CHILD WELFARE LEGISLATION IN THE 115TH CONGRESS (2017 …aaicama.org/cms/2018_National...

Child Welfare Legislation in the 115th Congress (2017‐2018)

Schylar BaberExecutive DirectorVoice for Adoption

AAICAMA National Meeting 2018 1

CHILD WELFARE LEGISLATION IN THE 115TH CONGRESS (2017-2018)

Presented by

Schylar Baber

Executive Director

202-210-818 | [email protected]

© Voice for Adoption

INTRODUCTION

Voice for Adoption (VFA) develops and advocates for improved adoption policies. Recognized as a national leader in special needs adoption, VFA works closely with federal and state legislators, as well as other child welfare organizations, to make a difference in the lives of the 112,000 children in foster care who are waiting to be adopted and the families who adopt children from foster care.

VFA tracks and analysis federal child welfare/adoption policy and disseminates this information to our members and partners through policy calls, webinars and email updates.





OUTLINE

• Timeline

• VFA’s Advocacy Priorities

• Pressing Issues in Child Welfare Legislation

• Medicaid Cuts and Caps

• Adoption Opportunities and Incentives

• Social Security Block Grant

• Passed in the House: Ways and Means Bills Strengthen America’s Families on June 20th

• VFA Speaking Out

• Religious Liberties in Foster Care

• Get Involved with VFA’s Collaborations


THE LEGISLATIVE TIMELINE

• July 25th- Voice for Adoption Policy Briefing on Adoption Incentives and Opportunities

• July 29th- September 4th House Recess

• August 12th- September 4th Senate’s Delayed Recess

• September 30th- Budget Resolution and Debt Ceiling Due

• October 1st- FY 2018 Budget Executed

• *FY 2017 Budget Reconciliation must be passed before FY 2018 Budget Resolution





VFA’S ADVOCACY PRIORITIES IN ACTION

• Supporting Support Services for Adoptive and Guardianship Families

• H.R. 1650 and S. 684: National Adoption and Foster Care Home Study Act

• H.R. 1069 and S. 439: Timely Mental Health for Foster Youth Act

• Ensuring Continued Entitlement Funding to States and Tribes for Core Adoption and Foster Care Services

• H.R. 2035 and S. 876: Tribal Adoption Parity Act

• Providing Funding for Discretionary Adoption Programs

• H.R. 1069 and S. 439: Timely Mental Health for Foster Youth Act

• Making the Adoption Tax Credit Refundable

• H.R. 2476 and S. 937 Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act of 2017

• H.R. 2681: Foster EITC Act of 2017


VFA’S ADVOCACY PRIORITIES IN ACTION (CONTINUED)

• Increasing Children’s Chances of Finding a Permanent Family

• H.R 253: Family First Prevention Services Act of 2017

• Ensuring Youth Who Age out of Care Have Access to Health Care

• H.R 2847 and S.1215: Foster Youth Independence Act of 2017

• Enhancing Children’s Access to Their Cultural Identity

• H.R. 2035 and S. 876: Tribal Adoption Parity Act

• Breaking Down Barriers to Interstate Adoptions

• H.R. 2742 and S.1257: Modernizing the Interstate Placement of Children in Foster Care Act

• H. Res. 41: Supporting a uniform adoption process for foster youth





VFA’S ADVOCACY PRIORITIES IN ACTION (CONTINUED)

• Ensuring All Children and Youth Have a Permanent Case Goal

• Expanding Access to Training to Encourage Permanency

• Passing of S. Res. 156 and H. Res. 314 to identify a National Foster Care Month for raising awareness for foster care issues

• Ensuring Access to Original Birth Certificates

• Ensuring Children Placed with Kin have Access to Needed Support

• S. 1091: Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act

• H.R. 2857: Supporting Families in Substance Abuse Treatment Act


CAPPING AND CUTTING MEDICAID

• The Federal government matches states’ Medicaid expenditures

• Coverage for any foster youth under the age of 19 whose household income is less than 133% of the federal poverty level

• Coverage for youth aging out of the system age 18-26

• Half a million enrollees are foster care children

• HR 1628: The American Health Care Act of 2017, the Leading proposal to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act

• Converts Medicaid from a guaranteed benefit to a per capita cap

• Cuts Medicaid funding by $834 billion over the next 10 years

• Medicaid coverage for foster youth will not go away but states will have to number crunch with Medicaid funding caps and end up cutting certain populations from Medicaid coverage

• Passing of HR 1628: The American Health Care Act of 2017

• Senate promises to release revised Health bill Thursday July 13th with the Congressional Budget Office analysis following July 17th

• Health reform must occur to finish the FY 2017 Budget Reconciliation© Voice for Adoption




ADOPTION INCENTIVES

• Social Security Act’s Title IV-E Adoption Assistance

• A family who adopt a special needs child receives direct federal subsidies to assist with the child’s care

• Subsidies mainly fall under health care costs and the child is enrolled under Medicaid

• Assures families hat the child would receive the best care and no financial costs would be imposed

• Adoption Tax Credit

• Designed to mediate the cost associated with adoption including travel costs and adoption agency fees

• Qualifying households receive a credit up to $13,460, reducing at a house hold income of $201,921 and phasing out at an income of $241,920 or more

• Ensures that more families from different socioeconomic backgrounds can adopt


ADOPTION TAX CREDIT REFUNDABILITY ACT OF 2017

• Existing Adoption Tax Credit

• Nonrefundable

• The $13,460 credit can be carried over for up to 5 years on families’ taxes

• Only accessed by upper middle class families due

• H.R. 2476 and S. 937: Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act of 2017

• Amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make the credit refundable every tax cycle which would benefit more socioeconomic backgrounds

• Bicameral and bipartisan support

• H.R. 2476 was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means May 17th

• S. 937 was referred to the Committee on Finance April 25th





ADOPTION OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM

• This grant program provides discretionary funds for projects designed to eliminate barriers for adoption, especially children with special needs

• Emphasizes several child specific recruitment strategies to increase number of older children adopted

• Improves efforts to eliminate interjurisdictional adoption barriers

• Implements research of adoption outcomes and factors that impact these outcomes

• Includes

• A national adoption and foster care data gathering and analysis system

• National adoption Information system

• Adoption training and technical assistance program

• Post-legal adoption services for families who have adopted children with special needs including day treatment and respite care


SOCIAL SECURITY BLOCK GRANT (SSBG)

• Flexible funding source that allows states and territories to tailor social service programming to their populations needs

• FY 2016 totaled more than $1.5 billion

• In FY 2014 49 states reported using $47 million for child welfare

• In FY 2014 39 states reported spending total of $329 million for Child Protective Services

• Most dependent states in FY 2012 received 94% of the appropriation: Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, and Texas

• Classified as non-defense mandatory spending

• Faces cuts when Congress will work on the FY 2018 Budget Resolution

• The House’s Budget Resolution agreement would entail up to $200 billion in mandatory entitlement cuts where SSBG would be the target





WAYS AND MEANS PASS LEGISLATION TO STRENGTHEN FAMILIES AND THEIR

COMMUNITIES ON JUNE 20TH

• HR 2742: Modernizing the Interstate Placement of Children in Foster Care Act

• Sponsored by Reps. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) and Danny Davis (D-IL)

• Requires states to implement the National Electronic Interstate Compact Enterprise system used to exchange information which reduces time for foster youth to be placed across state lines

• HR 2866: Reducing Barriers for Relative Foster Parents Act

• Reps. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) and Terri Sewell (D-AL)

• Establishes flexibility in foster care licensing to place more foster youth with relatives rather than with foster parents

• HR 2847: Improving Services for Older Youth in Foster Care Act

• Reps John Faso (R-NY) and Karen Bass (D-CA)

• Updates the Chafee Foster Care program which maximizes the availability of supports for older foster youth who are about to transition to adulthood


WAYS AND MEANS PASS LEGISLATION TO STRENGTHEN FAMILIES AND THEIR ON

JUNE 20TH (CONTINUED)

• HR 2857: Supporting Families in Substance Abuse Treatment Act

• Sponsored by Reps. Kristi Noem (R-SD) and Judy Chu (D-CA)

• Grants children the ability to remain with a parent who is in a residential-based family substance abuse treatment facility

• HR 2834: Partnership Grants to Strengthen Families Affected by Parental Substance Abuse Act

• Sponsored by Reps. Danny Davis (D-IL) and Kristi Noem (R-SD)

• Strengthens regional partnership grants to help communities address the impacts of substance abuse





STATE SIDE: VFA SPEAKS OUT AGAINST RELIGIOUS LIBERTIES IN CHILD

WELFARE POLICIES

• Texas policymakers passed House Bill 3859

• Child welfare providers can discriminate against single parents, children and parents who identify as LGTBQ and individuals who practice a different religion based on “sincerely held religious beliefs”

• Co-authored Op-Ed in The Chronicle of Social Change: “Texas Law Prioritizes Child Welfare Providers Over Children”

• “We must never prioritize the “sincerely held religious beliefs” of child welfare agency leaders over the protection of children.”


GET INVOLVED WITH VFA’S COLLABORATIONS!

Save the Adoption Tax Credit by messaging your Members of Congress at their Take Action Center online!

Celebrate National Adoption Day November 18th! Share your story with #oneday

Protect Medicaid with the Children’s Defense Fund and affiliates#ProtectMedicaid and #KeepKidsCovered

Promote LGBTQ competency at child welfare agencies with the “all children-all families” Campaign





JOIN THE ADOPTIVE FAMILY PORTRAIT PROJECT!

• The Adoptive Family Portrait Project connects constituent adoptive families with their Members of Congress

• Portraits and family stories are displayed in DC congressional offices during November, National Adoption Month

• Save the Date: Wednesday, November 14th from 2-4pm. Location TBD, Capitol Hill

• The primary goal of the project is to raise awareness among members of Congress about the real experiences and needs of families that have adopted children who were in the foster care system.

• Visit voice-for-adoption.org to participate, sponsor, and advocate for the 2017 Adoptive Family Portrait Project


REFERENCES

• https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/resource/adoption-opportunities

• http://www.aphsa.org/content/dam/aphsa/pdfs/Actions/Analysis/2012-09-SSBG-Funds-and-Impact-Report-PolicyBrief.pdf


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