Summary: Juvenile justice placements constitute a small proportion of all title IV-E placements. The states have occasionally claimed reimbursement for juvenile justice placements at facilities that were not eligible for such reimbursement and, in many of the title IV-E funded cases GAO reviewed, the facilities served primarily children in the juvenile justice system. According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the states find it particularly difficult in juvenile justice cases to meet title IV-E procedural requirements intended to protect children's welfare. It is important that HHS exercise adequate oversight of title IV-E funded juvenile justice placements to determine the extent to which title IV-E funding is appropriately used and procedural requirements are met in these cases. To do this, HHS needs sufficient information about (1) facility eligibility and compliance with procedural requirements in individual title IV-E funded juvenile justice cases and (2) the state and county systems used to determine whether the facilities in title IV-E funded juvenile justice cases are eligible for title IV-E funding, as well as systems used to help ensure that procedural requirements are met in these cases. Although the states have primary responsibility for making title IV-E facility eligibility decisions and meeting procedural requirements in juvenile justice placements, HHS, as the ultimate steward of title IV-E funds, has the responsibility to exercise close oversight of the use of those funds. Collecting such information will allow HHS to identify the nature and the magnitude of any problems that may exist in these cases.
