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February
26, 2016
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Volume XL Number 7
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Thank you for reading This Week in Washington. In each issue you will find summaries of relevant events and APHSA's analysis behind them. More simply, you will learn about the event, whether it is a policy letter, new regulation or key appointment, and what it means to you.
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NEICE Legislation Introduced in Senate
O
n Wednesday, February 24,
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced H.R. 4472, the Modernizing the Interstate Placement of Children in Foster Care Act, in the Senate
just weeks after Representatives Todd Young (R-IN) and Danny Davis (D-IL) introduced
the bill in the House.
The bill will enable states to adopt the National Electronic Interstate Compact Enterprise (NEICE) by providing up to $5 million to pay for its development and implementation at the state and county level. The bill is co-sponsored by several Senate Democrats including Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Al Franken (D-MN), and Gary Peters (D-MI).
The NEICE is a web-based electronic case processing system that supports the administration of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC). The ICPC enables states and counties to exchange data and documents across state jurisdictions so that children in need of foster care may be placed in locations other than the state in which they currently reside.
"Throughout the country, caseworkers often avoid exploring out of state placements because of the long delays in processing the paperwork. Our bill gives incentives to states to join the NEICE system and streamline the paperwork to make foster care placements and eventual adoption happen faster," Grassley said about the NEICE. "The more we can do to give children safe, stable homes, the better. The increased displacement of kids due to parental substance abuse, including opioid abuse, makes this cause especially important."
Introduction of the bills in the House and Senate with bipartisan and bicameral support is a sign of major congressional support for the NEICE and for its goals and objectives.
The NEICE was developed and is supported by the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) and its affiliate, the Association of Administrators of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (AAICPC) to modernize the now antiquated ICPC.
In a press release issued February 25, APHSA applauded the legislation, which will facilitate state participation in the NEICE project. Speaking on behalf of APHSA and AAICPC, Tracy Wareing Evans, Executive Director of APHSA said, "APHSA and its members have long worked for a faster and more effective path toward stability and permanence for the nation's children. The NEICE is a modern day tool to make that happen."
Evans and Mical Anne Peterson, president of the Association of Administrators of the
Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, also sent a letter to Sen. Grassley thanking him for introducing the bill in the Senate and offering our full support of his efforts as the bill moves forward.
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 Actions
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APHSA-Child Care Affiliate Issues Comment on Child Care Development Fund Proposed Rule
On Monday, February 22, the National Association of State Child Care Administrators (NASCCA), an affiliate of the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) submitted comments in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Program that was issued by the Office of Child Care (OCC) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) on December 24, 2015.
NASCCA's comments noted that the Child Care Development Block Grant Reauthorization (CCDBG) of 2014 presented an opportunity to increase focus on improving the overall quality of early care and education programs. The affiliate also identified the following overarching principles that guided the recommendations: high-quality early care and education are critical to healthy development growth in early years; successful implementation of the reauthorization law is multi-faceted and will require staging and phasing; and providers are key partners in this work.
NASCCA members identified changes that require action by state legislature; request for temporary relief from requirements; child eligibility; graduated phase-out; reporting changes in circumstances; parental complaint hotline; consumer education website; provider monitoring, components of criminal background checks; setting payment rates, parent fees; provider payment practices; and program integrity as top priorities with specific comments and recommendations provided for each. The recommendations balanced the need for guidance and clarification from the Office of Child Care on specific provisions in the reauthorization law and options for states to develop customized approached that promotes Lead Agency flexibility (noted throughout the NPRM).
The comments letter can be found
here.
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Triad's Support of Family First Act a Major Headline
On Feb. 22, the headline of a Chronicle of Social Change article read, "
Family First Act Gains Three More Major Backers (Even Though It Hasn't Been Written)." The article covered the public announcement of the Triad partnership's support for the Family First Act, a bi-partisan child welfare reform legislative proposal co-authored by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), Senate Finance Committee chairman and ranking member, respectively.
The Triad partners, the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), and the National Organization of State Association for Children (NOSAC), are grateful to the Chronicle of Social Change and Senior Editor John Kelly for the coverage of our efforts to encourage members of the Senate Finance Committee to support a markup of the bill. It is an important time for the media to give lift to the pressing need for finance reform and to spotlight the support that the senators' proposal has from many advocacy organizations, including the Triad, which represents the nation's largest networks of public and private child and family-serving agencies.
In the article, Kelly reaches back nearly 18 months to a speech given by Alliance President and CEO Susan Dreyfus in September 2014 at a conference hosted by the California Alliance for Child and Family Services. As a point of clarification, the quote featured in the Chronicle of Social Change article was Dreyfus' response to a question about the idea that was in play in the Senate at the time around using artificially set age and time limits to restrict the use of federal IV-E financing for residential settings, an idea that the Triad opposes and that advocates effectively fought back. The troubling age and time limitations do not appear in the pending Family First Act. The senators' draft proposal puts a much greater emphasis on directing federal funds toward high quality residential settings for short-term stabilization and treatment, a move that the Alliance and Triad have supported.
For more information about the pending Family First Act and the Triad's support, visit the Keeping Kids in Families website and view FAQs and access anadvocacy toolkit.
Supporters of federal child welfare finance reform are encouraged to
contact senators today
to urge them to make sure the Family First Act goes to markup.
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House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Holds Budget Hearing on Nutrition Programs
On Wednesday, February 24 the Agriculture Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee held a hearing on the administration's fiscal year 2017 budget request for USDA Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services (FNCS) programs. The primary witness was Kevin Concannon, U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary of FNCS.
In his opening remarks, Subcommittee Chairman Robert Aderholt (R-AL) cited the budget increases requested in spite of decreasing national unemployment rate and declining numbers of nutrition program recipients. He seeks reductions in expenditures and has made increased oversight of FNCS programs a priority.
Many Subcommittee members' questions concerned the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which comprises the majority of FNCS' budget. An exchange took place between Aderholt and Concannon on the USDA Office of Inspector General's (OIG) review of state SNAP Quality Control (QC) systems released last September.
Concannon said that he was deeply troubled by OIG's findings that some states were not reporting correctly, and that the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will delay the awarding of bonuses to states until the underlying issues can be identified and corrected. He spoke of misunderstanding or misinterpretation as the cause of many of the errors, but said that some states may have added elements that corrupted their QC samples, and that states found to have knowingly done so would be "in trouble."
In its review, OIG also took issue with FNS' policy on broad based categorical eligibility (BBCE), a finding with which FNCS disagrees. When asked why he would not seek a legal opinion on the validity of BBCE from the Office of General Counsel as OIG recommended, Concannon responded that this is a matter of policy interpretation that is outside of OGC's role-such an issue should come through Congressional channels.
Drug testing of SNAP applicants was another recurring focus of discussion. Concannon stood strongly behind current policy prohibiting drug testing as a condition of eligibility, but supported the availability of such programs through avenues like Medicaid. Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) disagreed with this opinion, casting SNAP drug testing as a path to beneficial treatment and describing Concannon's position as "just an excuse."
Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA) was critical of the recent proposed FNS rule that would raise the standards for stocking of healthy foods by SNAP food retailers. He was concerned that the requirements may become so burdensome that they will drive small retailers from the program in areas with limited food availability.
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Resources
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Department of Labor Releases WIOA State Plan Requirements
Under WIOA, each state must submit a Unified or Combined State Plan that outlines a four-year plan for the state's workforce development system. The major content areas of the State Plan include strategic and operation planning elements. The Strategic Planning Elements include analyses of the state's economic conditions, labor force characteristics, and workforce development activities. The Operational Planning Elements deal with implementation strategy, operating systems and policies, assurances, and program-specific requirements.
States must identify and describe specific strategies for joint planning and coordination across core and partner programs, and provide clear descriptions of how it will target services for priority populations. The deadline for State Plan submission was recently extended from March 3, 2016 to April 1, 2016. The departments have indicated that the final regulations for WIOA implementation will be released in June 2016.
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FNS Provides States with Guidance on Recent "Major Changes" Rule
On February 19, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) released a memorandum of guidance on its final rule of January 19 that had established requirements for reporting of major changes in state Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) operations.
The memorandum reminded states of the deadlines in the rule, elaborated on its requirements through a series of questions and answers, and included a form for state use in documenting each reporting item required by FNS.
The new reporting requirements apply to all changes considered to be major according to the rule, if state implementation will begin after March 21, 2016. While expecting notification 120 days in advance of implementation, FNS reinforces in the guidance that the rule does not provide it with approval authority, so state planning should not be interrupted.
In addition, the FNS National Office hosted a webinar on the rule in late January and plans another one in March.
The memo can be found at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/snap/SNAP-Major-Changes-Rule-Guidance-and-Q-and-A-2-11-2016.pdf and the reporting form at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/state-agency-notification-major-changes-program-design-form.
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House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources to Hold Hearing on Incentivizing Work for Low-Income Individuals
The House of Representatives Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources will hold a hearing "Getting Incentives Right: Connecting Low-Income Individuals with Jobs" on Tuesday, March 1, 2016. The hearing with begin at 10:00 a.m. in Room 1100 of the Longworth House Office Building.
Members will discuss how the human services system, including programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), can be improved in order to better meet the needs of job seekers and employers, spur economic growth, and help more families achieve self-sufficiency and mobility.
Only invited witnesses will give oral testimony at the hearing, but others may submit written comments for the record and consideration of the committee. Written comments are due on Tuesday, March 15, 2016. The hearing advisory and instructions for submitting written comments can be viewed here.
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Republican Leaders Release Task Force on Poverty, Opportunity, & Upward Mobility Mission Statement
On Wednesday, February 24, 2016 the Republican-led Task Force on Poverty, Opportunity, & Upward Mobility released its mission statement.
The task force is one of five task forces addressing the areas of national security, jobs and the economy, health care, poverty, opportunity, and upward mobility, and restoring constitutional authority. The Task Force on Poverty, Opportunity, & Upward Mobility is composed of the chairmen of the Agriculture, Budget, Education and Workforce, Financial Services, and Ways and Means Committees.
The mission statement describes the task force's commitment to strengthening the social safety net, improving education and training opportunities that help workers succeed in the economy, and helping recipients of public assistance fully engage in the workforce. It outlines the task force's goals and advocates for nine policy reforms to achieve its mission.
The mission statement and accompanying press release, as well as more information about the House Republican agenda and committee-led task forces are available here.
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APHSA's National Collaborative Releases New Report
The National Collaborative Workforce Committee has released its report, "Human Resources as a Strategic Partner for Health and Human Services."
The report summarizes state and county responses to a survey sent out in the Fall 2015 asking for information about how H/HS leaders effectively leverage their partnership with the HR function within their agency.
The report also introduces the Framework for HR Roles/Functions
as the foundation for how H/HS leaders should view the partnership between themselves and the HR function and identifies thirteen (13) findings from the survey that can provide guidance on how to close the gaps between the current "as is" partnership and where HR should be to help drive direction for H/HS of the future.
Click here to view the report.
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Round Three P3 Application Deadline Approaches
The deadline for round three of the Performance Partnership Pilot (P3) applications is March 4, 2015. These pilots allow discretionary funds from the Departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, Justice, Housing and Urban Development, Corporation for National and Community Service and Institute of Museum and Library Services to be used in flexible ways to serve disconnected youth. Details are posted in the November 24, Federal Register.
Prior to the first round of pilots, The Forum for Youth Investment generated a list of ideas that a jurisdiction can potentially use as a P3 site. Though the current application encourages broader, bolder ideas, the original list that follows provides concepts that can be built on to create a pilot.
Twenty (ish) Things You Could Do with a P3
1. Provide wrap-around supports to key populations
A P3 could allow a locality to align multiple federal funding streams to provide integrated supports to specific sub-populations such as gang-involved youth, youth with disabilities, youth aging out of foster care, youth with history of truancy and behavioral problems, over-aged/under credentialed youth, LGBTQ youth, and teen parents.
2. Integrate secondary education, post-secondary education, and/or job training services
A P3 could allow for raising the age through which high school education will be funded, and blending Department of Education and Department of Labor funding to pursue joint objectives such as creating dropout reengagement centers and dual enrollment programs.
3. Develop summer residential academies for foster care youth on college campuses
A P3 could allow for federal funding for colleges to be blended with college funding for child welfare to create a summer residential program with monthly follow-up to provide academic support and enrichment to prepare foster youth for two- and four-year colleges.
4. Develop cross-agency data systems on disconnected youth
A P3 could allow for data on disconnected youth to be shared among local government agencies while responsibly protecting confidentiality.
5. Provide better information and referral services for court-appointed advocates for children in foster care
6. Create residential, structured program to re-engage youth
A P3 could allow federal funding streams to be blended in order to create a program modelled after the National Guard Youth Foundation's eight components of positive youth development. Participants stay engaged in a post-program phase in which they stay in contact with mentors.
7. Create a competency-based education system
8. Provide intensive, long-term, relationship-based street outreach
9. Create community-based youth liaisons
10. Integrate foster care, employment, and independent living supports
11. Allow previously discharged youth under the age of 21 to re-enter foster care
12. Create agency-hospital partnerships to link homeless/runaway youth to stable health care
13. Raise age of eligibility in youth drop-in service centers to age 24
14. Align efforts to reach youth through social media
15. Leverage libraries as resource centers for teens
16. Create a public/private partnership between a foundation grants program and P3 flexibility
17. Create/strengthen a community school
18. Create cross agency incentives (such as conditional cash transfers) for youth to stay in school
19. Provide strong case management to help youth navigate between systems
20. Target resources to high need communities
21. Create a unified accountability system/common evaluation methods, etc.
22. Strengthen transitions
If you have questions, want to explore an idea or need other assistance, The Forum for Youth Investment is ready to provide assistance. Sara Mathew can be reached at 202-207-3712 or by email, [email protected].
[email protected]
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