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approach .19 Moreover, community-based initiatives such as Promise Neighborhoods, and years of experience with local experimentation in child welfare suggest that certain components of a public health paradigm are starting to develop .20 New York’s Community Schools initiative, making certain schools a hub for health and social services to at-risk children, is an example of an initiative consistent with a public health approach .21
II. The Current Legal Framework for Relative Caregiving
a. The Child Welfare System
Federal policy prioritizes relatives to provide temporary care when children are removed from the home,22 but relatives may still be excluded as temporary caregivers . If a child is removed from the parent’s home, the child protection agency typically tries to identify a relative with whom the child can stay while the juvenile court case unfolds . The relative might become the child’s foster parent and receive monthly foster care payments . The state has legal custody of the child, while the relative is delegated physical custody and authority to make day-to-day decisions . Federal rules preclude foster care payments for relatives who do not meet specific eligibility requirements,23 and states vary as to whether they will use state funds for relatives who are ineligible for federal payments . Licensing requirements also may bar some relatives by, for example, requiring that no adult in the home have a criminal record or requiring a certain amount of space in the home . In some cases, relatives who are ineligible for foster care payments or choose not to complete the process, may be given temporary legal custody of the child but remain under court and agency supervision .
The end-goal of the child welfare case is to find permanency, a permanent home, for the child .24
19 The National Institute of Mental Health has adopted a “system of care” philosophy that emphasizes coordination among various child-service public agencies. Janice l. cooper eT al., naT’l cTr. for children in poverTy, unclaimed children revisiTed: The sTaTus of children’s menTal healTh policy in The uniTed sTaTes 6 (2008), available at http://www. nccp.org/publications/pub_853.html.
20 For example, the Annie E. Casey Foundation had an 18-year initiative to develop a community-based model of foster care called “Family to Family” that draws on community resources so that children can be placed with families and receive services in their home communities. Family to Family, The annie e. casey foundaTion, http:// www.aecf.org/work/past-work/family-to-family (last visited May 28, 2015). Casey Family Programs seeks to safely reduce the need for foster care. The MacArthur Foundation Models for Change Initiative seeks to reform the juvenile justice system through a series of community-based initiatives including the provision of mental health services.
21 De Blasio Administration Announces $52 Million Investment to Launch Community Schools, nyc (June 17, 2004), http://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/292-14/de-blasio-administration-52-million-investment-launch- community-schools.
22 The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 required states to place children in the “least restrictive (most family like setting).” 42 U.S.C. § 675(5)(A). The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 explicitly requires states to “consider giving preference to an adult relative over a nonrelated caregiver when determining temporary placement for a child. 42 U.S.C. § 671(a)(19).
23 42 U.S.C. 672(a)(1)(2014); Meredith Alexander, Harming Vulnerable Children: The Injustice of California’s Kinship Foster Care Policy, 7 hasTings race & poverTy L. J. 381, 410-413 (2010). One example of a federal eligibility requirement that might exclude relatives is the provision stating that if a child is placed with a relative pursuant to a voluntary agreement, to be eligible for foster care payments, there must be a judicial determination within six months that the placement is in the child’s best interests. As a practical matter, if the child was physically placed with the relative more than six months before court adjudication, the relative is not eligible.
24 The Department of Health and Human Services defines permanency as “a legal, permanent family living arrangement, that is, reunification with the birth family, living with relatives, guardianship or adoption.” a reporT To congress on adopTion and oTher permanency opTions for children in fosTer care: focus on older children, hhs, wash. d.c. children’s Bureau (2005), available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/congress_adopt.pdf.
Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality