WASHINGTON, D.C., May 24, 2006—Federal, state, and local governments spent $23.3 billion in 2004 to protect children from abuse and neglect, a 4 percent increase over 2002, says a study from the Urban Institute released during National Foster Care Month.
Increases at the state and local levels drove the overall growth in spending. While the $11.7 billion in federal funding was virtually unchanged from 2002, state spending increased 6 percent, to $9.1 billion, and local spending increased 10 percent, to $2.5 billion. Washington accounted for 49 percent of all funds, while states provided 39 percent, and 12 percent came from localities.
An estimated 872,000 children nationally were determined to be victims of abuse or neglect in 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This is about 24,000 fewer than in 2002. Child protective service agencies received about three million reports of possible maltreatment involving 5.5 million children in 2004.
"The Cost of Protecting Vulnerable Children V: Understanding State Variation in Child Welfare Financing," by Cynthia Scarcella, Roseana Bess, Erica Zielewski, and Rob Geen, is the fifth study since 1997 analyzing the financing of state and local public child welfare agencies. It includes data on 2004 federal, state, and local spending for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
These agencies provide a safety net for abused and neglected children and those at risk of maltreatment. Agency activities include abuse and neglect prevention, family preservation and reunification, foster care, kinship care, shelter care, parenting education, child protection and adoption services, in-home services, and case management.
Some children served by child welfare agencies are able to remain in their homes, while others must be placed in foster care or with relatives until they can return home. An estimated 518,000 children were in foster care as of September 30, 2004. Children who cannot return home are adopted, placed permanently with relatives or other caregivers, or age out of the system at age 18.
While expenditures increased nationally, 16 states saw declines and 30 experienced increases. Higher expectations for the quality or comprehensiveness of services, a continued increase in adoption spending, and rising costs are thought to be propelling the overall growth in spending.
Federal legislation passed in the 1990s requires states to review how well they are improving outcomes for children and families. Other legislation gives states incentives to increase the number of children adopted from foster care.
"Working under these federal mandates, state-specific mandates brought on by litigation, and the current federal financing structure, the states have created financing strategies that work best for them," says coauthor Roseana Bess.
States use a variety of federal funds, each with its own requirements, to pay for child welfare activities. Titles IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act are the principal sources of federal support created primarily for child welfare activities. Other federal programs, such as the Social Services Block Grant, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Medicaid, as well as several mandatory and discretionary grants, are also used for child welfare purposes.
"The Cost of Protecting Vulnerable Children V: Understanding State Variation in Child Welfare Financing" is available at http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=311314. Support for the 2005 Urban Institute Child Welfare Survey was provided by the Institute's Assessing the New Federalism Project and the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care.
The study is the latest Institute research on child welfare issues. For more, 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.
