Child Welfare Funding Opportunities:Title IV-E and Medicaid

C h i l d  We l f a r e   F u n d i n g   O p p o r t u n i t i e s :   T i t l e   I V - E   a n d   M e d i c a i d

Federal funds partially offset state and local funding for child welfare. These
child welfare investments have long been plagued by a diminishing share of
federal government funding. Federally funded child welfare programs include
the Title IV-B block grant, the Social Services Block Grant, Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) for the first year of foster care and other
emergency services, Supplemental Security Income for room and board for
disabled children, and the open ended Title IV-E (IV-E) entitlement program for
children from low-income families requiring foster care or subsidized
adoptions. Since 1980, IV-E has reimbursed states for a portion of the cost to
keep eligible children in out-of-home care. Over the course of the program, IVE foster care eligibility has dropped from about 70 percent in the mid-1980s
to less than 50 percent today, largely due to ridged eligibility requirements. For
example, the IV-E family income requirement is still based on the federal
poverty level from 1995.

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