Title IV-E Waiver

March 27, 2013 - The California Department of Social Services recently posted the final evaluation of California's Title IV-E Waiver Capped Allocation Project ("CAP" or "the Waiver"). Alameda and Los Angeles were the only two counties to participate in the project during the time period covered by the evaluation (2007-2012). The state is currently negotiating a renewal of the Waiver, and over 20 additional counties have expressed interest in participating. Prepared by Dr. Charlie Ferguson at San José...Read more »

October 16, 2012 - There's still time to RSVP for our Children's Policy Forum this FRIDAY, October 19th, at Preservation Park in Oakland! During 2012-13, a pivotal time for children and youth across California, The Alameda County Interagency Children's Policy Council, Foster Youth Alliance, and Center for Child and Youth Policy at UC Berkeley are pleased to lead a series of conversations on the status and needs of children in Alameda County. Our first forum will be...Read more »

September 18, 2012 - The Alameda County Youth Advocate Program is hiring youth advocate fellows! Former foster and probation youth from Alameda County are eligible to apply: "WestCoast Children's Clinic and the Youth Advocate Program are seeking former Alameda County foster youth (ages 18-21) to be the voice of and advocate for current foster youth in the Alameda County foster care system. If you have a passion for working in partnership with current foster youth to improve the...Read more »

February 16, 2012 - While much of the current debate about foster care financing reform has been focused exclusively on increasing local flexibility and incentivizing caseload decline, this February 13th blog post by Amy Lemley of the John Burton Foundation explores the "lookback" - a vestige of 1996 welfare reform that has eroded federal foster care funding over time. Subscribe to the JBF newsletter here.Read more »

September 27, 2011 - Last Friday afternoon, Congress passed HR 2883, the Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act, partly a routine reauthorization of funding for core Child Welfare programs, and partly a further step towards institutionalizing Title IV-E Waivers, like that under which Alameda and Los Angeles Counties operate their child welfare and foster care programs. National Center for Youth Law recently provided a report on the as...Read more »

August 25, 2011 - Alameda County regularly updates and publishes the "Waiver Dashboard," which tracks data points related to the 5 goals laid out by the county's child welfare system when entering the Title IV-E Waiver in 2006. The waiver provides a block grant of some state and federal foster care funds, and provides flexibility as to how those funds can be utilized. Click here for the most recent dashboard, current as of 8/22/11.Read more »

June 09, 2011 - Today's Wall Street Journal (White, 6/9/11) looks at Alameda County's foster care system and the effects of the Title IVE Waiver project. The article features Monique Johnson, a former foster youth currently employed at the county's Fresh Start Cafe, and includes comments by FYA board member Jill Duerr Berrick, County Administrator Susan Muranishi, and Chet Hewitt, former SSA director who engineered the county's entrance in the Waiver project.Read more »

June 08, 2011 - The United States Senate and House of Representatives are both considering bills this session that would extend the Department of Health and Human Services' authority to approve Title IV-E Waivers for flexible funding to up to ten states. The House has passed their bill (H.R. 1194) with a voice vote, which makes no substantial changes to the existing Waiver program. The Senate's bill (S. 1013) is still in committee, and contains some...Read more »

October 21, 2010 - Two weeks ago, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas led the Board in requesting 20 years of data on child deaths from the county Department of Child and Family Services. The call came largely in response to earlier reportage in the Times about a series of deaths among children known to the Department. This week, DCFS responded the Board's request and released information about a large number of...Read more »

September 13, 2010 - On Monday, September 13, the Social Services Committee of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors met to consider a set of Title IV-E Waiver investment proposals intended to benefit Transition Age Youth. These included four major proposals developed through stakeholder consultation with FYA: increased individualized educational advocacy through Beyond Emancipation and ACOE FYS, a expansion of programming at West Coast Children's Clinic to locate and reengage AWOL youth, an expansion and renewal of the...Read more »