Fiscal Year 2010 Budget in Brief Administration for Children and Families: Discretionary Spending

http://dhhs.gov/asfr/ob/docbudget/2010budgetinbriefr.html


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Fiscal Year 2010 Budget in Brief
Administration for Children and Families: Discretionary Spending



(dollars in millions)


2008

2009
ARRA*

2009
Omnibus

2010

2010 +/-
Omnibus

Zero to Five Initiative


Head Start**

6,878

2,100

7,113

7,235

+122

Early Head Start (non add)

688

1,100
710

721

+11

Child Care & Development Block Grant (discretionary)

2,062

2,000
2,127

2,127

--

Other Assistance for Children and Youth









--

Teenage Pregnancy Prevention









--

Community Based Grants (discretionary)

109

--

95

110

+15

PHS Evaluation Funds

5

--

4

4

--

State Grants (mandatory)

50

--

38

50

+13

Subtotal Teenage Pregnancy

163

--

137

164

+28

Child Welfare Programs

327

--

327

347

+20

Innovative Approaches to Foster Care (non add)

--

--

--

20

+20

Adoption Incentives

4

--

37

40

+3

Adoptions, Children's Health Act

12

--

13

13

--

Child Abuse Programs

105

--

110

108

-2

Home Visitation (non add)

10

--

14

14

--

Promoting Safe and Stable Families (discretionary)

63

--

63

63

--

Mentoring Children of Prisoners

49

--

49

49

--

Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs

113

--

115

115

--

Independent Living (Vouchers)

45

--

45

45

--

Subtotal, Children and Youth

9,823

4,100

10,136

10,306

+170

Assistance to Other Vulnerable Groups









--

LIHEAP









--

State Formula Grants

1,980

--

4,510

2,410

-2,100

Emergency Contingency Fund

590

--

590

790

+200

Legislative Trigger (Mandatory)

--

--

--

***

***

Subtotal, LIHEAP

2,570

--

5,100

3,200

-1,900


Refugee Programs


Transitional and Medical Services

296

--

282

337

+55

Unaccompanied Alien Children

133

--

123

176

+52

Other Refugee Programs

227

--

228

228

--

Subtotal, Refugee Programs

656

--

633

741

+107

Community Services Programs

722

1,000

775

765

- 10

Strengthening Communities Fund

--

50

--

50

+50

Compassion Capital Fund (CCF)

53

--

48

--

- 48

Center for Faith Based and Community Initiatives

1

--

1

1

--

Developmental Disabilities

180

--

184

184

--

Disaster Human Services Case Management

--

--

--

2

+2

Native Americans

46

--

47

47

--

Violent Crime Reduction

125

--

131

131

--

Social Services Research & Demonstration

15

--

14

--

-14

PHS Evaluation Funds (non add)

6

--

6

6

--

Federal Administration

184

--

197

218

+21

Total, Program Level

14,382

5,150

17,273

15,651

-1,622


Less Funds From Other Sources


Mandatory Teen Pregnancy Prevention Funding

50

--

38

50

+13

PHS Evaluation Funds

11

--

10

10

--

Total Discretionary Budget Authority

14,322

5,150

17,225

15,591

-1,634

FTE (including those financed with mandatory funds)

1,283

--

1,328

1,479

151




2008* American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act)
** The 2009 Omnibus funding level does not include $1.4 billion appropriated in FY 2008 but not available until FY 2009.
*'** Release amounts determined by FY 2009 energy price increases. Based on probabilistic scoring $450 million is shown for FY 2010.



The FY 2010 discretionary Budget request for ACF is $15.6 billion, a decrease of $1.6 billion below FY 2009. Children’s programs are prioritized with major increases for Head Start and new initiatives to prevent teenage pregnancy and reduce long term foster care placements. Included in this Budget request is $3.2 billion for LIHEAP, a reduction of $1.9 billion but the highest LIHEAP funding level for any year except for the most recent. A legislative proposal would provide additional mandatory LIHEAP funding if energy prices increase significantly.

ZERO TO FIVE INITIATIVE

The Budget makes a down payment on the President’s Zero to Five Initiative, a comprehensive early childhood education plan to support young children and their families. Within ACF, this initiative includes a commitment to affordable, high quality child care, to expanding Head Start and Early Head Start, and to launching a new Home Visitation program, described in the ACF Mandatory section of the Budget in Brief.

Recovery Act
The Recovery Act provides $2.1 billion for Head Start, $1.1 billion of which is specifically for Early Head Start expansion. This historic increase will allow Head Start and Early Head Start to serve approximately 70,000 additional children, 55,000 of whom are infants and toddlers. The Head Start program helps low-income children arrive at school ready to learn by enhancing their social and cognitive development through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services. The program has served more than 25 million children since it began in 1965.

Helping Children Get the Best Start: The FY 2010 Budget request for Head Start is $7.2 billion, an increase of $122 million over FY 2009. Including one-time funding from the Recovery Act, Head Start received a total of $9.2 billion in FY 2009, which will provide services for an estimated 978,000 children from birth to age five, an increase of approximately 70,000 over FY 2008. The FY 2010 increase will ensure that the portion of grantees’ FY 2009 cost-of-living adjustment paid for with Recovery Act monies remains available to grantees within their base funding in FY 2010. The FY 2010 increase, combined with Recovery Act resources, enables Head Start to sustain the FY 2009 increase in children served in FY 2010. In support of the President’s emphasis on the early care and education of infants, approximately 115,000 infants and toddlers, nearly twice as many as in FY 2008, will have access to Early Head Start services in FY 2009 and FY 2010.

Child Care: The discretionary Budget includes $2.1 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), the same as FY 2009. These resources support child care subsidies to low income families who are working or attending training or education and other activities that improve the quality and availability of child care. The Recovery Act also provided $2 billion to expand the availability of child care and improve its quality. These funds will serve an estimated 200,000 to 220,000 additional children and families over two years, with maximum flexibility for States.

The Budget requests a total of $5 billion for child care through the Child Care and Development Fund, which includes CCDBG ($2.1 billion) and $2.9 billion in mandatory funds for the Child Care Entitlement to States, sufficient to provide assistance to an estimated 1.6 million children each month. Combined Federal and related State child care funding provides child care assistance to 2.6 million children per month.

PROVIDING ASSISTANCE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH

Teen Pregnancy Prevention: The ACF Budget includes $110 million to support community-based efforts to reduce teen pregnancy. The majority of funds for this effort will support programs using models whose effectiveness has been demonstrated through rigorous evaluation. A smaller portion of funds will be available to develop and test promising teen prevention programs. Previous evaluations indicate that the most positive results come from high intensity youth development programs that provide a range of services in addition to comprehensive sex education, such as after school activities, academic support, or service learning.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will increase its support for national organizations and State teen pregnancy prevention coalitions to select, implement, and evaluate science based programs to prevent teen pregnancy. ACF evaluation funds ($4 million annually) also will continue to be used to test a range of teen pregnancy prevention programs.

The Budget redirects funding from ACF’s abstinence-only education programs to evidenced based and promising teen pregnancy prevention programs as described above. The Administration will not seek reauthorization for the mandatory State Abstinence Education formula grants when they expire in June of 2009. The Budget instead requests $50 million in mandatory funds for State, Tribal, and Territory teen pregnancy prevention efforts.

Child Welfare: The Budget requests $347 million to support State public welfare agencies to protect and promote the well being of all children. These activities include preventing abuse and neglect; supporting at risk families through services to keep children at home where appropriate; securing alternative placements (e.g., foster care, adoption) for children who must be removed from their homes; and reunification services when it is appropriate for children to return home to their families.

Innovative Approaches to Foster Care: The Budget request includes $20 million to fund projects that aim to improve outcomes for children in foster care. This program will provide upfront funding for the purpose of implementing and sustaining evidence-based practice improvements. Grantees demonstrating an improvement in child and family outcomes will be eligible to receive bonus funding.

Adoption Incentives: States that successfully increase the number of children adopted from their public foster care systems receive bonus payments from ACF. The Budget requests $40 million for these bonuses, an increase of $3 million over FY 2009, to fully cover anticipated State bonus payment levels. States receive bonus payments for adoptions completed in the previous year. The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 raised bonus payments for adoption of special needs and older children and made other program improvements. After remaining unchanged for several years, data indicates a 5 percent increase (to 54,000) in the number of adoptions between FY 2007 and FY 2008.

Child Abuse Prevention: The Budget request includes $108 million, the same level as FY 2009 excluding one-time congressional projects. Funds support grants to States through the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to strengthen the State’s child protective service systems, including their investigation of abuse, training for child protection workers, and programs to prevent and treat child abuse and neglect. Funds also support a continuum of prevention efforts, including community based activities, research on child maltreatment, and training and technical assistance.

Promoting Safe and Stable Families: To continue supporting States’ efforts to coordinate their family preservation services, the FY 2010 Budget maintains funding at $443 million for the Promoting Safe and Stable Families program, of which $63 million is financed through discretionary resources. Funds support community-based activities to promote parental competencies, time limited reunification services, and adoption promotion and support services.

Other Programs for Children and Youth: The Budget maintains funding at $49 million for the Mentoring Children of Prisoners program to provide grants to eligible entities that support one on one mentoring for children of incarcerated parents and those recently released from prison. The Budget also includes $115 million for Runaway and Homeless Youth programs, the same as FY 2009, to make grants to public and private organizations that establish and operate shelters for youth, offer supportive services, provide street based outreach, and operate Maternity Group Homes. To continue to provide post secondary educational assistance to foster care youth ages 16 to 21, the Budget maintains funding at the FY 2009 level of $45 million for the Independent Living Education and Training Vouchers programs, which provides up to $5,000 per participant for expenses like tuition, books, and other fees.

Strengthening Communities
The new Strengthening Communities Fund will build the capacity of nonprofit organizations to address the needs of distressed communities. Capacity building activities are designed to increase an organization’s sustainability and effectiveness, enhance its ability to provide social services, and create collaborations to better serve those in need.

ASSISTANCE FOR OTHER VULNERABLE GROUPS

Low Income Home Energy Assistance: The Budget requests $3.2 billion for the LIHEAP program to help low income households heat and cool their homes. The Budget request is larger than any previous year, except for the most recent, when the nation was threatened with an unprecedented increase in energy costs. Energy prices are volatile, making it difficult to match funding to need. For this reason, the Budget includes a legislative proposal to provide additional mandatory LIHEAP funding if energy prices increase significantly.

Under the Administration’s preliminary design, the legislative proposal would trigger additional funds when oil and natural gas prices increase by at least 15 percent or electricity prices increase by at least 10 percent. Price increases would be measured by comparing quarterly prices with prices from the same quarter of the previous year. The amount of funds released would be determined by the percent increase in prices, and the size of the prior year’s formula grant appropriation. For example, if fourth quarter 2009 energy prices exceed last year’s peak prices by just two percent (oil at $126 per barrel) this legislative proposal could bring total LIHEAP funding to $5.1 billion, the same as the FY 2009 level. The Administration will work with Congress to develop a final trigger design within the resources provided in the Budget.

The Administration is committed to more efficient use of energy. The Recovery Act provided $5 billion to the Energy Department’s Weatherization Assistance Program, sufficient to permanently lower home energy bills for hundreds of thousands of low income homes.

Refugees: The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) provides services to newly arrived refugees and other entrants, unaccompanied alien children and victims of trafficking and torture. Major activities include the provision of time limited (transitional) cash and medical assistance, English instruction, and job-training to help new arrivals achieve economic self-sufficiency. Care is also provided to unaccompanied alien children (UACs) who are apprehended in the U.S. by the Department of Homeland Security, or other law enforcement. ACF retains custody of these children until they can be released to relatives or sponsors or their relief claims under U.S. immigration law are resolved.

The Budget requests $741 million for these activities, an increase of $107 million over FY 2009. The Budget includes an additional $55 million primarily to reimburse states for the transitional and medical costs of helping newly arrived refugees achieve self-sufficiency. State costs are increasing as refugees take longer to achieve self-sufficiency in the current economy. An additional $52 million is also included to address legislative changes to the UAC program, which are anticipated to increase the number of children in ACF custody. The recently enacted William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization gives ACF custody of certain UACs from contiguous countries (Mexico and Canada) who are apprehended crossing the Border. In the past, UACs from Mexico were re patriated without coming into ACF’s custody.

Community Services Programs: To support State efforts to reduce poverty and assist low income residents, the FY 2010 Budget request includes $765 million for Community Services Programs, a decrease of $10 million below FY 2009. Funding is maintained for the Community Services Block Grant and for all other Community Service Programs except for the Rural Community Facilities Program ($10 million in FY 2009), which provides grants to communities to develop and design water treatment facilities. Maintaining a separate rural water facilities program in ACF is inefficient. Both the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture provide far larger amounts of funding for financing water treatment programs.

Strengthening Communities Fund: The Budget provides $50 million in FY 2010 for the Strengthening Communities Fund (SCF), a new effort created through the Recovery Act and funded at $50 million in FY 2009. Funds will be used to build the capacity of faith-based and community-based non profits to serve low-income and disadvantaged populations. Grant activities will help these organizations expand service delivery, increase community access to public benefits, and help low and moderate income people secure and retain employment. The SCF replaces the Compassion Capital Fund.

Developmental Disabilities: The Budget requests $184 million, the same as FY 2009, to help ensure that individuals with developmental disabilities have opportunities to contribute to and participate in all facets of community life and can access culturally competent support services that are consumer centered. These funds are also used to protect the legal and human rights of individuals with disabilities and to increase their voter participation.

Disaster Human Services Case Management: Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the need for case management to assist individuals affected by disasters regain self sufficiency. To determine how to create a model disaster case management program, ACF conducted a pilot project during the 2008 Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. More than 5,500 individuals enrolled and received case management services faster than ever before. The FY 2010 Budget includes $2 million to further address this issue.

Performance Highlight
The percent of unaccompanied alien children that received medical screening or examination within 48 hours of admission to Office of Refugee Resettlement facilities increased from 75.5 percent in FY 2006 to 88.9 percent in FY 2008.

Native Americans: The Administration for Native Americans promotes economic self sufficiency and preservation of Native American languages and culture. Grants are provided to Tribes, other Native American communities, Native Hawaiians, and other Native Pacific Islanders organizations. Funds can be used for a range of projects including jobs creation, increasing the capacity of tribal governments, establishment of local court systems, enactment of new codes and environmental ordinances and improved control of natural resources. The Budget requests $47 million, the same as FY 2009.

Violent Crime Reduction: The FY 2010 Budget maintains funding at the FY 2009 level of $131 million for programs that prevent family violence, offer shelter for victims of family violence and their dependents, and provide intervention services for families in abusive situations. Funds also support the National Domestic Violence Hotline, a toll free telephone hotline that operates 24 hours a day to provide information and assistance to victims of domestic violence.

OTHER ACF PROGRAMS

Research: In addition to the evaluation of teen pregnancy prevention ($4 million), the Budget includes $6 million for Social Services Research and Development. These funds support investigation into critical areas, such as the best ways for low income families to become economically self sufficient.

Federal Administration: The Budget requests $218 million for staff salaries, and other necessary administrative activities, an increase of $21 million over FY 2009. Additional funds will primarily be used to meet additional program requirements from new legislation. For example, the Head Start Reauthorization made significant changes to the program, including creating new competition requirements for poor performing grantees. The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act creates a new Kinship Guardianship program and allows Federally recognized Tribes to run their own Foster Care and Adoption Assistance programs, both of which required significant additional staff. The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization includes increased monitoring requirements for the Trafficking and UAC programs.



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