The Administration is proposing that, as part of the need to reauthorize the Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program, (title IV-B part 2) that the set-aside that targets drug treatment be increased from $20 million to $60 million a year.

The drug treatment funding was created as part of the 2006 reauthorization of the Title IV-B program. It creates nationally competitive grants for regional partnerships proposals that address the need for services and treatment for families in the child welfare system impacted by substance abuse.  The grants can be used for family based treatment programs and was originally targeted toward the methamphetamine surge in some states in the last decade.  That preference for program services was eliminated in the last reauthorization.

The Administration indicates that the rate of infant removal (and placement into foster care) has gone up from 10.7 per 1000 to 11.4 per 1000. In addition, they say that substance abuse contributed to 30 percent of foster care placements in 2014 when caseloads increased from a national total of 400,000 to 415,000. Funding for this part of PSSF is mandatory meaning it by-passes the annual appropriations and not dependent on current spending caps. The Administration believes they can expand these partnerships to all parts of the country.

CWLA will be focusing some attention on the substance use problem both at the National Advocacy Summit in April and later this year at the national conference: What Works for Families Affected by Substance Use, August 1 through 3, Hyatt Regency, Orange County, California, REGISTER HERE