Three States Approved For Kinship-Guardianship Option, 11 More Pending

From the CWLA Children's Monitor.  Sign-up for the Monitor online at:  http://www.cwla.org/advocacy/monitoronline.htm

The Children's Bureau has now approved amended state plans from Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee that will allow the states to utilize Title IV-E funds for the new kinship-guardianship option as provided for through last year's Fostering Connections Act (P.L. 110-351). Ten other states along with the District of Columbia have also submitted state plan amendments. These states are Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington.

The kinship-guardianship option became effective shortly after Fostering Connections was signed into law in October 2008, but there is no timeframe or deadline for states to take the option. While some were expecting states to act more quickly, enactment coincided with the recession, which has had a delaying impact. Factors that may inhibit states include some states requiring legislative changes, other states contemplating dramatic cuts in human service funding, and other states awaiting greater instruction and clarification from HHS, including on an important issue as to whether or not children already in kinship placements and otherwise eligible being covered once a state has taken the option or whether coverage extends only to new kinship arrangements established after a state plan has been amended. HHS has stuck by the December 2008 guidance, requiring the narrower eligibility, but some states such as California are seeking a broader interpretation.