Title IV-E

The 1994 Amendments to the Social Security Act (the Act) authorize the Children's Bureau to review state child and family services programs to ensure compliance with the requirements in titles IV-B and IV-E of the Act. This includes systematic monitoring of the Title IV-E Foster Care Program, which provides funds to title IV-E agencies (states and Tribes) to assist with the costs of foster care maintenance for eligible children; administrative expenses to manage the program; and training for staff, foster parents, and certain private agency staff. Title IV-E foster care funds are awarded to the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and federally-recognized Indian Tribes, Indian Tribal organizations and Tribal consortia with approved title IV-E plans, and are available as open-ended entitlement grants through single-year appropriations. The program’s focus, which is articulated in statute, is children eligible under the pre-welfare reform Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and removed from their homes due to maltreatment, lack of care, lack of supervision, or other problems attributed to a relative caregiver. Specifically, the program permits title IV-E agencies to claim reimbursement for a portion of foster care expenditures for children who are removed from homes and placed in foster care, and who are eligible based on the former AFDC program (in effect July 16, 1996).

This funding stream can be leveraged against FYSCP funds to draw down funding to support the programming of FYSCP programs. In fact, the following is a requirement for FYSCPs:

EC 42925 (a) As a condition of receiving funds, each county office of education and consortium of county offices of education with a Foster Youth Services Coordinating Program operated pursuant to this chapter shall, to the extent possible, develop and enter into a memorandum of understanding, contract, or formal agreement with the county child welfare agency pursuant to which Foster Youth Services Coordinating Program funds shall be used, to the maximum extent possible, to leverage funds received pursuant to Title IV-E of the federal Social Security Act (42 USC Sec. 670 et seq.) and any other funds that may be used to specifically address the educational needs of pupils in foster care, or they shall explain in writing, annually, why a memorandum of understanding is not practical or feasible.

The COE fiscal team can work collaboratively with their child welfare fiscal partners to understand this process. The CDSS also provided resources and guidance documents that are posted on the Hub Title IV-E page.

How and when funds are utilized under an MOU with local child welfare authorities will be outlined within those local agreements.

Approved November 2022

The time frame for Title IV-E MOUs is driven by local practice. Your local child welfare authority will typically have annual contracts for this funding.

Title IV-E funding has different requirements and can be utilized as outlined in Federal statue. What activities can be funded will be based on local agreements.

Local agreements dictate how Title IV-E will be utilized at a local level. There are different allowable activities, many of which align with the goals and outcomes of FYSCPs. ACL 16-91 from 2016 provides guidance.

The components of a MOU to leverage Title IV-E funding is specific to each jurisdiction. If staff who are co-funded are also co-located those components can be included in one agreement or individual agreements based on local practice.

Students do not receive funds under Title IV-E. For the placing agency to be able to draw down Title IV-E funding, the child must have been living at or below the poverty line when they entered foster care. This applies to most children and youth in the foster care system.