Foster Care Resources

U.S. Congress

• Memo summarizing most relevant provisions from first three legislative packages.

• CSSP Paper: Potential COVID-19 Funding Sources

U.S. Children’s Bureau Guidance and Instructions

• June 8: Program Instruction providing guidance to agencies administering the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services Program on the supplemental funding provided under the CARES Act. The PI provides information on the allowable use of the funding and actions states, territories and tribes must take to report on planned and actual use of the funds.

• May 8: Information Memorandum describes new flexibility under Title IV-E to allow states to cover the cost of extended care without having to submit a full Title IV-E plan, which is particularly relevant for those states who have not opted into the federal extended care option. Also waives the education and employment requirements for all states for young people who can not continue school or work due to the pandemic, and provides flexibility to place children and youth with foster parents who are conditionally approved for licensing.

• May 1: Letter from Jerry Milner to child welfare workers in appreciation of their work and efforts during the crisis.

• April 29: Information Memorandum providing information on best practices, resources, and recommendations for using foster care as a support for families in a way that mitigates the trauma of removal for the child and parents, expedites safe and successful reunification, and improves parent and child well-being outcomes. Emphasizes the importance of state and tribal child welfare communities building and supporting relationships between resource families and parents to facilitate improved engagement of parents, promote timely identification, build protective capacities in parents, and strengthen overall child and family well-being, while ensuring child safety. [Note: this is not COVID specific and was likely in the works well before the pandemic.]

• April 28: Letter describing existing flexibilities in the title IV-E program that may help agencies better serve children and families during the COVID pandemic. These include enhanced foster care maintenance payments, the ability to modify foster family home licensing standards, re-entry into foster care after age 18, hazard pay for child welfare agency workers, and the option to provide Chafee services until age 23.

• April 24: Letter from Deputy Secretary of HHS urging state Governors to classify child welfare workers and service providers as level one emergency responders to allow them greater access to PPE.

• April 23: Letter encouraging child welfare leaders to work with their state officials to designate child welfare workers and service providers as level 1 emergency responders.

• April 20: Letter announcing that Title IV-E and Chafee dollars can be used to purchase a cell phone to improve services and family connections. The letter also announced that Title IV-B can be used to purchase PPE for caseworkers and other professionals.

• April 16: Letter encouraging state court administrators to engage their Court Improvement Programs to help manage the special challenges in continuing judicial proceedings and other necessary activities during this crisis.

• April 16: Letter addressing the requirement that children in foster care be placed only with people who have had fingerprint background checks conducted. Child welfare agencies have some flexibility to determine when it is safe to perform the fingerprint background checks but must eventually satisfy this requirement, provided other background checks have been performed.

• April 13: Letter announcing that all Title IV-E eligibility reviews and NYTD reviews would be postponed through the duration of the crisis (date not specified).

• April 6: List of resources to help states with virtual casework visits.

• April 2: Letter announcing that the deadline for Kinship Navigator Program funding applications was extended to May 1, and that no application would be necessary for states to receive their allotment of Family First Transition Act (FFTA) funding. This means that states do not have to submit an application to receive their allotment of the $500 million in Title IV-B funding that was made available in December to help states transition to Family First.

• April 1: Letter reminding court officials and child welfare agencies that judicial proceedings are extremely important to continue during this pandemic, to move children and youth through their case plans and maintain or increase family connections whenever possible.

• March 19: Change to the Child Welfare Policy Manual that monthly casework visits can be conducted by videoconference. (Previously the CWPM stated that this was not allowed.)

• March 18: Letter that child welfare agencies should be prepared to offer special help to young adults who are in or who have transitioned out of foster care.

Advocacy Efforts

• Youth Law Center released a brief titled A New Deal for Transition Age Foster Youth in California: A Policy Roadmap for Ensuring a Resilient Recovery after COVID-19 which proposes critical short- and long-term policy action steps that build on California’s emergency policy response for transition age youth who are in foster care or have recently exited care in the aftermath of the COVID-19 public health crisis and the resulting economic recession.

• National sign on letter in support of increased funding for key child welfare programs

• Senate letter led by Senator Kamala Harris echoing the funding priorities in the national sign-on letter

• House letter led by Reps. Karen Bass, Kim Schrier, and Don Young echoing the funding priorities in the national sign-on letter

• Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth letter to Governors urging them to consider the needs of transition-age foster youth as they implement their COVID response plans.

• Letter from CHAMPS (CHildren need AMazing Parents) campaign organizations urging Congress to consider the needs of foster and kinship families during the COVID pandemic and take action to ensure that resources are available to support them and the children in their care.

• Youth Law Center (YLC), in coordination with SF Bay Area and California advocacy organizations, has released policy recommendations urging County Offices of Education and school districts to adopt practices that address the inequities that can result from shifts to distance learning across the state for system-involved youth.

• YLC sent a letter to California lawmakers on April 27th outlining key policy recommendations necessary to meet the immediate and long-term needs of transition age youth who will be in or need to exit foster care during COVID-19 or it’s aftermath.

• The #UpChafee Campaign calls on Congress to provide immediate help to youth for housing, food and critical supportive programs and services in the states and creates a crucial safety net.

State Actions

• California: Governor Newsom $42 million investment to address impacts of COVID on child welfare

• Rhode Island: Emergency declaration ensuring that people who turn 21 during the pandemic can continue to receive aftercare services and directing DCYF to make necessary resources available.

• Ohio: Moratorium on youth aging out

Hubs of information

• FosterClub COVID-19 Resource Hub

• Think of Us Command Center

• ChildWelfareCOVID.org – central website articulating the needs of the child welfare system and vulnerable children and families during the COVID pandemic, including key federal policy asks and relevant news clips

Nonprofit support

• Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative – recommendation from Zahirah Mann/Parsons Foundation

• Mary’s FCWG resource for COVID (to be added)

Impact on Courts

• The ABA Center on Children and the Law’s website includes several resources related to the impact of the pandemic on the legal system

• The National Association of Counsel for Children Resource Hub

Research

• COVID-19 and Child Welfare: Using Data to Understand Trends in Maltreatment and Response - Using a broad range of data sources, Chapin Hall looked at historic trends and the relationship between community-level stressors and child abuse and neglect. They found wide disparities in the levels of substantiation of child abuse reports among mandatory reporters.

• Preliminary Results of Foster Youth & COVID19 Study by the University of Pennsylvania Field Center for Children's Policy, Practice & Research