| |
Timeline Of Major Child Welfare Legislation
- 1935 - Enactment of the Social Security Act includes limited funds for child welfare
- services under Title V.
- 1958 - Amendments to Title V require states to match federal child welfare funds if they
- choose to draw down funding.
- 1961 - Title IV-A, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) entitlement, is
- amended to allow use of funds for foster care expenses if the child comes from an AFDC eligible family and a court determines it is in the child's best interest to be removed. State participation in the Title IV-A AFDC foster care program is made mandatory in 1969.
- 1967 - Child welfare funding under Title V becomes Title IV-B, Child Welfare Services.
- 1974 - Child Abuse and Treatment Act is enacted. It is the only federal legislation
- exclusively dedicated to the prevention, assessment, identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect.
- 1978 - Indian Child Welfare Act is adopted, establishing requirements for child welfare
- agencies when serving Native children and families.
- 1980 - Enactment of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Amendments of 1980
- establishes a new Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoption Assistance entitlement program.
- 1981 - Congress ultimately rejects Senate legislation to create a child welfare block
- grant that eliminates the Title IV-E entitlement.
- 1985 - Title IV-E is amended to include a new Independent Living program to assist
- youth that age-out of the foster care system.
- 1993 - Title IV-B is amended to create a new Family Preservation and Family Support
- program.
- 1994 - Legislation is enacted that directs the U.S. Department of Health and Human
- Services (HHS) to create a new review of state child welfare systems. This directive ultimately creates the Child and Family Service Reviews. The legislation also authorizes child welfare waiver demonstrations.
- 1994 - Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA) is enacted to prevent discrimination in the
- services under Title V.
- 1935 - Enactment of the Social Security Act includes limited funds for child welfare
- placement of children based on race, color, or national original and to facilitate the identification and recruitment of foster and adoptive parents.
- 1995 - Congress ultimately rejects House-approved legislation to eliminate the Title IV-
- E Foster Care and Adoption Assistance entitlements and combine over 20 children's programs into a capped child welfare block grant.
- 1996 - Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant is created, thus
- eliminating AFDC as an individual entitlement. While TANF replaces AFDC, the law requires states to continue to base Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoption Assistance eligibility on AFDC standards in place on July 16, 1996.
- 1996 - MEPA is amended by the Interethnic Adoption Provisions to delete language
- specifically permitting the consideration of race in placement decisions.
- 1997 - Adoption and Safe Families Act is enacted. It creates timelines for moving
- children to permanency, provides adoption bonuses for states, and continues the child welfare waiver demonstrations. The law also renames the Family Preservation and Family Support program to Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) and expands the use of funds to two additional categories of service: time-limited reunification services and adoption promotion and support services.
- 1999 - The Independent Living program is expanded and renamed in honor of Senator
- John H. Chafee (R-RI).
- 2001 - Promoting Safe and Stable Families is reauthorized. The law also amends the
- John H. Chafee Independent Living program to provide funding for education and training vouchers for foster youth and create new funding for mentoring of children of incarcerated parents.
- 2003 - The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issues a ruling in Rosales v. Thompson, 321 F.3d 835
- (9th Cir. 2003) that would make many more children eligible for Title IV-E federal foster care assistance. The court rules that HHS has misinterpreted Title IV-E of the Social Security Act in denying federal foster care benefits to certain children who have been maltreated and placed with relatives outside their homes.
- 2005 - Congress passes and the President signs the Deficit Reduction Act, which overturns the
- Rosales ruling. The same legislation creates two additional $10 million funds for court improvement efforts.
 Back to Top  Printer-friendly Page  Contact Us
|
|
