Reform Efforts
Long-Term Supports Reform Efforts
In an attempt to reduce foster care and congregate care placements, the child welfare system has attempted several reform efforts that increase support to kin (family and friends) and restrict the use of congregate care placements. These reform efforts have helped to reduce placement in more restrictive settings but still offer unequal and inadequate assistance to kinship homes and a lack of options for youth to live independently with support.
Examples of Long-Term Support Reforms
The Guardian Assistance Program (GAP) was authorized in the 2008 Fostering Connections and Increasing Adoptions Act, and allows for financial payments to kinship placements, specifically relatives who are caring for children. Although this opened access to financial assistance for relative caregivers, the process to become eligible has many bureaucratic barriers, including criminal background check requirements and home assessments that disproportionately and negatively affect marginalized community members from becoming approved. This often leaves older youth, particularly Black, Indigenous, and Brown youth, without access to financially supported kinship homes.
The Family First Prevention Services Act (2018) is a major legislative reform effort that looked to address congregate care by restricting reimbursements for congregate care and group homes and requiring states to use more specialized foster care options. Though the legislation significantly restricts congregate care and group homes, it does so without investing in kinship supports and independent housing options for older youth in the system, leaving many states with a lack of placement options for youth as they move out of group homes and back into the community. This has the risk of leading to more criminalization of youth in the community and greater dependency on the youth homelessness system for housing. The law also allows for exceptions to using federal funds for group care that may disproportionately affect older teens, particularly teens of color, for example, states can use federal dollars for group care if the youth/child is at risk of trafficking. These exemptions may lead to some states disproportionately using group home care for youth of color.