H.R. 5456
Floor Speech
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Mr. BUCHANAN. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following extraneous materials on H.R. 5456, the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2016: New York Coalition for Child Welfare Finance Reform, June 20, 2016.
Dear New York State Federal Delegation: As a coalition representing numerous child welfare stakeholders, including advocacy organizations, providers, parents' attorneys, children's attorneys and philanthropy in New York, we are writing to express our support for H.R. 5456, the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2016. Every child deserves to grow up in a safe and caring family, and the Family First Prevention Services Act would help ensure that more children have this opportunity.
The Family First Prevention Services Act of 2016 contains many important provisions that would strengthen the child welfare system here in New York and make a significant impact in strengthening and keeping families together. For the first time, New York would be able to use federal dollars from Title IV-E of the Social Security Act to provide time- limited, evidence-based services to families. The services are aimed to help prevent children from entering the foster care system by allowing federal reimbursement to families for mental health services, substance abuse treatment, and in- home parent skill-based programs. New York State and New York City are ahead of many other states and localities, having already invested a significant amount of resources to prevent foster care and enable children to live safely in their homes. The ability to access federal funding to enhance the work being done in New York, could enable many more families to remain intact.
In addition, the bill incentivizes states to ensure that children are placed in family-based settings by only allowing federal reimbursement after an assessment has occurred and it has been determined that the child should be placed in a quality residential treatment program. In addition, for those youth who are assessed to need to be placed in a congregate care setting, the law will ensure that these settings provide children with the trauma-informed and on-site services they need.
The legislation also includes a number of other provisions aimed to reform and strengthen the child welfare system including the extension of the Title IV-B program, improving supports for youth transitioning to adulthood, establishing model foster care licensing standards, and calling for a GAO review to examine compliance of states in reinvesting savings from the federal adoption assistance reimbursement for special needs kids.
We look forward to working with you to ensure these new child welfare finance reforms will truly benefit children who come to the attention of the child welfare system and to continue to explore additional improvements on their behalf to ensure they all have safe, permanent families. Thank you for your continuing leadership on behalf of these children. If you have any questions, please contact Stephanie Gendell from Citizens' Committee for Children.
The following Coalition members from New York support the Family First Prevention Services Act (H.R. 5456): CASA-NYC,
Center for Family Representation, Citizens' Committee for Children, New Yorkers for Children, You Gotta Believe! Graham Windham,
Children's Village, JCCA, Schulyer Center for Analysis and Advocacy. ____ Illinois Department of Children & Family Services, Chicago, IL, June 22, 2016. Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Encourages Speedy Passage of H.R. 5456
Springfield, IL.--The U.S. House of Representatives this week approved H.R. 5456, the Family First Prevention Services Act, to give Illinois and other states substantially more flexibility and federal support to keep families together and avoid reliance on foster care. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services stands in strong support of this legislation.
``This landmark legislation, years in the making, will help the Department achieve its primary goal of effectively working with families and children in crisis to prevent children from entering foster care,'' said Department of Children and Family Services Director George Sheldon in a letter to the Illinois Congressional Delegation. ``This legislation is not only good for children and families, but for federal and state budgets as well. The evidence of what works in child welfare is almost universal in focusing on early intervention. Over the long term, evidence-based prevention services reduce the need for costly, long-term foster care and will improve outcomes for children and families.''
The legislation is a dramatic change in federal support for states child welfare programs. For decades, the federal government has shared the cost of children in foster care but has offered little support for programs that help keep children out of foster care by helping troubled families. The new legislation provides federal matching dollars for programs that preserve families.
The legislation also limits state reliance on long-term residential treatment facilities rather than community-based family-type placements, including foster homes. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has been implementing this under the Rauner Administration by gradually transferring 350 children and youth to group homes and foster care.
The Family First Prevention Act was introduced on Friday, June 10, 2016 with strong bipartisan support. Ranking Republicans and Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee of Congress led the effort. On Tuesday, June 21, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5456 without opposition. The legislation now moves to the U.S. Senate.
Please see attached letter of support from Director Sheldon to the Illinois Congressional Delegation. Illinois Department of Children & Family Services, Chicago, IL, June 21, 2016.
Dear Members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation: On behalf of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, I write in appreciation for the introduction and speedy consideration of H.R. 5456, the Family First Prevention Services Act. This landmark legislation, years in the making, will help the Department achieve its primary goal of effectively working with families and children in crisis to prevent children from entering foster care.
The Family First Prevention Services Act allows states to invest federal foster care funds in evidence-based prevention services. This ends the counter-productive policy under which the federal government has provided long-term funding for kids in foster care, rather than spending to keep kids out of foster care. The legislation aims to reduce inappropriate congregate care placements and strengthens kinship navigator programs to ensure that kids can remain with family whenever possible. By reducing the bureaucracy in licensing foster homes, the bill also will help attract good foster parents.
This legislation is not only good for children and families, but for federal and state budgets as well. The evidence of what works in child welfare is almost universal in focusing on early intervention. Over the long term, evidence-based prevention services reduce the need for costly, long-term foster care and will improve outcomes for children and families.
Governor Bruce Rauner has made it a priority to improve Illinois' child welfare system and DCFS has taken significant strides to do so. Over the past year, the Department has reduced the number of children in shelter care by 50 percent. With improved technology, DCFS has streamlined bureaucratic processes so our caseworkers can assist more families quickly and efficiently. Ahead of the policy included in H.R. 5456, at the state level we have worked to limit the length of time children are in congregate care and have moved 350 youth from residential facilities to foster care or other family settings. Those savings have been reinvested back into serving more kids.
Growing up in a program and not in a home leaves a hole in the heart of a foster child. A home is more than a place to live; it is a feeling of belonging. We want more of our youth to grow up with that feeling of belonging to a family. In order to do so, we need to help families long before they reach the crisis that prompts DCFS to intervene and take their children. I firmly believe this legislation will help us to accomplish this and ensure that all foster children find their ``forever'' home.
I thank you for your time and urge you to support this important legislation. Sincerely, George Sheldon, Director, Illinois Department of Children and Families. ____ First Focus State Policy Advocacy & Reform Center, Washington, DC, June 17, 2016. Hon. Kevin Brady, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Orrin Hatch, Chairman, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. Hon. Vern Buchanan, Chairman, Human Resources Subcommittee, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Sander Levin, Ranking Member, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Ron Wyden, Ranking Member, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. Hon. Lloyd Doggett, Ranking Member, Human Resources Subcommittee, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairmen Brady and Hatch, Ranking Members Levin and Wyden, Chairman Buchanan and Ranking Member Doggett: As members of the State Policy Advocacy and Reform Center (SPARC), a coalition of state-based advocacy organizations committed to improving the safety, health and wellbeing of children and families involved in the child welfare system, we are writing to commend your efforts to advance policy changes to better support the needs of vulnerable children and families through the introduction and consideration of H.R. 5456, the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2016.
Currently, there are 415,000 children in the foster care system, a number that has increased by 3.5 percent from 2014. Nearly 31 percent of children placed in foster care were removed due to parental alcohol or drug use, and in some states, the percentage of removal due to parental substance abuse is closer to 60 percent. In addition, 57,000 children in foster care live in group homes or congregate care settings. More than 40 percent of these children have no clinical need to be in such a setting, and should be with families who can provide love and support.
The Family First Prevention Services Act of 2016 contains many important provisions that address these poor statistics and will make a significant impact in strengthening and keeping families together. For the first time states will be able to use federal dollars from Title IV-E of the Social Security Act to provide time-limited, evidence-based services to families. The services are aimed to help prevent children from entering the foster care system by allowing federal reimbursement to families for mental health services, substance abuse treatment, and in-home parent skill-based programs. In addition, the bill incentivizes states to ensure that children are placed in family-based settings by only allowing federal reimbursement after an assessment has occurred and it has been determined that the child should be placed in a quality residential treatment program.
The legislation also includes a number of other provisions aimed to reform and strengthen the child welfare system including the extension of the Title IV-B program, improving supports for youth transitioning to adulthood, establishing model foster care licensing standards, and calling for a GAO review to examine compliance of states in reinvesting savings from the federal adoption assistance reimbursement for special needs kids.
We look forward to working with you to ensure these new child welfare finance reforms will truly benefit children who come to the attention of the child welfare system and to continue to explore additional improvements on their behalf to ensure they all have safe, permanent families. Thank you for your continuing leadership on behalf of these children.
The following SPARC members support the Family Prevention Services Act (H.R. 5456): Advocates for Children and Youth (Maryland) Advocates for Children of New Jersey Arkansas Advocates for Children Center for Children's Justice (Pennsylvania) Center for Public Policy Priorities (Texas) Children's Action Alliance (Arizona) Children's Advocacy Alliance (Nevada) Child and Family Policy Center (Iowa) Citizens' Committee for Children (New York) Connecticut Voices for Children First Focus Campaign for Children Florida's Children First, Inc. FosterAdopt Connect Juvenile Law Center Partners for Our Children (Washington) Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children Kansas Appleseed Kentucky Youth Advocates Massachusetts Law Reform Institute Michigan's Children Nebraska Appleseed New Mexico Voices for Children Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children The Mockingbird Society Voices for Alabama's Children Voices for Children in Nebraska Voices for Ohio's Children Youth Law Center (California)
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