresentation of African American Children in the System, 2005.
[31] Kathryn S. Krase, “Differences in Racially Disproportionate Reporting of Child Maltreatment Across Report Sources,” Journal of Public Child Welfare, Vol. 7, Issue 4, pp. 351–369, September 5, 2013, https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2013.798763; Hyunil Kim et al., “Lifetime Prevalence of Investigating Child Maltreatment Among US Children,” American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 107, pp. 274–280, February 2017, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5227926/.
[32] Robert B. Hill, “An Analysis of Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality and Disparity at the National, State, and County Levels,” Casey-CSSP Alliance for Racial Equity in Child Welfare, 2007, https://assets.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/aecf-AnalysisofRacialEthnicDisproportionality-2007.pdf.
[33] U.S. Government Accountability Office, Report to the Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, “African American Children in Foster Care: Additional HHS Assistance Needed to Help States Reduce the Proportion in Care,“ July 2007, https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-07-816.pdf. Yuhwa Eva Lu et al., “Race, ethnicity, and case outcomes in child protective services,” Children and Youth Services Review, Vol. 26, No. 5, May 2004, https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2004.02.002.
[34] Youngmin Yi, Frank R Edwards, and Christopher Wilderman, “Cumulative Prevalence of Confirmed Maltreatment and Foster Care Placements for US Children by Race/Ethnicity,” American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 110, No. 5, May 2020, https://www.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305554; Kathryn Maguire-Jack, Sarah A Font, and Rebecca Dillard, “Child protective services decision-making: The role of children's race and county factors,” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Vol. 90, No. 1, 2020, https://www.doi.org/10.1037/ort0000388; Christopher Wildeman, Frank R. Edwards, and Sara Wakefield, “The Cumulative Prevalence of Termination of Parental Rights for U.S. Children, 2000-2016,” Child Maltreatment, Vol. 25, May 21, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559519848499.
[35] Roberts, op. cit.
[36] Carol Chellew, Jennifer L. Noyes, and Rebekah Selekman, “Child Support Referrals for Out-of-Home Placements: A Review of Policy and Practice,” Institute for Research on Poverty, October 2012, https://www.irp.wisc.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Task6_CS_2011-12_CSPII.pdf.
[37] Skophammer, op. cit.
[38] Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, Division of Child Support, “Washington’s Cost Effectiveness for Foster Care Child Support Cases,” June 7, 2019, https://www.dshs.wa.gov/sites/default/files/ESA/dcs/documents/Cost%20Effectiveness%20-FC%20collections%20FINAL.pdf.
[39] Orange County Department of Child Support Services, “Child Support and Foster Care,” July 2020, https://www.css.ocgov.com/sites/css/files/import/data/files/116568.pdf.
[40] Shapiro, op. cit.
[41] Office of Child Support Enforcement, “Preliminary Report FY 2021,” Table P-12, Distributed Foster Care Collections for Five Consecutive Years, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ocse/fy_2021_preliminary_report.pdf.
[42] Children’s Bureau, Office of the Administration for Children & Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Title IV-E Programs Expenditure and Caseload Data 2021,” see spreadsheet FY 2021 Title IV-E Foster Care Claims and Caseload, August 2, 2022, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/report/report/programs-expenditure-caseload-data-2021.
[43] Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families, “DCYF Child Support Collection Referrals End Today,” September 1, 2022, https://www.dcyf.wa.gov/news/dcyf-child-support-collection-referrals-end-today.
[44] An act to amend Section 17552 of the Family Code, relating to child welfare agencies, Assembly Bill 1686, https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1686.
[45] Schomburg and Gray.