The Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act of 2008, also known as Senate Bill 3038 has two significant changes that you just might need to know about. Some people are calling for the complete annihilation of the Title IV-E Program, which as some of you already know funds the Foster Care and Child Protective Services related programs in the various states.
The original reference to Title IV-E is under the Social Security Act. You can find the complete text located at the Social Security Website or under the US Code. (Begins: 42 U.S.C. 670)
Under the Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support act of 2008, funding will be continued for the program but two notable changes are also be amended to the program. This is absolutely necessary, since it is what most would consider an essential services program. Some organizations are inadvertently calling for the non-renewal, but this is neither feasible or logical. The Federal government MUST continue to fund the state program under the contracts.
In the past, the federal government would only begin making payments to the states in the event that a child was taken and then placed with a licensed foster care facility. As you can imagine, the result was that the states wanted to be paid and would automatically place a child preferentially with a foster care facility instead of a stable relative guardian.
The first key change that occurs should S.3038 be passed, as it is anticipated to soon, the state would begin receiving payments if a child was taken and placed with a stable relative guardian. This will yield a reduction to the state foster care caseload and likely save every state money, allow for reduction of foster care caseloads, and have positive effects for the children involved. The more important factor is that a removed child will be able to continue living with relatives until the reason for the taking is cured.
Also in the past there was not a solid requirement to use electronic databases to locate the second parent that may not have any knowledge whatsoever that their child was removed from a single-parent home. Under the Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act of 2008 there will be a requirement to utilize the Federal Parent Location databases to find the other parent for placement, again increasing the likelihood of a child being placed with a relative instead of sometimes hazardous state care.
There are other significant changes to the program, including an increase in funding, but the results of this bill are likely to cause each state to pass a statute that refers to payment for relative guardian placement. In the near future if your state does not pass such a statute, we can help provide model language to get the job done.
We need to be conscious of the positive and negative effects of large programs such as this and be sure to advocate responsibly. Sometimes when one is affected by a program that sometimes has extremely horrible effects on a family, it blinds us to the original goals of the programs. Taking a step back will help ensure maximum credibility for organizations and prevent the inadvertent destruction of programs that may serve legitimate needs. There is little question that more reform is necessary to the Title IV-E programs in our nation, but those changes must be identified and merged with existing renewal bills and more responsible advocacy.
