Families Blossom Place Matters

Background

  • Title IV-E funds are federal funds that are matched by State dollars to pay for specific child welfare activities. Historically, Title IV-E funds have been permitted primarily for children and youth while they are in foster care.
  • The Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration Projects provide flexibility to States in their use of Title IV-E funds. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has approved as many as ten new demonstration projects during each of the past three federal fiscal years.
  • Federal authorization for the Demonstrations ends on September 30, 2019.
  • Place Matters serves as a strong foundation for Maryland’s Waiver Demonstration Project:
    • There are fewer children in foster care today in Maryland than at any time in the past 27 years.
    • The number of children in foster care has been reduced by 50% from July 2007 to September 2014.
    • Since 2007, more than 19,900 children have found permanent homes through adoption, guardianship, or reunification.

Maryland’s Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration Project

Maryland intends to utilize the Title IV-E Waiver to create a responsive, evidence- and trauma-informed system to promote well-being, using standardized assessments, building capacity of evidence-based and promising practices, strengthening families, and serving children in their homes.
    • The Title IV-E Waiver provides Maryland with the opportunity to test new approaches to service delivery and financing structures. No new funds are provided with the Waiver Demonstration; the Demonstration provides flexibility of funding using Title IV-E funds.
    • The Department of Human Services (DHS) anticipates that the flexibility provided by the Waiver Demonstration Project will result in improved outcomes for children and families, including increased youth and family functioning; decreased entries into foster care (new and re-entries); reduced lengths of stay; improved social and emotional functioning; improved educational achievement; increased exits to permanence; and, decreased reports of maltreatment.
Maryland’s priority populations for the Title IV-E Waiver are children and youth at-risk of re-entering out-of-home care and children and youth at-risk of coming into care (new entries).
  • Maryland will achieve these outcomes by:
    • Building on the success of Place Matters;
    • Leveraging statewide Children’s Cabinet initiatives;
    • Utilizing evidence-based and promising practices; and,
    • Creating a trauma-informed system of care.

Moving the Work Forward

  • DHS is the lead agency for the Waiver Demonstration project and is managing the design and implementation phases.
  • The local departments of social services (LDSS) hare engaged in the design and implementation phases of the Waiver Demonstration, including as members of the Advisory Council. The LDSS have a critical role in the initial readiness assessment being conducted in winter 2015 to prioritize evidence-based and promising practices for implementation.
  • The Advisory Council meets monthly and includes representatives from the Children’s Cabinet agencies, community and advocacy organizations, and universities, in addition to the LDSS.

IV-E Waiver – Development Phase

LDSS Data Package December 2014, DHR/SSA This data was prepared by DHS/SSA for use by LDSSs in the self-assessment phase of planning for the IV-E Waiver. Each LDSS was asked to use this data, as well as information and feedback from a team of stakeholders, to identify areas of service needs and gaps in their jurisdiction. The data in this packet comes from MD CHESSIE and CANS assessments, for a three-year period. For more information, please review Maryland data packet 3-6-2015.

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