Capitol View on Kids: Continuing Resolution Looks Likely As Labor-HHS Appropriations Dropped

by John Sciamanna

Heading into their last week of work before the August break, it looks like Congress may reach a deal to provide six months of funding through a continuing resolution (CR) for FY 2013 in lieu of enacting 12 separate appropriations bills.  It is possible Congress will reach and act on a deal this week, a full two months before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1.

The proposal for a six month CR started with some of the most conservative House members, but it was gradually accepted by Democrats in the Senate.  For House Republicans, the appeal is that a six-month deal will assure them of avoiding a government shutdown one month before the election due to a failure to agree to spending levels.  For Democrats, the appeal is that appropriations can be put aside and not be part of the post-election discussions on how to deal with the so-called fiscal cliff that will result from expiring tax laws and automatic spending cuts.

Both sides are betting that they will be in stronger positions as a result of the election with potential changes in the White House and the make-up of the Senate and House. The CR would be funded at current year spending levels of approximately $1.043 trillion, which was the agreed-to spending level inserted into last year’s debt ceiling agreement.  It is also above what House Republicans had proposed.  The new Congress would have to decide how to complete the rest of the fiscal year funding by at least April or earlier.  Presumably the agreement would keep all programs at the current level and would not include new funding proposals or program cuts but complete details are not yet available.

While there may be agreement on a way to temporarily fund the government, one example of why they won’t finish work on regular appropriations could be found with the House’s handling of the appropriations for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS).  Appropriations leaders decided against taking up the Labor-HHS bill in full committee. On July 18, the subcommittee approved an appropriations bill on a party line vote and leaders had indicated they would take the bill up in full committee a week later.  The details on what the subcommittee approved have not been posted but the main bill has been posted on the website: http://appropriations.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=303303.

The bill provides limited language and spending authority.  The specifics on increases or decreases to various programs are included in the committee report, which was to be released within 48 hours of a full committee debate.  Minority members were allowed to review the proposed cuts but no information was released for public review. What we do know is that the bill would have cut current discretionary spending for the three departments  to $150 billion, a cut of approximately $7 billion.

HHS is allocated approximately $77 billion of this total.  Public information includes the Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program (Title IV-B, part 2) being cut by $3 million.  Total funding for the four main PSSF programs would be reduced from $338 million to $335 million. PSSF also receives $20 million for substance abuse grants, 20 million to promote the workforce and $30 million for courts but those funding streams are mandatory programs.

The Subcommittee did provide some increases to Head Start and child care although, lower than the Senate totals. The House also rescinded $400 million of $550 million for the Race to the Top education challenge fund and that cut if enacted would likely have eliminated the funding to address the early learning child care challenge grant initiative. The initiative is designed to reward states that coordinate their child care, Head Start and pre-kindergarten programs.  The House bill would also cut out more than $6 billion in mandatory funding to address the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (PL 111-148), placed restrictions on family planning funding and included cuts to the Labor Department.

Harkin Release Details on State-By-State Cuts

On the Senate side, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) presided over a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education hearing that focused on the potential impact of the 2013 across-the-board cuts.  If Congress agrees to a six month CR as noted above, but does not deal with the automatic across-the-board cuts slated to take place on January 2, then many of the programs funded at this year’s level will have to absorb cuts of approximately eight percent.  The hearing focused on the Education Department cuts and included testimony by the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.  In his opening remarks Duncan pointed out, “even without sequestration, domestic discretionary spending has already been declining. Non-security discretionary spending is now on a path to reach its lowest level as a share of GDP since the Eisenhower Administration. In addition, State and local spending has been cut due to the recent financial crisis and economic downturn.” As part of the hearing, Harkin released a report that details how a number of the program cuts will play out for states (http://harkin.senate.gov/documents/pdf/500ff3554f9ba.pdf ).

The report indicates that states would lose $2.7 billion in federal funding for just three education programs alone: Title I education grants, special education grants, and Head Start, now serving a combined total of 30.7 million children. These cuts would result in 46,349 employees losing their jobs unless States and localities pick up their salaries.   The report also calculated that 659,476 fewer people would be tested for HIV, 48,845 fewer women would be screened for cancer; 211,958 fewer children be vaccinated and 80,000 fewer children would receive child care subsidies.

The report includes state by state reductions for 34 programs in the departments of HHS, Education and Labor and is a partial view of the proposed cuts (details on future child welfare cuts were not included).  In part the report and the hearing was an attempt to balance some of the current debate in Washington that at times has focused almost exclusively on the defense department cuts.  In recent weeks opponents of the defense cuts have focused their attention less on the cuts impact on national defense and more on state by state job losses that defense contractors may have to absorb.

CBO Recalculates Health Law’s Costs After Supreme Court

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recalculated the cost of the Affordable Care Act (PL 111-148) after the recent Supreme Court ruling.  Part of the court ruling said states did not have to accept the increased funding and expanded Medicaid coverage of the uninsured.  Because states have an option now, CBO said the cost of the ACA would be reduced by $84 billion over ten years.  At the same time, three million fewer people would have health insurance coverage.  As part of ACA (in 2014) states were required to increase their Medicaid coverage to all people 133 percent of poverty regardless of their family status or condition.  The ACA would completely cover the cost of the expanded coverage without states being required to contribute.  Eventually, the federal coverage would decrease to 90 percent of the expanded costs with states required to contribute ten percent of the cost.  The Court considered this expansion of Medicaid to be separate from other Medicaid mandates and said states had an option to expand Medicaid.

Some governors have suggested the cost would be too great despite the federal government covering all the costs.  CBO based their new calculations on a projection of how many states would not accept the additional Medicaid funds. That is where the savings comes from.  At the same time, six million few people would be covered as a result of those states refusing the expanded access. Part of this loss of coverage would be offset by three million of these people finding coverage by applying to the state insurance exchanges; thus a net loss of three million insured.  To read a CBO explanation online: http://www.cbo.gov/publication/43472

Administration Outlines Reauthorization Goals on Child Care Block Grant

The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s Subcommittee on Children and Families held a hearing on the reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) on Thursday, July 26. Testifying before the Subcommittee was Linda Smith, Deputy Assistant Secretary and Inter-Departmental Liaison for Early Childhood Development, HHS, Janet Singerman, President, Child Care Resources, Inc from North Carolina, Rolf Grafwallner, Assistant State Superintendent, Early Childhood Development, Maryland, Phil Acord, Executive Director, Children’s Home, Tennessee, and Susana Coro, Asssitant Teacher, Falls Church, Virginia.

Linda Smith summed up the Administration’s position as she outlined six key principles:

• Improving quality by increasing the dollars set-aside or dedicated to quality improvement and incorporating existing quality set-asides annually provided by congressional appropriators.  They would promote the use of funds spent on evidence-based efforts to improve quality.
• Improving state monitoring and protocols to ensure that providers meet regulatory requirements established by the state. They would encourage the use of quality funds to support implementation of programs that grade and reward quality improvements in a child care programs.
• Supporting continued access to child care subsidies by maintaining the services that were provided through the Recovery Act CCDBG funding (stimulus funding).
• Improving access to information by parents through increased transparency about the health and safety track records of child care providers and other key indicators of quality.
• Promoting on-going access to child care without unnecessary disruptions by implementing tools such as longer eligibility re-determination periods for families receiving child care subsidies.
• Ensuring program integrity by providing technical assistance to states, territories, and tribes to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

At the outset of the hearing Subcommittee Chair Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) praised the bipartisan spirit the subcommittee has pursued in attempting to craft a reauthorization.  She indicated that the subcommittee has involved members of the full committee including the chair of the HELP Committee, Sen. Harkin and Ranking Member Senator Mike Enzi (Wyo.) She said that she hoped they could move an authorization in a bipartisan fashion this year despite the short timeframe and that it would be a strong enough bipartisan effort that could gather unanimous support.

Ranking Subcommittee Member Richard Burr (R-N.C.) also sounded an optimistic tone in regard to a reauthorization.  He also talked about the need to improve the quality of care while balancing those needs against the supply. He highlighted his support for requiring background checks for child care workers.  He has sponsored legislation (S 581, Child Care Protection Act of 2011) that would require states to conduct criminal background checks on child care staff or perspective staff.  The background checks would include a search of the state criminal registry, the child abuse registry, the FBI finger print database and the national sex offender registry.  Child care providers could not hire an individual if they are listed on the national sex offender registry or they have been convicted of various felonies including murder, child abuse, spousal abuse, and crimes against children including child pornography.

The CCDBG has not been reauthorized since TANF was created in 1996. States are required to spend at least 4 percent of their general child care funding on quality improvements.  Quality may include training of the workforce, increased inspections and safety standards, efforts to reduce staff turnover, greater staffing and education standards, higher reimbursements for meeting specific quality measures and materials to enhance early childhood development.  In addition to the 4 percent set-aside, states receive additional funding through the annual appropriations to supplement the four percent set aside with some of this funding targeted to improving and expanding care for infants and toddlers.  One of the chief challenges to improving the quality of care is that the same funding addresses both quality improvements as well as the supply of child care subsidies.

Child Care funding comes from two sources; mandatory funding is provided through the TANF law (funded at $2.9 billion) with these funds allocated to states based on historic AFDC welfare spending and partially as a match to state funding.  States also receive discretionary funding ($2.2 billion). Some states use some of their TANF funds to increase the supply of child care with some states transferring TANF dollars directly into their child care block grant while other states spend money directly from TANF. The money spent directly from TANF does not require a set-aside for quality improvements. It is possible that a reauthorization of child care could be paired with a reauthorization of TANF which could be one of many items addressed in a November-December session of Congress.  To read the testimony from the hearing go online: http://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=9fb5f311-5056-9502-5d55-a235b2713708

UPCOMING CAPITOL HILL BRIEFINGS/EVENTS

• 2012 CCAI Foster Youth Internship Briefing & Reception, Tuesday, July 31, Capitol Visitor Center – Room SVC 201-00, Briefing: 3:00-4:30pm // Reception: 4:30-5:30pm, Fourteen former foster youth have spent their summer interning on Capitol Hill and will use their legislative knowledge combined with their personal experience to educate policymakers on areas for reform.  The briefing will cover pertinent policy issues such as the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), psychotropic medication, post-secondary education financing, human trafficking, quality foster parent recruitment, mentorship, in addition to various other foster care related topics. Each intern has focused on a specific policy area of interest and will present recommendations on these issues.
• National Foster Care Coalition quarterly meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 19, 1:00 PM, location, to-be-announced.

John Sciamanna is a strategic consultant on child welfare policy and legislation.

Capitol View: Senate Leadership Acknowledges No Pre-Election Appropriations

by John Sciamanna

Last week, Senate leadership said there would be no appropriations passed in the Senate before the election. The announcement by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) seemed to throw cold water on further floor action by the House at the same time. Time is running short for any significant appropriations action.

There were reports that a plan that had been worked up behind the scenes that would have had the Senate adopt three or four small omnibus bills as a method to move all 12 appropriations, but the announcement by Reid eliminated hope of that. Sen. Reid argued that the House had made appropriations too difficult because of the House’s proposed lower spending level. The House has proposed a budget that is $19 billion less than what was agreed to by the House and the Senate in the 2011 debt ceiling agreement.

There did seem to be some preliminary plans to hold a mark-up of the House version of a Labor-Health and Human Services bill, perhaps on Wednesday. Under the House framework, Labor-HHS will get $150 billion, down from nearly $157 billion this year. The Senate has near-level funding compared to this year.

The Senate Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Committee approved a fiscal year 2013 appropriations bill on June 14. Most of the key child welfare programs are funded at the current year funding levels including Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) programs, the two Title IV-B programs (Child Welfare Services and Promoting Safe and Stable Families), the Adoption Opportunities Act, and the Education and Training Vouchers for youth in Foster Care.

The one increase in this area did come under Title IV-B, with the Committee approving the Administration’s proposal to provide $5 million to encourage programs and research to address victims of child sex trafficking within child welfare. The Senate bill provides increases for some children’s programs including the Child Care Block Grant, increased by $160 million with $70 million for addressing child care subsidy needs and $90 million for quality improvements. Head Start received a slight increase of $70 million to bring total funding to $8.039 billion.

The Senate also approved an increase of $60 million for the Race to the Top Education funding increasing to $600 million. It is expected that significant portion will be designated for the Early Learning Challenge Grants which are a part of the overall education funding program.

Senators Discuss Cuts/Revenue to Stop Sequestration, HHS Gives Details

With some senators increasingly concerned about the potential across-the-board cuts to the defense budget scheduled for January 2, 2013 (known as sequestration), there were reports of a possible plan. The talks are informal and were taking place against a backdrop of public disagreements between leading Republicans and Democrats that indicated there was little real consensus on moving before the election. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have been having some discussions with Senate Democrats, including Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) that might involve the Republicans putting some revenue on the table in exchange for some domestic cuts.

Reports indicated that as much as $40 billion in revenue would be involved to leverage an approximate amount of program cuts. That is what it would take to replace the automatic cuts for at least one year. The advantage of such an agreement is that members of Congress would have greater control over the programs that are cut.

Whether a deal can be reached is unclear and any such proposal could not move or likely be raised in public before the election. Earlier in the week the Department of Health and Human Services responded to a request from Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on how a cut of 7.8 percent to HHS would be implemented. In a letter by the HHS Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources Ellen Murray, she stated “The National Institutes of Health (NIH) could potentially eliminate 2,300 new and competing research project grants, with nearly 300 fewer grants issued by the National Cancer Institute. … [Up] to 100,000 children would lose Head Start services and approximately 80,000 fewer children would receive child care assistance. In addition, approximately 12,150 fewer patients would receive benefits from our AIDS Drug Assistance Program. Approximately 169,000 fewer individuals would be admitted to substance abuse treatment programs and an estimated 14,200 fewer people who are homeless would receive assistance.”

HELP Committee Puts Focus on Seclusion and Restraint in Schools

On Thursday, June 12, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on the use of seclusion and restraint in schools. The Committee heard from four witnesses: Dr. Daniel Crimmins, director, the Center for Leadership in Disability, Georgia State University; Ms. Cyndi Pitonyak, coordinator of positive behavioral interventions and supports, Montgomery County Public Schools, Va; Dr. Michael George, director of the Centennial School, Bethlehem, Penn.; and a parent, Ms. Deborah Jackson  from Easton, Penn. The hearing focused on the successful methods several locations have implemented to assist student with disabilities without the use of chemical, physical and mechanical restraints.

The state of Georgia was held out as a model with Dr. Crimmins talking about that state’s work starting four years ago to eliminate the use of restraints in school based settings. Georgia has been successful in spreading the practices statewide. As a result Georgia has reduced the use of restrains and experienced better results for the students and families involved.

At the opening of the hearing, Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) emphasized the bipartisan nature of the work the Committee has conducted on the topic as an issue of great interest to the Senator. Harkin is also one of the longtime champions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA).

Last December, Harkin introduced a bill, S. 2020, that would prohibit seclusion and certain types of restraints. The Keeping All Students Safe Act would prohibit school use of physical restraints except for emergency situations. It would also prohibit the use of seclusions and/or restraints in a student’s Individual Education Plan and call for states to promote preventative programming to reduce the use of restraints. The legislation would provide teachers and school leaders with information about preventative practices to improve learning for all students.

That is what most of the testimony focused on with several of the witnesses documenting how they were able to reduce not just the seclusion and restraint use, but also reduce the number of injuries to both teachers and students and improve education outcomes—especially for children who in previous circumstances where isolated and not able to fully participate in school. Ms Easton testified about the great improvement for her nine year old son who is now thriving after he was placed in a school with a strong program to avoid the use of restraints. To hear and read the testimony go online: http://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=28ddbd0d-5056-9502-5dea-7197eb6434c8.

Groups Call For Action on Child Sex Trafficking Over The Internet

Several groups came together at a Capitol Hill roundtable on Thursday, July 12, to call on the Internet website “Backpage” to reform or end their adult ads. The groups included the National Association for Missing and Exploited Children, Human Rights Project for Girls, the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse, Microsoft Research, National Criminal Justice Training Center, the Motion Picture Association of America and Shared Hope International highlighted the website which provides online users the ability to purchase adult entertainment and adult services. The coalition argued that the site is also the biggest source for the solicitation of sex trafficking of minors.

Several of the organizations present at the forum Thursday had also been involved in an earlier campaign in 2010 targeting Craigslist. Craigslist did eventually eliminate such adult ads and as a result there appears to be a decrease in the number of online ads. The ads, which are possible because such web sites are officially marketing services including adult massages and adult escort services, end up becoming a convenient tool to sell the services of children and teens who end up becoming entrapped in a system of prostitution of minors.

The children who become victims are frequently picked up by predator adults on the streets and they may be youth that have run from foster care or are homeless alone youth. Desperate for support, many of the children end up locked into a sex-for-money system that they cannot escape. The Administration is proposing a $5 million initiative that would provide grants to increase services and coordination between law enforcement, child welfare and other agencies.

The Senate appropriation for HHS does include the new funds. Four key points that were emphasized at the roundtable:  trafficking happens here in the United States and it is not limited to foreign victims, organized crime, especially gangs, are heavily involved in the trafficking, children are the victims and in fact become slaves, and the problem has been aggravated because the internet allows the adult customers to take their illegal activities off the streets into the safety of their own homes and hotel rooms.

The Backpage website is affiliated with the New York City newspaper the Village Voice. The event was sponsored by the Congressional Victim’s Rights Caucus founded by Congressman Ted Poe (R-Texas) and Congressman Jim Costa (D-Calif.).

HHS Issues TANF Waiver Instruction, Draws Congressional Criticism

On July 12, HHS issued guidance to states on the use of waivers for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The authority for the waivers is based on section 1115 of the Social Security Act, which applies to several parts of the Social Security Act.

HHS guidance is applied to section 402 of the TANF law, which generally refers to provisions in the state TANF plan. The guidance limits the extent of waivers and does not affect the time limits but does suggest some modification to the general work requirements and offers states some flexibility in how work is structured. This is the first time HHS has offered such an option and as a result it drew a very negative response from Republican leaders in the key House and Senate Committees.

Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee Congressman David Camp (R-Mich.) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, were both critical of the waiver. Camp said: ”Welfare reform provided states a simple deal: fixed federal funding and enormous flexibility in exchange for a requirement that they engage welfare recipients in work and related activities. In response, States helped record numbers of low-income parents go to work, earnings soared, and dependence on welfare and poverty plunged by record levels. Now 16 years later, the Obama Administration is proposing to let States effectively eliminate a key feature of that reform – the TANF work requirement.”

From Hatch: “I‘m disappointed that after years of sitting on their hands and failing to propose any significant improvements to the TANF programs, the Obama Administration is once again over-stepping their authority and attempting to circumvent Congress through an unprecedented bypass of the legislative process.”

That was not the view of Congressman Sander Levin (D-Mich.) the ranking member on the Ways and Means Committee who issued a statement that said in part: “Any demonstration project approved by HHS must be designed to improve employment outcomes for welfare recipients, as validated by a rigorous evaluation. Current basic TANF provisions, including the five-year time limit on benefits and fixed block grant funding levels, will not change under these projects. This is very consistent with the underlying thrust of the 1996 welfare law – expecting states to help people prepare for and find work, while giving them some flexibility in achieving that goal.”

The purpose of the waivers as explained in the memorandum is to determine through evaluation whether a program that allows for longer periods in certain activities improves employment outcomes. Some of the possibilities for states are projects that:

-Improve coordination with the workforce investment system and the Workforce Investment Act

-Test approaches that use performance-based contracts and management

-Provide improved employment outcomes if a state is held accountable for negotiated employment outcomes as a replacement for current work participation rate

-Improve collaboration with the post-secondary education systems

-More effectively serve individuals with disabilities, along with an alternative approach to measuring participation and outcomes for individuals with disabilities

-Test extending the period for vocational educational, training, job search or readiness programs.

To read the information memorandum go online: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/policy/im-ofa/2012/im201203/im201203.html

New Legislation Seeks to Protect Children Left in Foster Care Due to Deportation

On Thursday, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) introduced HR 6128, the Help Separated Families Act. The bill addresses the problem of children being abandoned in the child welfare system if their parents are arrested or deported due to their alien status.

There has been recent analysis that indicates more children are entering foster care because there is not a process to make sure they are connected to relatives or being reunited. By some estimates at least, 5,000 children are in foster care as a result of such immigration enforcement.

In her statement the congresswoman said, “As parental deportation and detention rates have risen in recent years, the devastating impact on families has increased. Mothers like Encarnacion Bail Romero, who was apprehended in a federal immigration raid in 2007 and torn from her then-seven-month son, often face insurmountable barriers to family reunification.“

Ms. Romero, a native of Guatemala, had her parental rights terminated while in federal custody after a judge ruled that “illegally smuggling herself into the country is not a lifestyle that can provide any stability for the child.” Her son Carlitos was adopted out against her will to a new family, who now calls him Jameson, and Ms. Romero has not seen him in approximately five years.

The bill would require systems to stipulate that the citizenship status of a relative is not relevant to the determination of whether a relative caregiver meets relevant state child protection standards. It would require child welfare departments to accept alternative documentation to run background checks on undocumented immigrants who are candidates to take in a relative’s child, including a foreign consulate identification card and/or passport. The bill also directs states to make reasonable efforts to locate and notify relatives, including parents, across international borders, of the agency’s intent to terminate parental rights before it takes place. Deportation alone would not be a justification for termination. There is little chance such legislation would pass this year but, it is intended to be a part of future immigration legislation in the next congress.

UPCOMING CAPITOL HILL BRIEFINGS/EVENTS

The National Alliance to End Homelessness will hold its 2012Conference to End Homelessness on Monday July 16^th through Wednesday July 18 at the Renaissance Hotel, 999 Ninth Street, Washington DC. For more information on the agenda and to register go online at: https://help.endhomelessness.org/events/22

2012 CCAI Foster Youth Internship Briefing & Reception, Tuesday, July 31, Capitol Visitor Center – Room SVC 201-00, Briefing: 3:00-4:30pm // Reception: 4:30-5:30pm, Fourteen former foster youth have spent their summer interning on Capitol Hill and will use their legislative knowledge combined with their personal experience to educate policymakers on areas for reform. The briefing will cover pertinent policy issues such as the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), psychotropic medication, post-secondary education financing, human trafficking, quality foster parent recruitment, mentorship, in addition to various other foster care related topics. Each intern has focused on a specific policy area of interest and will present recommendations on these issues.

Senate Caucus on Foster Youth— a roundtable on the challenges of adoption and the all too frequent occurrence of     disrupted adoptions and polices which can improve and promote successful adoptions. The routable will highlight the stories of a number of youth with a variety of experiences relative to adoption. The roundtable will take place on Tuesday, July 24th from 2:00 to 4 pm at the Senate Dirksen Building, Room 562.

John Sciamanna is a strategic consultant on child welfare policy and legislation.

Capitol View: Congress Returns With Clock Ticking

by John Sciamanna

The House and Senate return this week with time running out on the pre-election agenda. Both houses are likely to leave by August 6 for the traditional summer break. They will return after Labor Day on September 7. Tentative plans would likely have the Senate depart for the fall election break on the first weekend of October with the House already announcing plans to leave on October 5. That October departure could be moved up if members feel the urge to hit the campaign trail earlier, which is a likely outcome.

With the seven or fewer weeks left, Congress is certain to not finish appropriations and the bigger question is: Which of the 12 appropriations bills will they pass? Anything not passed, conferenced and signed by October 1 would have to be subject to a continuing resolution.

The House has failed to act on a bill for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. The House has passed six bills through floor debate while the Senate has not yet taken up any bills for floor debate.

A little more than a decade ago, the norm would be for the House to pass all appropriations by the August break with several bills in conference with the Senate. September would then be a time for the Senate to complete action on a few remaining bills and completion of all conference reports.

In addition to the challenge of finishing appropriations, key challenges and opportunities for Congress include the agriculture reauthorization, which the Senate has passed on a bipartisan basis and a vote of 64 to 35. The Senate reached consensus on changes to price and farm subsidies to find savings of $24 billion over ten years, but the House is taking a different approach largely by reducing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/food stamps). The House bill would cut $35 billion over ten years with $16 billion coming from SNAP compared to the Senate cuts in SNAP of just under $5 billion.

Another possible reauthorization is the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), with each house having a version already. To this point there has not been progress on the three areas of difference between the two houses: tribal government authority in the prosecution of domestic violence, how the law applies in cases of domestic violence involving gay and lesbian couples, and protections for immigrant populations who are victims of domestic violence.

Beyond these bills, Congress is likely to spend the remaining pre-election period positioning the two parties for the election. The House is set to vote on a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (PL 111-148), and there are likely to be votes on items such as tax cuts and extensions and efforts to protect the defense budget from future cuts.

UPCOMING CAPITOL HILL BRIEFINGS/EVENTS
July 12, 2-4pm, Washington, DC: Roundtable on Child Trafficking on the Internet. Will be held at 2237 Rayburn House Office Building
July 16-18, Washington, DC: 2012 Conference to End Homelessness by The National Alliance to End Homelessness. For more information on the agenda and to register go online at: https://help.endhomelessness.org/events/22

-John Sciamanna is a consultant for child welfare services organizations.

Capitol View on Kids: The Latest News from Washington on Children and Families

by John Sciamanna

Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Labor-HHS Bill

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a fiscal year 2013 appropriations bill on Thursday, June 14.  Two days earlier, its Labor-HHS subcommittee had approved the same measure.  Most of the key child welfare programs are funded at the current year funding levels including the three key Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) programs, the two Title IV-B programs (Child Welfare Services and Promoting Safe and Stable Families), the Adoption Opportunities Act, and the Education and Training Vouchers for youth in Foster Care.  The one increase in this area did come under Title IV-B, with the Committee approving the administration’s proposal to provide $5 million to encourage programs and research to address victims of child sex trafficking within child welfare.

It is unclear when the House Appropriations Committee will approve its version of the Labor-HHS bill; there have been some reports that it could be taken up as early as this week but there has been no official notice. The Senate committee did provide increases for some children’s programs including the child care block grant, which was increased by $160 million with $70 million for addressing child care subsidy needs and $90 million for quality improvements.  Head Start received a slight increase of $70 million to bring total funding to $8.039 billion.

The Senate also approved an increase of $60 million for the Race to the Top education funding, increasing that appropriation to $600 million. It is expected that a significant portion will be designated for the Early Learning Challenge Grants, which are a part of the overall education funding program. Promise Neighborhoods received an increase to $80 million from the current $60 million.  Promise Neighborhoods is the initiative created by the Obama Administration to encourage a replication of programs similar to the Harlem Children’s Zone.  To see a comparison of the proposed budgets spending levels request a copy of the table at john.sciamanna962 at gmail dot com.

The House has proposed a budget that is $19 billion less than was agreed to by the House and the Senate in last August’s debt ceiling agreement. In addition, the House has designated more spending for the defense budget. The House Appropriations Committee allocated most of their cuts on two subcommittees: Labor-HHS and Transportation-Housing. Under the House framework, Labor-HHS will get $150 billion down from nearly $157 billion this year. The Senate has near level funding compared to this year.

Youth Forum Discusses Foster Care Placements

On Tuesday, June 12, the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth held a roundtable discussion on long term foster care and the state’s use of a classification of care called, Alternate Planned Permanency Living Arrangement or “APPLA” for short.  The acronym APPLA is the result of the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA).  The roundtable was hosted by the caucus co-chairs, Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Mary Landrieu (D-La).

The discussion for the most part focused on the views of more than ten young Capitol Hill interns who are or have been in foster care. In addition, some key staffers gave their perspective on ASFA. Laurie Rubiner, who is now a vice president at Planned Parenthood, was a key senate staffer on child welfare issues as a Legislative Assistant to Sen. John Chafee (R-R.I.).  Chafee, along with Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) were two of the chief architects of ASFA. Rubiner said she had not been familiar with the APPLA acronym and that the term was not the major focus of ASFA. She discussed how the goal of Congress back in 1997 was to address the number of children being left in foster care. At that point foster care caseloads had not yet peaked at their 1999 level of more than 560,000 children in care (compared to 408,000 in 2010). A number of the young people spoke of their experiences in foster care, some ending up with better outcomes and families while others discussed how they beat the odds to obtain educations and move onto college.

ASFA was passed to address the number of children in foster care, with Congress increasing the emphasis on moving children into permanency which included reunification, adoption or kinship care.  At the time, it was felt that far too many children were “languishing” in foster care for years without any real planning by state child welfare agencies. As a result ASFA eliminated that category of “long term foster care” and substituted language that included an alternate planned permanency living arrangement when no other option was available.

In recent years there has been an increased focus on youth “aging out” or departing foster care because they have hit the age limit on eligibility.  With the number of youth aging out at nearly 28,000 a year, some in the Washington advocacy community have suggested that if current law were amended to simply eliminate the APPLA term it would force states into moving children into one of the permanency options.  More recently. some have suggested that simply changing terms or eliminating APPLA will not change case practice and not help young people without a genuine permanency plan.

For example, Missouri’s instruction on APPLA describes it as:

Not intended to be a catch all for whatever temporary plan is needed, APPLA is a “living arrangement that is truly planned and permanent” in nature. “Planned” means the arrangement is intended, designed, considered, premeditated, or deliberate. “Permanent” means enduring, lasting, or stable. The term “living arrangement” includes not only the physical placement of the child, but also the quality of care, supervision, and nurturing the child will receive. …The other four preferred permanency plans (reunification, adoption, guardianship, and placement with a fit and willing relative) consider more than the physical place a child resides. They involve a specific adult or couple (as opposed to an organization) who will be in charge of the young person, exercise certain powers and responsibilities, and likely live with the young person. Further, the caregiver’s familial relationship with the child will be continuing in nature. Therefore, it follows that an APPLA either will involve a permanent adult caregiver of the child or at least adult parent figures playing permanent and important roles in the child’s life. http://www.dss.mo.gov/cd/info/cwmanual/section4/ch23/sec4ch23sub1.htm

At the start of the event both Senators spoke about their desire to see further reforms of the child welfare system.  Landrieu repeated her desire about to trying to craft a system that allows the funding to follow the child instead of funding being wrapped around a particular form of care or placement. In recent weeks, some of the key legislative staff have indicated that efforts to reform the current finance structure should include:  A reform of not just financing but also practice, a need to have consensus among reformers, a realization of the current budget constraints, taking into account all the funding streams including the Social Services Block Grant (SBBG) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

Yes, Children in TANF Kinship Care Exceeds Foster Care

Last week’s article on the TANF reauthorization indicated that there are more children in kinship care under TANF than there are children in foster care.  Some readers were surprised by that statement but it is in fact true.  The TANF 8^th annual report to Congress (2009, the last complete report based on 2006 data) indicates that approximately 457,000 children reside in TANF “child only families” where the caretaker adult is either a grandparent or another relative. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/data-reports/annualreport8/TANF_8th_Report_111908.pdf  In FY 2010 there were 408,000 children in foster care.

TANF and its predecessor, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, have had a family category called “child-only.”  These families include an adult, but that adult is not on the caseload and as a result, the benefit is adjusted downward.  In that 8^th Annual Report, 47 percent of the entire TANF caseload was made of child-only families. The child-only caseload has increased over time but the percentage of the entire caseload has decreased faster so that the percentage of child-only families has increased. There were 850,000 families considered child-only covering 1,546,267 children. Of these families, just under 30 percent were relative care families (20.1% grandparents, 9.5% other relatives).  The other 70 percent of child-only families are made up of families where the parent receives Supplementary Security Income SSI, the parent is a legal alien but prohibited by TANF law to be covered, or the parent has been sanctioned off of assistance by the state policy.

As you would expect, kinship families do not have to meet the work requirements under TANF. Child-only kin families tend to get a higher benefit than other child-only families but likely receive less than what the state provides through Title IV-E foster care or Title IV-E kinship care.  Looking at all TANF families (child-only and adult-headed families), kinship families are 15 percent of the entire caseload.  More recent caseload data (without the full annual report data) indicates that there has been some decline in child-only caseloads, going from approximately 831,000 in 2008 and below 800,000 in the most recent data in 2010.  Kinship families continue to be around 29 percent of all child only cases so the number of children in TANF kinship care is likely closer to 430,000.  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/data-reports/annualreport8/ar8index.htm

As TANF works its way to a five year reauthorization (perhaps next year) this becomes one aspect of TANF that intersects with child welfare:  What is the proper role of TANF/child-only kinship care?  Most states would likely use both formal Title IV-E and TANF.  Policymakers would not want to force a family to enter the child welfare system to get support.  Conversely, pushing families into a TANF child-only program can be a budget savings to states.  Because TANF and its block grant nature is a fixed allocation and state matching spending has not changed since 1996, it can result in a savings by diverting families away from Title IV-E which requires a state match based on how many families qualify.

Title IV-E benefits are likely higher than TANF kinship care.  What is the coordination between the two systems? A TANF caseworker is more targeted and trained to deal with work placement and adult eligibility issues.  A child welfare caseworker may be, or should be, more focused on permanency for the child and on-going casework support. A TANF worker, since the kinship families is not engaged in work, may have limited time and interest and training in doing on-going support for kinship families. A fundamental challenge is how to best coordinate the two programs so that families are not forced into circumstances they don’t want (state custody of the child) but are assisted so that the child and the family’s well-being are being addressed.

Administration Soliciting Comments on Disconnected Youth

The President’s FY 2013 Budget included a request for authority to implement “Performance Partnership Pilots” that would improve outcomes for disconnected youth. In order to inform the Administration’s development of that initiative, they have issued a request for information (RFI) seeking recommendations on effective approaches for improving outcomes for disconnected youth by working across federal, state, and local community programs and systems. The RFI is looking for comments “to improve outcomes for disconnected youth” and refers to efforts to increase the rate at which young people, ages 14 to 24, who are homeless, in foster care, involved in the juvenile justice system, or are neither employed nor enrolled in an educational institution achieve success in meeting educational, employment, and other key lifelong development goals.  http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=ED-2012-OVAE-0014-0001

Some Key Commentary And Direction From Senate Appropriators

Senate Appropriators included important instruction to the Administration and policymakers in the Committee report.  The Committee frequently offers direction, expresses concerns and outlines how a program should be directed.

Partially in response to recent House action on the Social Services Block Grant:

The Committee continues to regard the SSBG as a critical source of funding for services that protect children from neglect and abuse, including providing foster and respite care, as well as related services for children and families, persons with disabilities, and older adults. The Committee recognizes the importance of this program, especially in providing mental health and counseling services to underserved populations, and recommends continued usage and flexibility of these funds for such purposes.

In response to this and previous administrations using the Adoption Opportunities Program to address fatherhood and other child welfare initiatives and most recently to promote trauma-informed care:

The Adoption Opportunities program funds discretionary grants to help facilitate the elimination of barriers to adoption and provide technical assistance to help States increase the number of children adopted, particularly children with special needs. Consistent with the reauthorization of this program, the Committee continues to expect that these funds will focus on facilitating the adoption of older children, minority children, and children with special needs. Specifically, the Committee expects HHS to focus new grants on strengthening post adoption services and the recruitment of adoptive parents for these populations of children.

Performance Partnerships for Disconnected Youth:

The Committee recommendation creates a new authority called Performance Partnerships that will provide States and local communities with unprecedented flexibility to achieve defined outcomes for disconnected youth. Up to 13 States and/or local communities will be allowed to combine funding that they receive through various programs within this bill, even if the programs are funded in different departments, for these pilot projects. Grantees will receive waivers to reduce bureaucratic obstacles to the smooth functioning of these performance partnerships; for example, they could be allowed to provide a single set of outcome data to the Departments of Education, HHS, and Labor, rather than slightly different data to each agency.

UPCOMING CAPITOL HILL BRIEFINGS/EVENTS

• June 19, 2:30 PM: The ABA along with the National Foster Care Coalition, Children and Family Futures and the Child Welfare League of America will host a briefing on the Reunification of children in foster care with their families. The briefing is part of recognizing June as Family Reunification month.  The briefing will be held at 122 Cannon House Office Building
• June 21, 12-3 PM: The Child Welfare and Mental Health Coalition and National Foster Care Coalition are sponsoring a Meeting on Oversight of Psychotropic Medication for Children in Foster Care, at the Children’s Defense Fund (25 E St, NW Washington DC), RSVP: Stefanie Sprow (ssprow at childrensdefense dot org) by Friday, June 15. Dr. David Rubin and Meredith Matone from PolicyLab at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia will present on the results of Policy Lab’s recent study.
• June 27: First Focus is holding a Children’s Budget Summit, the Summit will focus on how children have fared in the 2012 budget and appropriations process it will be held in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, Congressional Auditorium. RSVP to jared at firstfocus dot net.

John Sciamanna is a strategic consultant on child welfare policy and legislation.