U.S. House lawmakers pass bipartisan child welfare legislation

Key Takeaways

On September 18, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Protecting America's Children by Strengthening Families Act (H.R. 9076), a comprehensive package reauthorizing and updating Title IV-B of the Social Security Act (Title IV-B). The bipartisan legislation makes modest improvements to Title IV-B programs, including new resources for child welfare workforce recruitment and retention and additional flexibility to serve families experiencing poverty. Counties support H.R. 9076, which will support our ability to provide flexible services to children, youth and families at-risk for or currently involved with the child welfare system.

• Understanding Title IV-B: Title IV-B is comprised of formula grants to states that provide flexible funding to enhance the wellbeing of children and families through prevention services, child protection, family preservation, child welfare workforce training, reunification services and adoption promotion and support. Without Congressional action, Title IV-B is slated to expire on Dec. 31, 2024.
• Importance to counties: In 11 states representing 33.7 percent of the population of children in formal foster care in 2021, county governments are fully or partially responsible for administering the child welfare system: California, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. While states vary in their structure of Title IV-B, the program offers county agencies key flexibility to serve families without eligibility requirements with a two-thirds federal match. However, at just over $700 million annually, Title IV-B lacks sufficient funding to live up to its full potential.

H.R. 9076 would make several updates to Title IV-B, many of which reflect ongoing county priorities for the child welfare system. Highlights include:

• New funding: A $300 million increase in mandatory funding over four years. The new investments would support families affected by substance use disorders, improvements to child welfare legal proceedings, dedicated funding for Tribes and research and evaluation.
• Workforce supports: New resources to support child welfare caseworkers, including funds for recruitment, retention and technology improvements, as well as flexibilities to conduct virtual visits with foster youth over the age of 18.
• Relationship between poverty and neglect: New flexibility for formula grant dollars to help families short-term benefits to address a crisis or situation that is affecting the ability of the child to remain in their home.

Legislative Outlook: The House passed H.R. 9076, along with another county priority that was attached to the bill, the Strengthening State and Tribal Child Support Enforcement Act (H.R. 7906), which will ensure continuity of operations for county child support enforcement agencies by allowing third-party contractors to maintain access to certain taxpayer information. Read NACo's letter of support for H.R. 7906 here. The combined package now heads to the Senate.