Disaster Human Services Case Management

What this funds

The Disaster Human Services Case Management (DHSCM) program is authorized through appropriations language under the Children and Families Services account. It is maintained and implemented by the ACFC Office of Human Services Emergency Preparedness and Response, which leads coordination and collaboration for human service preparedness, response, and recovery in emergencies and natural ' Develops and sustains a system of policies, guidance, and plans to support individuals and families across ACFC human and social service programs after a disaster. These activities are evaluated and enhanced through ongoing training and exercises. Collectively, these actions build ACFC capability and capacity to provide case management services or other direct support to disaster survivors in affected states, tribes, or territories when activated as a result of a Public Health Emergency from the HHS Secretary, by the Assistant Secretary of ACFC for an emergency or crisis, or by a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Mission ' Deploys a cadre of responders who provide psychosocial case management services to survivors on a one-to-one basis by conducting intake assessments, triaging unmet needs, and providing information and referrals, short-term planning, and/or referrals to resources consistent with social ' Administers the Electronic Case Management Record System database, which provides the DHSCM program with an efficient, secure, and cost-effective method of managing disaster survivor data when the program is activated; ' Supports effective information sharing and exchange across human and social service providers, creating a community of practice across jurisdictions nationally; and ' Develops quality improvement and key performance indicator measurement processes that demonstrate the DHSCM program's social and financial return on investment through performance analysis and evaluation of after-action reports and community-of-practice program Funding for the DHSCM program enables ACFC to develop, maintain, and train personnel; develop and enhance administrative and asset management capability and capacity; and refine and improve human and material resources and deployment infrastructure required to execute case management mission Administration for Children, Families, and Communities Page 107 When the DHSCM program is activated by a FEMA MATO, deployment expenses are reimbursed through the Stafford Act Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. The DHSCM has been activated to connect individuals and families to human services after such events as the 2017 Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, the 2018 Camp and 2019 Paradise Wildfires, 2020 Hurricane Laura, 2022 Hurricanes Fiona and Ian, and 2024 Hurricane Helene. The program has also conducted assessments of human services infrastructure every year since FY 2021 to identify service area gaps and use this information to assist jurisdictions and federal ACFC programs providing services to survivors. Starting in FY 2022, and every year since, Congress has included a General Provision to expand funding flexibility for research projects in ACFC. All research funding provided for in the Appropriations Act can remain available for five years following appropriation. This has allowed for additional time for research and evaluation projects within the DHSCM program, including identifying projects that foster innovation for direct human service delivery in disasters by jurisdictional providers. Funding for the program - net of any authorized changes such as transfers or reprogramming - for the last Funding for this program is also used to pay salaries and benefits for federal employees, information technology support, and other related administrative costs. The FY 2027 request for Disaster Human Services Case Management program is $1.9 million, the same as the FY 2026 level. ACFC will continue to focus its efforts on leading coordination and collaboration partnerships with human and social service programs. The collaboration will develop guidelines for disaster human services core capabilities; support state, tribal, territorial, and local human service providers in leading their preparedness, response, and recovery activities; and continue system maintenance for direct case management support to jurisdictions affected by disasters. The funding will continue to support the development of the ACFC disaster human service capability, ' Providing education and platforms for collaboration on critical and emerging issue areas, including best practices in disaster assistance for human services topics to jurisdictions and service providers (e.g., aging and disabled populations, child welfare and foster care, domestic and intimate partner violence, human trafficking, tribal nations); ' Maintaining current agreements for national disaster human services in partnership with FEMA ' Maintaining current deployable surge capabilities for assessing requirements and delivering case Administration for Children, Families, and Communities Page 108 ' Connecting ACFC national disaster human service case management with non-governmental human service partners and organizations to ensure that locally driven and federally supported solutions are identified and developed in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from ' Reviewing and maintaining ACFC's existing database system to enable the efficient exchange of and local governments to improve disaster survivor outcomes; ' Reviewing and maintaining existing data sharing agreements and records management operating procedures to ensure appropriate protections of personally identifiable information throughout ' Identifying program data sources that can support case management interventions by direct ' Instituting a quality improvement and assurance process to ensure data-driven resource allocation, spark innovation through industry challenges, and continue process improvement following disasters through the application of social science qualitative analysis research and review. Administration for Children, Families, and Communities Page 109

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

Ask this budget line

Answers come from the figures on this page and nothing else. These dollars are parsed from Health & Human Services's Congressional Justification and are approximate — confirm anything that matters against the cited page.