# Foster Care

**Agency:** Health & Human Services  
**Account:** Mandatory Programs  
**Source document:** Administration for Children, Families, and Communities · p. 13  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/budget/hhs/foster-care  

> **Trust:** parsed from the agency Congressional Justification. Approximate, **not summable**, verify at the cited page.

## Funding ($M)

| Fiscal year | Basis | Amount |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FY2025 | enacted | 5,591.4 |
| FY2026 | enacted | 5,314.0 |
| FY2027 | request | 5,142.0 |

## Health & Human Services discretionary budget authority (OMB PBDB — authoritative)

FY2027 $91.60B, FY2026 $131.10B. This is the agency total, not a sum of the parsed lines.


## What this funds

As amended by the FFPSA, effective October 1, 2018, the law authorizes up to 12 months of foster care payments for a child placed with a parent residing in a licensed residential family-based treatment facility for substance abuse. The law also places time limits on the ability to claim foster care maintenance payments for children placed in a CCI. Agencies may claim title IV-E reimbursement for foster care maintenance payments paid on behalf of an eligible child placed in any CCI for up to two weeks. After two weeks, title IV-E foster care maintenance payments are available for an otherwise eligible child placed in a CCI only if that CCI is one of the following specified settings: ' a qualified residential treatment program (if additional requirements for the placement outlined in ' a setting specializing in providing prenatal, post-partum, or parenting supports for youth; ' in the case of a youth who has attained 18 years of age, a supervised setting in which the youth is ' a setting providing high-quality residential care and supportive services to children and youth who have been found to be, or are at risk of becoming, sex trafficking victims. Title IV-E agencies may claim administrative costs for the duration of the child's placement in a CCI regardless of whether the CCI is a specified setting. The average monthly number of children for whom agencies receive federal foster care payments indicates some stabilization at about 112,000 children. Agencies can claim reimbursement only for title Administration for Children, Families, and Communities Page 210 IV-E eligible children, and eligibility requires that a child is removed from a home that would have qualified for the AFDC program under the 1996 income standards, which are not adjusted for inflation. Fewer families meet these static income standards over time, thereby contributing to the reduction in the percentage of children in foster care who receive federal support through the title IV-E Foster Care Program. In FY 2000, approximately 51.8 percent of all children in foster care received maintenance payments through the title IV-E Foster Care Program. By FY 2025, this rate had declined to about 33 percent of all children in foster care. The Adoption Assistance Program provides funds to states to subsidize families that adopt children with special needs who cannot be reunited with their families, thus preventing long, inappropriate stays in foster care. To receive adoption assistance benefits, a child must have been determined by the agency to be a child with special needs, i.e., one who is older, a member of a minority or sibling group, or has a physical, mental, or emotional disability. Additionally, the child must have been unable to return home, and the agency must have been unsuccessful in its efforts to find an adoptive placement without medical or financial assistance. Adoption assistance is also available for children adopted between FY 2010 and FY 2024 and not subject to updated eligibility criteria described below and receiving or eligible to receive AFDC under the rules in effect on July 16, 1996, title IV-E foster care benefits, or Supplemental Security Beginning in FY 2010, in accordance with the Fostering Connections Act, revised Adoption Assistance program eligibility requirements that exclude consideration of AFDC and SSI income eligibility requirements were phased in over a nine-year period for certain children, based primarily on the age of the child in the year the adoption assistance agreement is finalized. The revised eligibility requirements also apply to children based on time in care and to the siblings of children to whom the revised eligibility criteria apply. However, the FFPSA amended the provision to delay the applicability of the revised eligibility criteria for adopted children under two years of age; the revised eligibility criteria were fully phased in effective July 1, 2024. Now fully phased in, eligibility for title IV-E Adoption Assistance is determined using the criteria of the Act without regard to the eligibility criteria under the 1996 income standards in the AFDC program. Because of this, the share of cases eligible for federal adoption assistance has increased over time, from 82 percent in FY 2019 to 88 percent in FY 2024, while foster care has dropped from 40 percent to 33 percent during the same time period. Funds also are used for the administrative costs of managing the program and training staff and adoptive parents. The number of children subsidized by this program and the level of federal reimbursement has increased significantly as permanent adoptive homes are found for more children and as eligibility has expanded, particularly as the AFDC and SSI income eligibility requirements have been phased out. The average monthly number of children for whom payments were made has increased 40 percent, from about The Fostering Connections Act created the title IV-E Guardianship Assistance Program (GAP) in FY 2009. GAP provides subsidies on behalf of a child to a relative taking legal guardianship of that child. To be eligible for GAP payments, a child must have been eligible for title IV-E foster care maintenance payments while residing for at least six consecutive months in the home of the prospective relative guardian. Further, the agency must determine that (1) being returned home or adopted are not appropriate permanency options for the child; (2) the child has a strong attachment to the prospective relative guardian and the guardian has a strong commitment to caring permanently for the child; and (3) for a child 14 years or older, the child has been consulted regarding the kinship guardianship arrangement. Additionally, the state or tribe may make GAP payments on behalf of siblings of an eligible child who are placed together with the same relative under the same kinship guardianship arrangement. The Preventing Administration for Children, Families, and Communities Page 211 Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act amended the program to allow continuation of title IV-E kinship guardianship assistance payments if the relative guardian dies or is incapacitated and a successor legal guardian is named in the agreement or in any amendments to the agreement. Funds also are used for the administrative costs of managing the program and training staff and relative guardians. As of December 2025, 42 states, the District of Columbia, 2 territories, and 12 tribes are operating GAPs. The average monthly number of children for whom states receive guardianship assistance payments was about 46,000 in FY 2025. ACFC will continue to work closely with states, as well as tribes, to help them Beginning in FY 2010, federally recognized tribes with approved title IV-E plans also became eligible for title IV-E programs. In addition, $3 million is directly appropriated for FY 2009 and each fiscal year thereafter for technical assistance to tribes, including grants to assist tribes in developing title IV-E plans through the Tribal IV-E Technical Assistance program. ACFC has awarded plan development grants to 42 tribes since FY 2009. Thus far, 21 tribes have had plans approved to operate the title IV-E program, and, of these, 14 tribes are currently implementing or expected to implement the program. Beginning in FY 2019, title IV-E agencies may receive funding for kinship navigator programs that are determined by ACFC through the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse to meet promising, supported, or well-supported practice criteria and other requirements. As of December 2025, 12 states are approved to operate the title IV-E kinship navigator program. Title IV-E agencies may claim 50 percent Federal Financial Participation (FFP) for allowable kinship navigator program costs. Beginning in FY 2020, title IV-E agencies opting to participate in the Title IV-E Prevention Services Program were allowed to claim title IV-E funding for time-limited (one year) prevention


**Where it sits:** Civilian / Non-Defense › Health & Human Services › Administration for Children, Families, and Communities › Mandatory Programs › Foster Care and Permanency


*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. government. Civilian line dollars are parsed from agency Congressional Justifications and are approximate.*