We urge you to contact your Members of Congress today and advocate that they  reform the outdated federal eligibility for foster care and adoption assistance!

All children who have been abused or neglected and who need foster care and adoption assistance should be eligible for federal assistance. Although Congress eliminated the AFDC program in 1996, Congress maintained the Title IV-E income eligibility link with AFDC, setting a goal to make changes later. However, no such change has been made!

Today, less than half of the children placed in foster care are eligible for federal support and the percentage of covered children is decreasing with each passing year.  The same limited eligibility also restricts adoption assistance for families who adopt children from the child welfare system.

Children have suffered because of this antiquated requirement for long enough!

Sample Letter for Campaign

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

As one of your constituents, I urge you to reform the outdated 10-year-old federal eligibility for foster care and adoption assistance.

Although Congress eliminated the AFDC program in 1996, Congress maintained the Title IV-E income eligibility link with AFDC, setting a goal to make changes later. No such change has been made. Today, less than half of the children placed in foster care are eligible for federal support and the percentage of covered children is decreasing with each passing year. The same limited eligibility also restricts adoption assistance for families who adopt children from the child welfare system. Over time, foster care and adoption assistance eligibility has eroded the number of children eligible for federal support. This shift places greater pressure on state and local child welfare budgets, including efforts to fund prevention and intervention services. A CWLA analysis indicates that 55 percent of the children in foster care were eligible for federal assistance in 1998 and by 2004 less than 45 percent were eligible. If left in place, the current eligibility standard will continue to eliminate more children, bringing into question the federal commitment to protect kids in care.

Some have suggested that the solution to the outdated eligibility is to turn foster care and adoption assistance into a block grant. The glaring failure of a block grant is that it locks in the past ten years of reduced support for children in need of protection, and subsequently offers little hope for an increased partnership between federal, state and local governments and the communities most directly affected.

Various proposals to modernize and update eligibility that have been offered are worthy of consideration. 1) Eliminate the entire eligibility link and provide support to all abused and neglected children. Few of these children are "well-off" and this would ensure the federal government's commitment to help all vulnerable children. 2) Eliminate the link to AFDC by gradually allowing states to cover all children in care. As part of this expanded eligibility, some costs could be offset by negotiating a reduced match in federal funding. 3) Replace the AFDC link with a link to an existing program. Some have suggested linking eligibility to the TANF program or Medicaid. This would eliminate the gradual erosion of federal support that now exists, but it does not commit the federal government to a shared commitment to all abused and neglected children.

Again, I urge you to reform the outdated 10-year-old federal eligibility for foster care and adoption assistance.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
February 24, 2007