WASHINGTON, D.C., December 20, 2004—Even with mounting fiscal constraints, states spent $22.2 billion in federal, state, and local funds in 2002 to protect abused and neglected children, an 8-percent increase from 2000's $20.8 billion, says a new study from the nonpartisan Urban Institute.
When Congress reconvenes next year, hearings on changes to the federal child welfare financing structure are expected to continue. Hearings were held this past summer on reforms proposed by the administration, recommendations made by the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, and a bill introduced by Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA).
Some $11.3 billion came from Washington, $8.2 billion from states, and $2.6 billion from localities. Nonfederal spending grew 9 percent (state expenditures rose 7 percent and localities experienced a 15-percent jump), outpacing federal funding's 7 percent increase. Five states and the District of Columbia saw jumps of 21 percent or more in total spending, while 14 states experienced declines.
"Our findings reveal tremendous variation in spending patterns across states, and this variation should be considered in any financing reform debate," says the Urban Institute's Cynthia Andrews Scarcella. "There also may be significant changes over time within a particular state."
"The Cost of Protecting Vulnerable Children IV: How Child Welfare Funding Fared during the Recession" examines states' financing of child welfare services, analyzing how the funds were used and how funding has shifted since 1996's welfare overhaul. The study, fourth in a series, profiles all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It is the product of a team of researchers from the Urban Institute's Child Welfare Research Program.
Child welfare agencies provide a safety net for abused, neglected, and at-risk children.
This net includes abuse and neglect prevention, family preservation services, child protective services, in-home programs, foster and kinship care, institutional care, adoption services, and subsidized guardianship placements. In 2002, agencies received 2.6 million referrals involving 4.5 million children for suspected abuse or neglect. An estimated 532,000 children were in foster care.
Nearly all of the $748 million growth in federal support came from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (welfare) and Medicaid, two funding streams that are not dedicated to child welfare activities. Because federal foster care and adoption funding is restricted and funding for prevention and in-home services is limited, states use these two sources to fill in the gaps.
"Our findings raise several points that should be considered by legislators and policymakers when Congress takes up reforms to child welfare financing," says co-author Roseana Bess. "For example, we need to understand better the role of supplementary funding such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Medicaid. With TANF reauthorization pending and the possibility of congressional attention turning soon to Medicaid and child welfare funding, information about how these programs relate to each other in supporting child welfare services is particularly valuable."
The most money in 2002, $10 billion, was spent on out-of-home services, such as foster care and kinship care. Spending on child protection, maltreatment prevention, and family preservation and support services reached $3.1 billion. Adoption-related spending totaled $2.6 billion and administrative services totaled $1.7 billion. Approximately $4.8 billion spent by the states couldn't fit into the study's uniform spending categories because of states' varying accounting methods.
"The Cost of Protecting Vulnerable Children IV: How Child Welfare Funding Fared during the Recession," by Cynthia Andrews Scarcella, Roseana Bess, Erica Hecht Zielewski, Lindsay Warner, and Rob Geen, is available at http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=411115. Support was provided by the Urban Institute's Assessing the New Federalism Project. The study is the latest from the Institute's ongoing research on child welfare issues. For more on this subject, go to http://www.urban.org/toolkit/issues/ChildWelfare.cfm.
The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization that examines the social, economic, and governance challenges facing the nation.
The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.
Usage, posting and reprint of materials on the UI web site:
Most publications may be downloaded free of charge from the web site in PDF format. This information may be used and copies made for research, academic, policy or other non-commercial purposes. Proper attribution is required.
Copyright of the written materials contained within the Urban Institute website is owned or controlled by the Urban Institute. Posting UI research papers on other websites is permitted subject to prior approval from the Urban Institute—contact paffairs@urban.org.
If you are unable to access or print the PDF document please contact us or call the Publications Office at (202) 261-5687.
Latest Research
Browse by Topic:
Printer-friendly summary
