Juvenile Court Foster Care Eligibility Toolkit: Introduction

Within the field of social work, cultural competence refers to the ability to practice social work “in a manner that recognizes, affirms, and values the worth of individuals, families, communities, and protects and preserves the dignity of each” (National Association of Social Workers, 2015, p. 13).

Cultural awareness refers to being mindful or conscious of similarities and differences between people from different groups. It includes being aware of issues related to power, privilege, and oppression. To
employ cultural awareness in practice, social service agency staff need to be aware of their own cultural characteristics (values, worldviews, language, belief systems, traditions, norms), as well as those of the people they are serving. Without self-awareness, social service agency staff risk imposing their values, beliefs, and judgments on clients (Maschi & Leibowitz, 2018). They also risk inadvertently constructing barriers to trust that are necessary to fully engage children, youth, and families.

Implicit bias, also known as implicit prejudice or implicit attitude, is an unconscious, negative attitude against a specific social group. It is thought to be shaped by experience and based on learned associations between particular qualities and social categories, including race and/or gender. Individuals’ perceptions and behaviors can be influenced by the implicit biases they hold, even if they are unaware, they hold such biases (Implicit Bias, N.D.).

Explicit bias is the traditional conceptualization of bias. It refers more to the conscious level bias – when we are aware of our prejudices, attitudes, and beliefs towards certain groups of people (Understanding Bias: A Resource Guide, N.D.).

We all have innate implicit and explicit biases – therefore, it is imperative that everyone becomes aware of what their individual biases are. If we are not aware, our biases can seep into our professional roles, and discolor the way in which we view people and negatively influence the way in which decisions are made on behalf of a family or child. Staff that comprise the systems of care have a moral and ethical obligation to ensure that decision making in their cases is fair, equitable and inclusive. Becoming aware of our biases will help ensure this occurs. Specifically, foster care eligibility staff hold a great deal of responsibility in their roles when it comes to making decisions on who receives aid and who does not, thus, making it imperative that eligibility staff too, become aware of individual biases.

The purpose of this training series is to improve the accuracy of Title IV-E Foster Care eligibility determinations made by County Welfare Departments.

The Foster Care Eligibility guide accompanies the e-learning series, and both are intended to enhance the knowledge of and understanding of Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) requirements as well as the Federal Financial Participation (Title IV-E eligibility requirements) for County Welfare Departments (CWDs), County Probation Departments and Title IV-E Tribes.

This is a self-guided course. Participants can read the participant guide before completing each web-based learning or complete it simultaneously. At the end of each web-based learning, there will be a quiz to check your knowledge of the content reviewed in each chapter. The learning process will be complete by repeating this process for each chapter of this training series.

There is a total of three learning segments in this e-learning series:

1. Foster Care Eligibility: AFDC-FC and County Funding Requirements

• Chapter 1: General Eligibility Requirements for the Child
• Chapter 2: Requirements to Claim the Foster Care Case as Federally Eligible
• Chapter 3: Ongoing Requirements

2. Kin-Gap Funding Eligibility

3. Juvenile Court: Foster Care Eligibility

As outlined, the Foster Care Eligibility segment has three separate learning chapters. It is recommended that the participant complete Foster Care Eligibility course before Kin-GAP or Juvenile Court as these courses refer to the basics of eligibility determination taught in the eligibility course.

When all three segments have been completed, the participant will receive a certificate of completion. The material presented in the webbased training and training guide should be utilized as supplemental material for eligibility staff in addition to training conducted by CWDs.

Additional Information Regarding This Participant Guide

This guide only covers Juvenile Court. Foster Care Eligibility Chapters 1, 2, and 3 and Kin-GAP have their own participant guides.

This guide is searchable to make it easier to locate information. Not all information for one topic is in one location of this document. For example, information about non-minor dependents is located throughout the document and is best to use search feature to access all the information.

If you need help while completing this course, ask for help and guidance from supervisors, coach, or lead worker in your County Welfare Department. Additional resources and how to contact CDSS to answer questions are listed in the Resource section of this guide.
 

Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) Program provides financial assistance to caregivers who are caring for children who have been placed in foster care. The program was eliminated in 1996 and was replaced by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program in many states in the United States. PRWORA continues to require that eligibility for Title IV-E funds (federal foster care funds) be based on whether a child meets the old AFDC deprivation and AFDC State Plan requirements (without waivers) that went into effect on July 16, 1996. The sole exception to this rule concerns citizenship and alien status. Child Welfare Departments and Probation have the legal authority to place children and provide services or benefits. 

July 16, 1996, is referred to as the ‘look back’ date for the AFDC-FC program. AFDC eligibility criteria must be met in the month of, but prior to, the child’s removal from the home. The child’s deprivation cannot be based on household circumstances that occurred after the child’s removal from the home.

Federal Financial Participation (FFP) under Section 672 are the foster care maintenance payments that are paid for the out-of-home placement costs of eligible children who cannot remain at home due to the risk of abuse or neglect.

To receive federal Title IV-E funding for out-of-home placements, the child must be linked to the federal AFDC Program (as it existed on July 16, 1996) in the month the initial petition was initiated, or voluntary agreement was signed. Chapter Two, “Requirements to Claim the Foster Care Case as Federal Eligible”, will provide an in depth review of federal funding and the requirements needed to claim this funding.

Per the Social Security Act, the circumstances under which the Title IV-E agency can claim foster care maintenance payments mandate that a child be placed in an approved or licensed foster care setting that meets the safety requirements. Foster care maintenance payments are paid when the child meets one of the conditions below:

• The child dependent (under WIC 300) or ward (under WIC 600) of the Juvenile Court is placed and supervised by the Social Services Agency or Probation Department.
• The child is voluntarily placed by the parent or guardian under a voluntary placement agreement.
• The child has been relinquished for adoption, or a petition to sever parental rights has been granted.
• The child is living with a nonrelated legal guardian and is supervised by the Social Services Agency or Probation Department (regardless of whether the guardianship is temporary or permanent).
• The child is living with a relative and the child meets certain eligibility criteria.

On February 9, 2018, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 - Public Law (P.L.) 115-123 which includes the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) was signed into law. The FFPSA amends the Title IV-E foster care program and revises Title IV-B, subparts 1 and 2 programs.

The objective of FFPSA is to enhance support services to families to help children and youth remain at home and reduce the use of congregate care placements by increasing options for prevention services, increased oversight, and requirements for placements, and enhancing the requirements for congregate care placement settings.

The FFPSA will enhance support services for families to help children remain at home and reduce the use of unnecessary congregate care placements by increasing options for prevention services, increased oversight, and requirements for placements, and enchasing the requirements for congregate care placement settings.

The following provisions are included in FFPSA:

• Support prevention services. The law gives states and tribes the ability to claim federal financial participation for providing eligible individuals with an array of approved foster care prevention services to strengthen families and keep children from entering foster care.
• Provide support for kinship (relative) caregivers through federal funds for evidence-based Kinship Navigator programs that link relative caregivers to a broad range of services and supports to help children remain safely with them.
• Establish new requirements for youth being placed in residential treatment programs and improve quality and oversight of intensive and trauma-based services.
• Requires access to family-based aftercare services to children at least six months post-discharge from STRTPs.
• Improve services to older and transition-age youth. Gives states the ability to provide services to former foster youth, up to age 23, who have aged out of foster care, as well as expanding eligibility requirements to the Education & Training Voucher (ETV) program.

For more information about the changes to Title IV-E eligibility requirements enacted to FFPSA, please visit the Resources section of this document to access the Title IV-E Review Guide.

It is the eligibility staff’s responsibility to make the foster care determination. Eligibility staff who determine and authorize Title IV-E benefits must ensure that each eligibility determination is made accurately, and that the documentation gathered and reviewed supports the eligibility determination.

When eligibility staff receive documentation that is insufficient or forms that are incomplete, it is their responsibility to obtain the necessary documentation prior to completing the eligibility determination to either authorize or deny foster care benefits.

This training addresses federal (Title IV-E) foster care and California foster care funding eligibility requirements. The training provides guidance for the appropriate use of foster care forms and documentation used for determining foster care funding eligibility. The course materials contain or provides links to:

• Federal And State Laws
• Policy And Procedures
• All County Letters
• Forms
• Abbreviations Commonly Used
• Definitions

CHAPTERS IN THIS COURSE
4. Overview of Juvenile Court

5. Hearings:

• Detention Hearing
• Jurisdictional Hearing
• Dispositional Hearing
• Status Review Hearing
• Selection and Implementation Hearing
• Post Permanency Hearing
• Non-Minor Dependent Hearings

6. Within each segment on hearings there will be information on:

• Purpose Of Hearing
• Preliminary Considerations
• What Takes Place at The Hearing
• Title IV-E Findings and Orders
• Possible Hearing Outcomes
• Sample Court Orders (Note that counties may have a different versions of these orders)

7. Resources
 

Upon completion of this course the participants will be able to:

Knowledge

• K1 Describe the role of Juvenile Court in Dependency and Delinquency cases.
• K2 Understand the purpose of the different types of hearings.
• K3 List the information required to be in each hearing to determine eligibility.
• K4 Explain the purpose of Extended Foster Care for Non-Minor Dependents.

Skills

• S1 Locate eligibility information on county court order forms.
• S2 Define terms: Dependent of Court, Ward of Court, Non-Minor, Judicial Officer, Dependency versus Delinquency.
• S3 Answer questions on case scenarios and quiz questions on key learning objectives.

Values

• V1 Agrees with the responsibilities for an eligibility staff to accurately determine and document
  foster care eligibility.