Chafee Education and Training Vouchers

What this funds

The Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood is composed of the discretionary Chafee Education and Training Voucher (CETV) program and the mandatory formula grant program. The Promoting Safe and Stable Families Amendments of 2001 (P.L. 107-133) expanded the Chafee Program by authorizing new discretionary funds for post-secondary education and training vouchers (the CETV program). CETV provides vouchers of up to $5,000 per year to eligible youth who are, or were formerly, in foster care for expenses related to post-secondary education assistance, such as tuition, books, fees, supplies, and vocational training. The Family First Prevention Services Act (P.L. 115-123) changed eligibility in both the mandatory formula grant program and the CETV program. As amended, states and tribes administering the CETV program may allow eligible youth participating in the voucher program to remain eligible until their 26th birthday, as long as they are enrolled in a postsecondary education or training program and are making satisfactory progress toward completion of that program. Participation in the program, however, is limited to no more than five years total. Funding for vouchers is distributed to states based on each state's proportion of children in foster care compared to the national total of all children in foster care. Tribes with an approved plan to operate a foster care and adoption assistance program under title IV-E of the Social Security Act or a title IV-E tribal/state agreement or contract also have the option to directly receive a portion of the state's Chafee Program and CETV allotments to service tribal youth. Funding for the program - net of any authorized changes such as transfers or reprogramming - for five 2026, it is estimated that 59 awards will be made, with an average award of $722,172 and a range from Funding for this program is also used to pay salaries and benefits for federal employees and other related Administration for Children, Families, and Communities Page 105 The FY 2027 request for the discretionary CETV program is $44.3 million, the same as the FY 2026 level. This level of funding will provide approximately 15,000 vouchers to young people currently or formerly in foster care, increasing the prospect that these youth will be able to complete post-secondary education, secure work, and successfully transition to adulthood. One study of the CETV program in ten states found that young people who are eligible for and receive CETV are 15 percent more likely to enroll in school than those who are eligible but do not receive CETV and that CETV receipt is associated with earlier college enrollment and greater likelihood of graduation by age 24. Approximately 20,000 foster youth age out of foster care per year, and these vouchers provide additional opportunities for these young For FY 2027, it is estimated that 59 awards will be made, with an average award of $722,172 and a range Result / Target for Recent Target Target FY 2026 Target 7iv Number of youth Result / (Summary of Administration for Children, Families, and Communities Page 106

Extracted from Administration for Children, Families, and Communities, p. 10. Verbatim; nothing here is paraphrased.

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