Thursday, August 19, 2010

New HHS Regulations on Title IV-E IL Programs for Youth 18 and Older


The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released regulations on how states may extend their Title IV-E foster care programs for foster youth between the ages of 18 and 21.

These regulations provide flexibility to states to serve these youth in virtually any type of placement setting – foster homes, a semi-supervised apartment, host home, college dorms, and other less formal settings.

Furthermore, the regulations state that HHS has “no forthcoming regulations that will prescribe the kinds of living arrangements considered a supervised setting, the parameters of supervision, or any other conditions for youth living independently.”

This is great news for two reasons:

a.) HHS is permitting states to have flexibility to use creative and innovative programs to serve these 18, 19, and 20 year-old youth.

b.) It does not set precedent that would interfere with a state’s ability to draw down IV-E for the placement of teenage foster youth, under age 18, in supervised or semi-supervised apartment settings.

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