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Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care Releases Final Recommendations |
After a year of intensive work, the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care unveiled its final report, with recommendations focusing on reforming federal child welfare financing and strengthening court oversight of children in foster care. Led by former Members of Congress Bill Frenzel and William H. Gray, the Pew Commission was comprised of a blue ribbon panel of child welfare experts, judges, and service providers from across the country. The report, "Fostering the Future: Safety, Permanence and Well-Being for Children in Foster Care", provides comprehensive recommendations on financing proposals to improve outcomes for children in foster care or children at risk of entering foster care. It calls for the creation of a flexible, indexed Safe Children, Strong Families Grant that would combine the monies in Title IV-E Administration and Training and Title IV-B, adding $200 million in funding the first year and increasing each state’s allocation by 2 percent, plus inflation in subsequent years. This grant allows states to reinvest federal and state foster care dollars into other child welfare services, including prevention. The recommendations maintain federal adoption assistance and foster care maintenance as an entitlement and recommends the elimination of the "look-back" to 1996 AFDC income eligibility standards for both foster care and adoption assistance. The Commission also recommends the expansion of permanence alternatives to include subsidized guardianship. The Commission's recommendations to strengthen the court oversight system are extensive and they urge increased and effective collaboration between federal, state and court processes as well as heightened accountability and accuracy in the institutions that deal with children removed from home. The Commission's recommendations were geared to build a continuum of services to meet children's needs quickly and in a developmentally appropriate way. To access the full report, visit the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care Web site: http://pewfostercare.org/new.php. |