Child Welfare: Foster Care and Adoption Assistance Provisions in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-171) (CRS Report for Congress)
Premium Purchase PDF for $24.95 (16 pages)
add to cart or
subscribe for unlimited access
Pro Premium subscribers have free access to our full library of CRS reports.
Subscribe today, or
request a demo to learn more.
| Release Date |
Revised Oct. 18, 2006 |
| Report Number |
RL33155 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Emilie. Stoltzfus, Domestic Social Policy Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
-
Premium Revised Jan. 5, 2006 (17 pages, $24.95)
add
-
Premium Revised Dec. 7, 2005 (13 pages, $24.95)
add
-
Premium Nov. 18, 2005 (13 pages, $24.95)
add
|
Summary:
On February 8, 2006, President Bush signed the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 into law (P.L. 109-171). As enacted, the Deficit Reduction Act includes two child welfare provisions intended to reduce federal foster care spending under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act. Those provisions, sometimes called the Rosales provision and candidates provision, respectively, would 1) clarify individual eligibility for federal foster care and adoption assistance programs (Title IV-E of the Social Security Act); and 2) limit certain kinds of state claims for federal reimbursement of administrative costs under the federal foster care program. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that together, these changes will reduce federal spending under the foster care program by $554 million over five years, and by almost $1.3 billion over 10 years.
As enacted, the Deficit Reduction Act also includes several child welfare provisions that will increase federal child welfare spending and make other limited changes to federal child welfare policy. These provisions were added during conference negotiations and were not included in either of the earlier Senate or House versions of the budget reconciliation bill (S. 1932) that passed in November 2005. Those provisions 1) increase the FY2006 mandatory funding authorization under the Promoting Safe and Stable Families program (Title IV-B, Subpart 2 of the Social Security Act) to $345 million (from current $305 million); 2) appropriate $100 million in mandatory funds over five years (FY2006-FY2010) to improve state courts' handling of child welfare proceedings; 3) require court and child welfare agency collaboration; and 4) clarify confidentiality rules with regard to open child welfare court proceedings. CBO estimated that the first two of these provisions will increase federal budget authority for child welfare purposes by $300 million over five years.
As enacted, the Deficit Reduction Act also includes provisions related to federal reimbursement of costs for "targeted case management" (TCM) under the Medicaid program (Title XIX of the Social Security Act). These provisions were included in both the House and Senate reconciliation bills (as they were passed in November 2005), and may limit the ability of state child welfare agencies to use Medicaid TCM for children in foster care. CBO estimated the net federal savings for this change, all of which would be to Medicaid (and not all of which would affect financing of services for children in foster care), at $760 million over five years and $2.1 billion over 10 years.
Finally, as enacted, the Deficit Reduction Act does not include House and Senate proposals that would have 1) extended the authority of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to grant child welfare waivers; 2) amended the Higher Education Act to improve higher education access for youth leaving foster care; and 3) authorized a discretionary student loan forgiveness program available to child welfare workers. This report discusses child welfare provisions in the enacted version of the budget reconciliation bill (P.L. 109-171), and will not be updated.
