Leveraging the FFPSA For Older Youth: Reduction Of Group Care Provisions

In addition to increasing investments in prevention servicesso youth and families do not enter the system in the first place, the FFPSA seeks to limit the use of group care by restricting the use of Title IV-E funds for group settings. The FFPSA continues to allow Title IV-E funds to be used to fund placements in a “family foster home,” defined as a home with 24-hour care for 6 or fewer children (with some exceptions), or a “child care institution,” defined as an institution for up to 25 children that is not a detention center. However, under the FFPSA, a child’s Title IV-E eligibility ends after two weeks of placement in a child care institution. Thus, placement in group settings lasting longer than two weeks generally will be ineligible for federal funding. States can continue to place youth in these settings but will have to fund them with state and local dollars.