Plan for Foster Care, Prevention and Permanency—Title IV–E

A title IV-E plan is required by section 471, part IV-E of the Social Security Act (the Act) for each public child welfare agency requesting Federal funding for foster care, adoption assistance and guardianship assistance under the Act. Section 479B of the Act provides for an Indian tribe, tribal organization or tribal consortium (Tribe) to operate a title IV-E program in the same manner as a State with minimal exceptions. The Tribe must have an approved title IV-E Plan. The title IV-E plan provides assurances the programs will be administered in conformity with the specific regulatory, or policy references and citations for each requirement as well as supporting documentation. The plan must include all applicable State or Tribal statutory, regulatory, or policy references and citations for each requirement as well as supporting documentation. A title IV-E agency may use the pre-print format prepared by the Children’s Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families or a different format, on the condition that the format used includes all of the title IV-E plan requirements of the law. The FFPSA authorized new optional title IV–E funding for time-limited (one year) prevention services for mental health/substance abuse and in-home parent skill-based programs for: (1) A child who is a candidate for foster care (as defined in section 475(13) of the Act), (2) pregnant/parenting foster youth, and (3) the parents/kin caregivers of those children and youth (sections 471(e), 474(a)(6), and 475(13) of the Act). Title IV–E prevention services must be rated as promising, supported, or well supported in accordance with HHS criteria and be approved by HHS (section 471(e)(4)(C) of the Act) as part of the title IV–E Prevention Services Clearinghouse (section 476(d)(2) of the Act). A state or tribal title IV–E agency electing to participate in the program must submit a five-year title IV–E prevention program plan that meets the statutory requirements. (See Program Instructions ACYF–CB–PI–18–09 and ACYF–CB–PI–18–10 for more information.) The FFPSA also amended Section 474(a)(7) of the Act to reimburse state and tribal IV–E agencies for a portion of the costs of operating kinship navigator programs that meet certain criteria. To qualify for funding under the title IV– E Kinship Navigator program, the program must meet the requirements of a kinship navigator program described in section 427(a)(1) of the Act. The kinship navigator program must also meet practice criteria of promising, supported, or well-supported in accordance with HHS criteria and be approved by HHS (section 471(e)(4)(C) of the Act). To begin participation in the title IV–E Kinship Navigator Program, a title IV–E agency must submit an attachment to its title IV–E plan that specifies the Kinship Navigator model it has chosen to implement, the date on which the provision of program services began or will begin, and that provides an assurance that the model meets the requirements of section 427(a)(1) of the Act as well as a brief narrative describing how the program will be operated. (Please see Program Instruction ACYF–CB–PI–18–11 for additional information.) In addition, as stated in the Transitional Payments for the Title IV-E Prevention and Family Services and Programs program instructions (ACYF-CB-PI-19-06) a state must complete and submit the checklist in Attachment B of the PI, with all required documentation, to request transitional payments for a title IV-E prevention program or service which has not yet been rated by the Clearinghouse. This request for a revision includes the addition of the title IV-E prevention services plan and the title IV-E plan attachment for the title IV-E kinship navigator program to the title IV-E plan information collection. There are no changes to the previously approved information collection.

The latest form for Plan for Foster Care, Prevention and Permanency—Title IV–E expires 2022-11-30 and can be found here.

State Plan for Foster Care and Adoption Assistance: Title IV-E of the Social Security Act

Federal Enterprise Architecture: Community and Social Services - Social Services