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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 677. John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program
(a) Purpose
The purpose of this section is to provide States with flexible
funding that will enable programs to be designed and conducted -
(1) to identify children who are likely to remain in foster
care until 18 years of age and to help these children make the
transition to self-sufficiency by providing services such as
assistance in obtaining a high school diploma, career
exploration, vocational training, job placement and retention,
training in daily living skills, training in budgeting and
financial management skills, substance abuse prevention, and
preventive health activities (including smoking avoidance,
nutrition education, and pregnancy prevention);
(2) to help children who are likely to remain in foster care
until 18 years of age receive the education, training, and
services necessary to obtain employment;
(3) to help children who are likely to remain in foster care
until 18 years of age prepare for and enter postsecondary
training and education institutions;
(4) to provide personal and emotional support to children aging
out of foster care, through mentors and the promotion of
interactions with dedicated adults;
(5) to provide financial, housing, counseling, employment,
education, and other appropriate support and services to former
foster care recipients between 18 and 21 years of age to
complement their own efforts to achieve self-sufficiency and to
assure that program participants recognize and accept their
personal responsibility for preparing for and then making the
transition from adolescence to adulthood; and
(6) to make available vouchers for education and training,
including postsecondary training and education, to youths who
have aged out of foster care.
(b) Applications
(1) In general
A State may apply for funds from its allotment under subsection
(c) of this section for a period of five consecutive fiscal years
by submitting to the Secretary, in writing, a plan that meets the
requirements of paragraph (2) and the certifications required by
paragraph (3) with respect to the plan.
(2) State plan
A plan meets the requirements of this paragraph if the plan
specifies which State agency or agencies will administer,
supervise, or oversee the programs carried out under the plan,
and describes how the State intends to do the following:
(A) Design and deliver programs to achieve the purposes of
this section.
(B) Ensure that all political subdivisions in the State are
served by the program, though not necessarily in a uniform
manner.
(C) Ensure that the programs serve children of various ages
and at various stages of achieving independence.
(D) Involve the public and private sectors in helping
adolescents in foster care achieve independence.
(E) Use objective criteria for determining eligibility for
benefits and services under the programs, and for ensuring fair
and equitable treatment of benefit recipients.
(F) Cooperate in national evaluations of the effects of the
programs in achieving the purposes of this section.
(3) Certifications
The certifications required by this paragraph with respect to a
plan are the following:
(A) A certification by the chief executive officer of the
State that the State will provide assistance and services to
children who have left foster care because they have attained
18 years of age, and who have not attained 21 years of age.
(B) A certification by the chief executive officer of the
State that not more than 30 percent of the amounts paid to the
State from its allotment under subsection (c) of this section
for a fiscal year will be expended for room or board for
children who have left foster care because they have attained
18 years of age, and who have not attained 21 years of age.
(C) A certification by the chief executive officer of the
State that none of the amounts paid to the State from its
allotment under subsection (c) of this section will be expended
for room or board for any child who has not attained 18 years
of age.
(D) A certification by the chief executive officer of the
State that the State will use training funds provided under the
program of Federal payments for foster care and adoption
assistance to provide training to help foster parents, adoptive
parents, workers in group homes, and case managers understand
and address the issues confronting adolescents preparing for
independent living, and will, to the extent possible,
coordinate such training with the independent living program
conducted for adolescents.
(E) A certification by the chief executive officer of the
State that the State has consulted widely with public and
private organizations in developing the plan and that the State
has given all interested members of the public at least 30 days
to submit comments on the plan.
(F) A certification by the chief executive officer of the
State that the State will make every effort to coordinate the
State programs receiving funds provided from an allotment made
to the State under subsection (c) of this section with other
Federal and State programs for youth (especially transitional
living youth projects funded under part B of title III of the
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 [42
U.S.C. 5714-1 et seq.]), abstinence education programs, local
housing programs, programs for disabled youth (especially
sheltered workshops), and school-to-work programs offered by
high schools or local workforce agencies.
(G) A certification by the chief executive officer of the
State that each Indian tribe in the State has been consulted
about the programs to be carried out under the plan; that there
have been efforts to coordinate the programs with such tribes;
and that benefits and services under the programs will be made
available to Indian children in the State on the same basis as
to other children in the State.
(H) A certification by the chief executive officer of the
State that the State will ensure that adolescents participating
in the program under this section participate directly in
designing their own program activities that prepare them for
independent living and that the adolescents accept personal
responsibility for living up to their part of the program.
(I) A certification by the chief executive officer of the
State that the State has established and will enforce standards
and procedures to prevent fraud and abuse in the programs
carried out under the plan.
(J) A certification by the chief executive officer of the
State that the State educational and training voucher program
under this section is in compliance with the conditions
specified in subsection (i) of this section, including a
statement describing methods the State will use -
(i) to ensure that the total amount of educational
assistance to a youth under this section and under other
Federal and Federally supported programs does not exceed the
limitation specified in subsection (i)(5) of this section;
and
(ii) to avoid duplication of benefits under this and any
other Federal or Federally assisted benefit program.
(4) Approval
The Secretary shall approve an application submitted by a State
pursuant to paragraph (1) for a period if -
(A) the application is submitted on or before June 30 of the
calendar year in which such period begins; and
(B) the Secretary finds that the application contains the
material required by paragraph (1).
(5) Authority to implement certain amendments; notification
A State with an application approved under paragraph (4) may
implement any amendment to the plan contained in the application
if the application, incorporating the amendment, would be
approvable under paragraph (4). Within 30 days after a State
implements any such amendment, the State shall notify the
Secretary of the amendment.
(6) Availability
The State shall make available to the public any application
submitted by the State pursuant to paragraph (1), and a brief
summary of the plan contained in the application.
(c) Allotments to States
(1) General program allotment
From the amount specified in subsection (h)(1) of this section
that remains after applying subsection (g)(2) of this section for
a fiscal year, the Secretary shall allot to each State with an
application approved under subsection (b) of this section for the
fiscal year the amount which bears the ratio to such remaining
amount equal to the State foster care ratio, as adjusted in
accordance with paragraph (2).
(2) Hold harmless provision
(A) In general
The Secretary shall allot to each State whose allotment for a
fiscal year under paragraph (1) is less than the greater of
$500,000 or the amount payable to the State under this section
for fiscal year 1998, an additional amount equal to the
difference between such allotment and such greater amount.
(B) Ratable reduction of certain allotments
In the case of a State not described in subparagraph (A) of
this paragraph for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall reduce
the amount allotted to the State for the fiscal year under
paragraph (1) by the amount that bears the same ratio to the
sum of the differences determined under subparagraph (A) of
this paragraph for the fiscal year as the excess of the amount
so allotted over the greater of $500,000 or the amount payable
to the State under this section for fiscal year 1998 bears to
the sum of such excess amounts determined for all such States.
(3) Voucher program allotment
From the amount, if any, appropriated pursuant to subsection
(h)(2) of this section for a fiscal year, the Secretary may allot
to each State with an application approved under subsection (b)
of this section for the fiscal year an amount equal to the State
foster care ratio multiplied by the amount so specified.
(4) State foster care ratio
In this subsection, the term "State foster care ratio" means
the ratio of the number of children in foster care under a
program of the State in the most recent fiscal year for which the
information is available to the total number of children in
foster care in all States for the most recent fiscal year.
(d) Use of funds
(1) In general
A State to which an amount is paid from its allotment under
subsection (c) of this section may use the amount in any manner
that is reasonably calculated to accomplish the purposes of this
section.
(2) No supplantation of other funds available for same general
purposes
The amounts paid to a State from its allotment under subsection
(c) of this section shall be used to supplement and not supplant
any other funds which are available for the same general purposes
in the State.
(3) Two-year availability of funds
Payments made to a State under this section for a fiscal year
shall be expended by the State in the fiscal year or in the
succeeding fiscal year.
(4) Reallocation of unused funds
If a State does not apply for funds under this section for a
fiscal year within such time as may be provided by the Secretary,
the funds to which the State would be entitled for the fiscal
year shall be reallocated to 1 or more other States on the basis
of their relative need for additional payments under this
section, as determined by the Secretary.
(e) Penalties
(1) Use of grant in violation of this part
If the Secretary is made aware, by an audit conducted under
chapter 75 of title 31 or by any other means, that a program
receiving funds from an allotment made to a State under
subsection (c) of this section has been operated in a manner that
is inconsistent with, or not disclosed in the State application
approved under subsection (b) of this section, the Secretary
shall assess a penalty against the State in an amount equal to
not less than 1 percent and not more than 5 percent of the amount
of the allotment.
(2) Failure to comply with data reporting requirement
The Secretary shall assess a penalty against a State that fails
during a fiscal year to comply with an information collection
plan implemented under subsection (f) of this section in an
amount equal to not less than 1 percent and not more than 5
percent of the amount allotted to the State for the fiscal year.
(3) Penalties based on degree of noncompliance
The Secretary shall assess penalties under this subsection
based on the degree of noncompliance.
(f) Data collection and performance measurement
(1) In general
The Secretary, in consultation with State and local public
officials responsible for administering independent living and
other child welfare programs, child welfare advocates, Members of
Congress, youth service providers, and researchers, shall -
(A) develop outcome measures (including measures of
educational attainment, high school diploma, employment,
avoidance of dependency, homelessness, nonmarital childbirth,
incarceration, and high-risk behaviors) that can be used to
assess the performance of States in operating independent
living programs;
(B) identify data elements needed to track -
(i) the number and characteristics of children receiving
services under this section;
(ii) the type and quantity of services being provided; and
(iii) State performance on the outcome measures; and
(C) develop and implement a plan to collect the needed
information beginning with the second fiscal year beginning
after December 14, 1999.
(2) Report to the Congress
Within 12 months after December 14, 1999, the Secretary shall
submit to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate a
report detailing the plans and timetable for collecting from the
States the information described in paragraph (1) and a proposal
to impose penalties consistent with paragraph (e)(2) on States
that do not report data.
(g) Evaluations
(1) In general
The Secretary shall conduct evaluations of such State programs
funded under this section as the Secretary deems to be innovative
or of potential national significance. The evaluation of any such
program shall include information on the effects of the program
on education, employment, and personal development. To the
maximum extent practicable, the evaluations shall be based on
rigorous scientific standards including random assignment to
treatment and control groups. The Secretary is encouraged to work
directly with State and local governments to design methods for
conducting the evaluations, directly or by grant, contract, or
cooperative agreement.
(2) Funding of evaluations
The Secretary shall reserve 1.5 percent of the amount specified
in subsection (h) of this section for a fiscal year to carry out,
during the fiscal year, evaluation, technical assistance,
performance measurement, and data collection activities related
to this section, directly or through grants, contracts, or
cooperative agreements with appropriate entities.
(h) Limitations on authorization of appropriations
To carry out this section and for payments to States under
section 674(a)(4) of this title, there are authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretary for each fiscal year -
(1) $140,000,000, which shall be available for all purposes
under this section; and
(2) an additional $60,000,000, which are authorized to be
available for payments to States for education and training
vouchers for youths who age out of foster care, to assist the
youths to develop skills necessary to lead independent and
productive lives.
(i) Educational and training vouchers
The following conditions shall apply to a State educational and
training voucher program under this section:
(1) Vouchers under the program may be available to youths
otherwise eligible for services under the State program under
this section.
(2) For purposes of the voucher program, youths adopted from
foster care after attaining age 16 may be considered to be youths
otherwise eligible for services under the State program under
this section.
(3) The State may allow youths participating in the voucher
program on the date they attain 21 years of age to remain
eligible until they attain 23 years of age, as long as they are
enrolled in a postsecondary education or training program and are
making satisfactory progress toward completion of that program.
(4) The voucher or vouchers provided for an individual under
this section -
(A) may be available for the cost of attendance at an
institution of higher education, as defined in section 1002 of
title 20; and
(B) shall not exceed the lesser of $5,000 per year or the
total cost of attendance, as defined in section 1087ll of title
20.
(5) The amount of a voucher under this section may be
disregarded for purposes of determining the recipient's
eligibility for, or the amount of, any other Federal or Federally
supported assistance, except that the total amount of educational
assistance to a youth under this section and under other Federal
and Federally supported programs shall not exceed the total cost
of attendance, as defined in section 1087ll of title 20, and
except that the State agency shall take appropriate steps to
prevent duplication of benefits under this and other Federal or
Federally supported programs.
(6) The program is coordinated with other appropriate education
and training programs.
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