• Training Provision Overview
  
• Promising Practices and Policies from States and Tribes
• T/TA & Web Based Resources from NRCs, Children’s Bureau, T/TA Network
• Resources from Collaborating Organizations
  

• To access NRCPFC Curricula, click here. Additional curricula are available on our Hot Topics webpages.

• Major Provisions of the Act
  “Allowed States to claim Federal reimbursement for short-term training for relative guardians; private child welfare agency staff providing services to children receiving title IV-E assistance; child abuse and neglect court personnel; agency, child, or parent attorneys; guardians ad litem; and, court-appointed special advocates.” (Child Welfare Information Gateway, Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008- P.L. 110-351, item#8)

• Improving the Quality of Staff Working with Children in the Child Welfare System- Extending federal training to more staff (Sec. 203)
  “The act recognizes the importance of a quality workforce to children’s well-being. It expands the availability of federal Title IV-E training dollars to cover training of staff not only in public agencies but in private child welfare agencies, as well as court personnel, attorneys, guardian ad litems, and court appointed special advocates. Title IV-E training dollars could also be used to train prospective relative guardians in addition to foster and adoptive parents. Funding for this new training is phased in over 5 years.” (Children’s Defense Fund, Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act Summary, July 2010, p. 3)

• Sec. 203. Short-term training for child welfare agencies, relative guardians, and court personnel
• “Allow states to additionally claim federal reimbursement of the costs of providing short-term training (that is related to carrying out the Title IV-E foster care and adoption assistance program) to current or prospective relative guardians, staff of state-licensed or state-approved child welfare agencies, and for certain court or court-related personnel handling abuse and neglect cases; and
• Phase in a 75% federal reimbursement rate for these relative guardian, private child welfare agency workers, and court or court-related personnel training claims beginning at 55% in FY2009 and rising by 5% annually (until it reaches 75% for all Title IV-E eligible training costs in FY2013).”

(By Emilie Stoltzfus, Specialist in Social Policy Domestic Social Policy Division, Congressional Research Service. Summary and Section-by-Section Description of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (H.R. 6893), September 2008, p. 5)

• Texas: 

• Short Term Training (Court, Attorneys, Kinship, CASA) 
  The federal legislation allows states to claim federal reimbursement for short-term training related to foster care and adoption assistance programs. The bill phases in the federal reimbursement for training costs starting at 55 percent in federal fiscal year 2009 and increasing by 5 percent annually until it reaches 75 percent in FFY 2013. The law requires that the state portion of the training costs be made from publicly allocated funds. This has prevented a number of groups from applying for this training money. DFPS amended its IV-E training contracts to allow for use under this statute. The Texas CASA program has been working with DFPS to use such funds.

• Parent Child Relationship Bill: HB 1151, Chap. 1118
  This Bill enacted in 2009 includes a section which establishes that “the department shall include training in trauma-informed programs and services in any training the department provides to foster parents, adoptive parents, kinship caregivers, and department caseworkers. The department shall pay for the training provided under this section with gifts, donations, and grants and any federal money available through the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Pub. L. No. 110-351).”
  (p. 4, Section 5, Section 264.015)

• Implementation of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 – Training
  This resource from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children & Families provides information on Children’s Bureau policy, guidance, and other implementation activities relevant to the Fostering Connections Act, including the training provision.  

• Program Instructions (PI)
• ACYF-CB-PI-10-11-  Section: Short-Term Training
  Section L of the PI provides title IV-E agencies comprehensive guidance pertaining to the training provision of the Act.

• ACYF-CB-PI-10-09
  Provides guidance to States, Territories, and Insular Areas on actions they are required to take to receive their allotments for FY2011 through submission of Annual Progress and Services Reports (APSRs).

• Child Welfare Policy Manual (CWPM) Questions
  Click each question for its answer:

• What is the Federal financial participation (FFP) in the costs of training for employees of the State title IV-E agency, foster parents, adoptive parents and employees of private child placing and child care agencies as well as other individuals listed in section 474(a)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act (the Act)?

• What are the title IV-E training topics that the State may claim at the enhanced Federal financial participation rate under section 474(3)(A) and (B) of the Social Security Act and 45 CFR 1356.60(b)?

• For what short-term training content may a title IV-E agency claim Federal financial participation (FFP) to train the categories of individuals specified in section 474(a)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act (the Act)?

• May title IV-E agencies claim Federal financial participation (FFP) for the short-term training of judges under section 474(a)(3)(B) of the Act (the Act)?

• Section 474(a)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act (the Act) permits States to claim short-term training costs for members of the staff of State-licensed or State-approved child welfare agencies providing services to children receiving title IV-E assistance. Is there a Federal definition of a State-licensed or State-approved child welfare agency?

• Section 474(a)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act allows the title IV-E agency to claim as title IV-E expenditures the short-term training costs to train attorneys who represent children and their parents in such ways that increase the ability of the attorney to provide support and assistance to these children. Must the attorneys be employed by the title IVE agency in order for the title IV-E agency to claim the short-term training costs for these attorneys?
  
  

• FosteringConnections.org - Training Resources
  FosteringConnections.org lists available tools, analyses, and research related to the Training provisions of the new Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.