FEDS TO ALLOW FLEXIBILITY WITH FUNDS FOR KIDS.Byline: TROY ANDERSON Staff Writer Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and 19 other California counties will receive historic flexibility in using federal money to improve children's lives under a new waiver, the state's top welfare official said Monday. The federal waiver will let the Department of Children and Family Services use $360 million to $400 million of its $1.4 billion budget to develop services to help prevent children from requiring foster care. The waiver will also allow funding of intensive services to support reunification re·u·ni·fy tr.v. re·u·ni·fied, re·u·ni·fy·ing, re·u·ni·fies To cause (a group, party, state, or sect) to become unified again after being divided. , adoptions or guardianships of foster children. ``We are one of the first states to secure this type of waiver that will allow California counties to use funding to help children stay with their families rather than be placed in (foster homes),'' state Health and Human Services Noun 1. Health and Human Services - the United States federal department that administers all federal programs dealing with health and welfare; created in 1979 Department of Health and Human Services, HHS Agency Secretary Kimberly Belshe said during a conference call from Sacramento. And although counties that opt to take advantage of the five-year waiver will have their child-welfare funds capped, officials said the agreement with the federal government allows for an annual funding increase up to 2 percent for foster care and 15 percent for adoptive care. The waiver, requested by the DCFS DCFS Department of Children and Family Services DCFS Division of Children and Family Services DCFS Descriptional Complexity of Formal Systems (conference) DCFS Data Communication & Functional System in 2004, had been the subject of negotiations between state and federal governments for nearly two years. The main sticking point sticking point n. A point, issue, or situation that causes or is likely to cause an impasse. Noun 1. sticking point - a point at which an impasse arises in progress toward an agreement or a goal had been how much the adoption-assistance payments could increase annually. The federal government had sought to limit such increases, while the state had sought a maximum annual increase. In recent years, tens of thousands of foster children statewide have been placed in adoptive homes. Adoptive parents adoptive parents Social medicine Persons who lawfully adopt children, who are generally married couples but may be single persons, including homosexuals; most APs are married can be paid to care for the children. ``It's not as troubling as where the starting point Noun 1. starting point - earliest limiting point terminus a quo commencement, get-go, offset, outset, showtime, starting time, beginning, start, kickoff, first - the time at which something is supposed to begin; "they got an early start"; "she knew from the was - where it would have been capped without any growth - but it's unfortunate it even gets capped at 15 percent,'' said Miriam Aroni Krinsky, executive director of the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles. ``While we want to find ways for kids to remain in their families intact, when that can't happen, we should be doing everything in our power to invest in and support alternatives for these children.'' troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com (213) 974-8985 |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion