Child Welfare Issues in the 108th Congress (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised Jan. 12, 2005 |
| Report Number |
RL31746 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Emilie Stoltzfus, Domestic Social Policy Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
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Summary:
Child welfare services seek to protect children who have been abused or neglected or who are
at risk
of maltreatment. An estimated 896,000 children were the victims of child abuse or neglect in the
year 2002. Some children who experience maltreatment are removed from their homes with
protective custody given to the state. On the last day of FY2003, an estimated 523,000 children were
in foster care.
States have the primary responsibility for designing and administering child welfare programs.
However, the federal government supports these programs with significant funds and requires states
to comply with federal standards. FY2005 funding for child welfare programs was included in P.L.
108-447 . Funding levels generally remained close to FY2004 levels, although money provided for
two grants under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) was increased. Table
1 lists child welfare program funding levels for FY2002-2005.
Several authorizing proposals related to child welfare programs were enacted by the 108th
Congress. In December 2003, President Bush signed the Adoption Promotion Act of ( P.L. 108-145 );
that law reauthorized and amended adoption incentives payments for states that increase the number
of adoptions out of the public child welfare system. The Keeping Children and Families Safe Act
( P.L. 108-36 ), which reauthorized CAPTA and several related programs, was signed into law in June
2003. Finally, in September 2004, P.L. 108-308 extended, through the end of March 2005, the
authority of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to approve new child welfare
waivers.
A number of proposals to revamp the way federal child welfare funds are distributed were
discussed in the past two years, but no final action was taken during the 108th Congress. In May
2004
the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care recommended ending the current income eligibility
requirements for federal adoption assistance and foster care maintenance payments; and keeping the
current open-ended funding of these programs while reducing the federal matching rate for eligible
claims. Introduced in July 2004, H.R. 4856 followed the Pew Commission's proposal
by removing most income eligibility criteria for federal adoption assistance and foster care
maintenance payments and by lowering federal matching rates for the related eligible claims.
H.R. 4856 , however, proposed to end open-ended federal funding for foster care
maintenance payments (while retaining it for adoption assistance). Other child welfare financing
proposals made in the 108th Congress, most of which were less sweeping, are discussed in this
report.
Legislation to promote timely placement of children across state lines ( H.R. 4504 )
and to make a 2001 broadening of the adoption tax credit permanent ( H.R. 1057 ) passed the
House (on October 5, 2004 and September 23, 2004, respectively) but was not acted on
by the Senate before the close of the 108th Congress. In September 2004, the Senate passed a bill
to
reauthorize the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act ( S. 1601 ),
but the House took no action on this bill. These and other child-welfare-related proposals that were
introduced during the 108th Congress are discussed in this report. This report will not be updated.
