Category: Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice

2022 Governor's Budget Hits & Misses

Each year, Arizona’s legislative session begins with the Governor’s State of the State speech and the unveiling of his or her annual priorities and proposed budget. This session presents Governor Ducey a rare opportunity in his final year in office to provide much-needed help to children and families in Arizona. Despite the lingering pandemic, Arizona’s revenues have reached historic highs in large part due to the multiple federal economic rescue packages and temporary unemployment insurance expansion. Arizona currently has $1 billion in ongoing and $2.1 billion in one-time revenues. This is in addition to billions of dollars in unspent federal COVID relief dollars.

Also at the beginning of each year, Children’s Action Alliance publishes its list of legislative priorities. It is our hope each year that the Governor's priorities align with ours. This year, while we did see a few bright spots that address longstanding needs, that largely did not happen. Take a look at a comparison of where the Governors priorities and ours find common ground, and where opportunities missed the mark or weren’t addressed.

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Early Childhood

Secure state general fund investment in child care assistance  

Not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.

Increase Arizona Early Intervention Program provider rates  

Nearly 11,000 children under the age of 3 who have disabilities or developmental delays receive therapies and other support from the Arizona Early Intervention Program.  Current rates paid to providers are significantly below comparable rates paid by the program that provides services to children over age 3. The Governor’s budget proposal adds $18.6 million per year starting in fiscal year 2024 to bring the rates in line with rates paid by other programs.  A temporary rate increase will be funded in fiscal year 2023 using federal dollars.

Secure state investment in Healthy Families home visitation program  

The Governor’s budget provides $10 million, of which $7.5 million is new funding and $2.5 million replaces funds that will no longer be available. Healthy Families currently serves 4,000 families. The Governor’s budget would add an additional 1,500 families. The Governor’s budget also includes a total $15 million for fiscal years 24 and 25 which would increase the program’s ability to serve 8,000 families.

Fight any use of state funds appropriated for online early education  

Not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.

Education

Prevent a $1.2 billion cut to public schools by authorizing an annual exemption to the K-12 expenditure cap for this school year by March 1 

If the legislature does not override the education spending limit by March 1, 2022, Arizona’s district schools will be required to cut their current year budgets by $1.2 billion.  This issue is not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.

Refer a measure to the ballot to update or eliminate the outdated K-12 expenditure authority.  

Not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.

Expand access to affordable higher education and prevent increases in student debt 

The Governor’s budget proposal increases the Promise Grant funding by $12.5 million for a total $20 million.  These additional dollars will serve an additional 3,300 students.  The Promise Grant program covers the balance of tuition that remains for students who are fully eligible for Pell grants.  

The Governor’s budget, however, continues to suspend $10 million of the statutorily required deposit into the Student Financial Aid Trust Fund. This issue is not addressed preventing tuition increases.

Reduces inequities in school funding  

The Governor’s proposal increases results-based funding for excelling schools by $60.8 million for a total $129 million.  The Governor’s proposal also includes moving this funding into the Basic State Aid appropriation where it will lose its separate identity.  Schools continue to receive results-based funding as long as they meet the criteria.  For struggling schools the Governor’s proposal includes $58 million to create the Operation Excellence program which provides $150 per student for three years.  

Family Health

Extend postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months (currently 60 days) 

Approximately 15,000 to 18,000 pregnant adults could benefit from extended AHCCCS coverage. This issue is not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State. 

Comprehensive adult dental coverage through Medicaid

Currently only a maximum of $1,000 annually of emergency services are available for most adult populations.  This issue is not addressed in the Governor’ budget or the State of the State.

Streamline Young Adult Transitional Insurance (YATI) re-enrollment for former foster youth 

Young adults who “age out” of foster care at age 18 are automatically eligible for enrollment in AHCCCS, the state’s Medicaid program.  If they do not respond to redetermination notices or requests for additional information, often because AHCCCS does not have an accurate address, they are disenrolled.  More than 5,200 young adults are currently enrolled through YATI.  This issue is not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.

Children's Health

Waive the Medicaid five-year residency requirement for otherwise eligible pregnant people and kids who are lawfully present immigrants 

Between 7,000 and 11,000 Arizona children are ineligibility for the state’s health insurance program because they have not been in the US for at least five years.  This issue is not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State. Adopting the Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act (ICHIA) option would allow the state to provide high-quality health coverage to these children and to receive a higher federal reimbursement for their care. 

Provide 12-month continuous enrollment for children participating in AHCCCS or KidsCare 

More than 850,000 Arizona children are enrolled in Arizona’s Medicaid or CHIP programs. Though children who qualify are eligible for 12 months, families who experience income volatility may lose coverage due to a temporary or one-time increase. This has a negative impact on children’s health outcomes and presents an administrative burden to both AHCCCS and the families who lose coverage. This issue is not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.

Eliminate three-month wait period for KidsCare enrollment  

Arizona’s KidsCare program requires a child cannot be covered by any health insurance for three months prior to enrollment.  This presents a barrier to enrollment.  Even short lapses in health insurance coverage have a negative impact on children’s health outcomes.  This issue is not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.

Child Welfare & Juvenile Justice

Increase kinship foster care stipend

The Governor’s proposal quadruples the unlicensed rate from $75 to $300 per month and also increases the daily allowance that pays for clothing, school supplies, etc. This increase adds $19.8 million for a total $24.8 million for kinship placements. 

Reduced barriers to licensure for foster care and kinship care providers

Licensed foster care providers receive more than $600 a month compared to the current $75 for unlicensed kinship providers.  The Governor’s budget proposes removing barriers to licensure for kinship caregivers while maintaining home life and safety standards.

Increase the independent living subsidy provided for youth in extended foster care  

Currently, 651 former foster youth between ages 18 and 21 receive the independent living subsidy.  Currently the maximum subsidy is $715 and is reduced by $50 every six months. Neither the Governor’s budget nor the State of the State address this issue.

Reduce or eliminate juvenile court fines and fees  

This issue is not addressed in the Governor’s budget or State of the State.

Governor Proposes Pathway to Parity for Foster Children Placed with Kin

In his State of the State address, Governor Ducey unveiled a proposal to significantly increase the supports provided to foster children placed with kin and to put them on a pathway to receiving the same level of financial support provided to children placed with non-relatives.

Kinship foster care is a best practice, mitigating the trauma of parental separation and leading to better outcomes for children. Arizona utilizes kinship foster care at a much greater rate than the national average of 32%. As of June 2021, 52% of all children in DCS’s custody were placed with a relative. However, the state has not provided these children with adequate financial supports. A foster child who is placed with an unlicensed relative is provided with a monthly stipend of just $75 a month. If that same foster child were placed with a non-relative foster parent, they would receive, on average, $641 a month.

There are two key components to achieving full parity for children in kinship foster care:

  1. Increasing state funding to a level that will equal the state’s share of costs once Arizona is able to draw down federal funding for more foster children placed with relatives, and
  2. Increasing the number of kinship caregivers who become licensed as foster parents, a prerequisite for leveraging federal funding.

The Governor’s proposal addresses both components simultaneously. The Executive Budget and HB 2274 (Weninger) seek an appropriation of $24.4M to provide foster children placed with kin with a monthly stipend of $300 a month. This 300% increase will immediately help kinship foster caregivers better meet the needs of the children in their care and brings the state investment up to the level needed to leverage federal funding. At the same time, DCS is putting a number of policy and practice changes in place to remove barriers to kinship licensure and expedite the process, including seeking a change to statute (HB 2084 Osborne: Udall) that will streamline background checks for kinship caregivers who have already met required safety standards. By taking these two leaps forward, foster children placed with kin will have the supports they need in the placements where they can best thrive.

Please support these CAA priority bills by joining us and Arizona Grandparent Ambassadors and Kinship Caregivers for a week of (virtual) action, beginning February 14th.

Thousands of Kinship Foster Parents Receive Pandemic Relief

Thank you to Governor Ducey, DES Director Michael Wisehart, and DCS Director Mike Faust for directing over $9 million in COVID relief to ensure that foster children placed with kin have the supports they need to weather the public health crisis. The Pandemic Emergency Assistance Funds are being distributed to more than 3,000 relatives who care for over 5,000 foster children. Eligible caregivers will receive a one-time stipend of $1,800 per child.

CAA also thanks Arizona Grandparent Ambassadors and Kinship Caregivers for its partnership in advocating for the relief funds and is grateful to Representative Joanne Osborne who helped negotiate for this money and to Senator Lela Alston who tirelessly advocates for kinship families in the legislature.

Relatives play a critical role in Arizona’s child welfare system, stepping up to care for more than 50% of the state’s foster children. However, because relative caregivers typically step in at a time of family crisis and don’t plan to become foster parents, the vast majority are not licensed which means that they receive just $75 a month for each child in their care—far less than the $641 that is provided when a child is placed with a licensed foster parent. COVID-19 has stretched the already thin resources of many of these families to the breaking point and this relief will provide crucial help to kinship foster families.

Study Shows Contact with CPS Too High and Disproportionate by Race and Ethnicity

A recent report from the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences found that for many children in the United States, especially Black children, encounters with the child welfare system are commonplace. The study looked at the prevalence of contact with Child Protective Services (CPS) across the 20 most populous counties in the U.S., including Maricopa County. The peer-reviewed study found that contact with Child Protective Services is much more common than previously thought.

  • 1 in 3 children will ever have a CPS investigation,
  • 1 in 8 will ever experience confirmed maltreatment
  • 1 in 17 will ever be placed in foster care, and
  • 1 in 100 will ever have parental rights terminated

The study also found that the risk of CPS contact was unequally distributed by race and ethnicity. Black children had consistently higher rates of investigations. Including Maricopa County, Black children had risks of investigation that exceeded 60%. Black children also experienced very high rates of later-stage involvement in nearly all counties. Rates routinely exceeded 20% for confirmed maltreatment, 10% for foster care placement, and 2% for termination of parental rights. Maricopa County was cited as having comparatively extreme rates of foster care placement and termination of parental rights for all children, leading to very high rates of both events for all racial and ethnic groups except Asian/Pacific Islanders. The county had the second-highest risk rate for placement in foster care and the highest risk for terminating the parental rights of Black children.

Learn more about racial and ethnic disproportionality in Arizona’s child welfare system.

Foster Youth Delivered Petition to Distribute Federal Relief Funds

Today, Fostering Advocates Arizona (FAAZ), a group of policy leaders with lived experience in foster care, delivered a petition signed by nearly 600 Arizonans to Governor Doug Ducey and Department of Child Safety (DCS) Director Mike Faust urging them to use federal COVID relief funds to provide young people who aged-out of foster care with a $500 check.  In early March, the state received $10.5M in additional funding to help older and former foster youth get through the pandemic, but to date, less than $1M has made it into the hands of young people and time is running out for former foster youth ages 21 through 26 who will lose eligibility for the funds on September 30th.

The $10.5M is Arizona’s share of a $400M allocation included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, passed by Congress late last year. For months, Fostering Advocates Arizona supported by community allies, have been lobbying DCS to use a portion of the funds to provide no-strings-attached payments to young people who aged out of foster care. The group presented its comprehensive set of recommendations for implementing the older youth provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act to DCS Director Mike Faust in April. The proposal included distributing the funds through a $500 stimulus-style check for anyone 18 through 26 who aged out of foster care in Arizona as well as making additional needs-based funding available to those who need more help. DCS, however, has not adopted the two-tier distribution strategy and instead is relying only on a needs-based application process that has been troubled.

The federal guidance for these funds recognizes that many young people who are in or were in foster care have not benefitted from other COVID-19 relief, such as stimulus payments and unemployment insurance, and urges states to use a portion of the funds for quick, streamlined direct financial support. A growing number of states are doing just that, but Arizona has still not embraced the idea even as time is running short. Nikki Burgess, a member of the FAAZ Young Adult Leadership Board, urges, “When FAAZ met with Director Faust he assured us he would consider stimulus payments if warranted at a later date. That day is now. We are asking Governor Ducey and Director Faust to help us and other youth make it through this challenging time by providing a $500 payment. Please act before it is too late.”

Show your support for the FAAZ $500 payment by tweeting the below message:

Foster youth need stimulus too. @dougducey, @ArizonaDCS it's time to #ReleaseTheFunds and support foster youth today! #FAAZ500

Already logged into twitter? Click here to tweet now.

Foster Youth Need Stimulus Payments - No Strings Attached

Yesterday, the Department of Child Safety finally re-launched an online portal to distribute COVID relief funds to older and former foster youth. The new portal, administered by Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation, allows young people ages 14 through 26 to apply for needs-based pandemic relief. $10.5M in federal funds for the relief were allocated to Arizona in early March, but DCS is having trouble getting the money out the door—and time is running out for young people ages 21 through 26 who will lose eligibility on September 30th.

The first iteration of the portal was cumbersome and the process was time-consuming. Although DCS agreed to correct the problems and re-launch a new version of the portal, nearly two months have gone by without any way for young people to apply for funds while a new portal and process were readied. Unfortunately, even though the process may be improved, DCS continues to rely on need-based criteria to distribute the funds. Despite federal guidance, urging from community stakeholders, and a spate of other states that have adopted the strategy, Arizona refuses to make stimulus checks available to all eligible young people who have aged out of foster care.

That’s why Fostering Advocates Arizona (FAAZ), a group of policy advocates with lived experience in foster care, continues to call on DCS to use a portion of the funds to provide every young person who aged out of foster care with a $500 no-strings-attached payment. Stimulus checks are the fastest and fairest way to get the funds to foster youth who need help now to pay for rent, groceries, and other necessities.

Please join FAAZ in the #ReleaseTheFunds campaign by signing this petition.

Sign the #ReleaseTheFunds petition

#ReleaseTheFunds: Make sure pandemic relief intended for foster youth gets to foster youth!

Young people who have aged-out of foster care were at high risk for experiencing homelessness, unemployment, food instability and other negative outcomes prior to the pandemic, and COVID-19 has heightened their vulnerability. Even as conditions begin to improve in Arizona, the recovery tail will be longer for these young people who don’t have family to support them as they try to regroup, recoup, and reengage in school and work.

Help has arrived and is sitting at the Department of Child Safety. DCS has almost $10.5M for pandemic relief for older and former foster youth. But, to date, DCS has distributed just $500,000 to young people. Slowed down by a cumbersome, individualized, needs-based process, DCS has had trouble getting the money out the door. DCS plans to have a community-based agency take over the process but getting that partnership in place is also moving slowly. In the meantime, three weeks and counting have gone by without any way for young people to submit applications for the funds. And for most young people, time is of the essence. Eligibility for the funds was expanded to include young people ages 21 through 26, but only until September 30th.

Fostering Advocates Arizona (FAAZ), a group of policy advocates with lived experience in foster care, is calling on DCS to use the funds to provide every young person who aged out of foster care with a $500 no-strings-attached payment. Stimulus checks are the fastest and fairest way to get the funds to foster youth who need help now to pay for rent, groceries, and other necessities. The FAAZ $500 request is supported by federal guidance which encourages states to use at least a portion of the funds for direct stimulus-style relief:

“In the past year, CB [Children’s Bureau] has heard from many young people who are in or were in foster care that they have not benefited from other COVID-19 relief assistance, such as stimulus payments or unemployment insurance. Therefore, CB urges all child welfare agencies receiving the additional Chafee grant to consider using at least a portion of the funds to facilitate quick and streamlined access to direct financial support for youth who were or are in foster care.”

But so far, DCS is saying “no” to stimulus checks. Instead, it is saying yes to pilot programs and other purposes, allocating less than half of the $10.5M to direct financial supports to young people.

Sign this petition and join FAAZ in urging Governor Ducey and DCS Director Mike Faust to #ReleaseTheFunds by providing a $500 stimulus to check to every young person age 18 through 26 who has aged out of foster care in Arizona.

Sign the petition today!

Restore supports for all Arizona kinship families

Meet Nancy.

Nancy and her husband faced a real challenge when twelve years ago they stepped in as informal caregivers to raise two grandchildren. As Nancy describes,

“Twelve years ago the bio-mother of our granddaughters then 2 and 3 years old, called to tell me that she would have to put the babies into foster care because she had to go to Texas to be with a man she met online playing World of Warcraft.  The children’s father, our son, was unemployed and sleeping on the floor of an apartment of a friend who reportedly sold drugs—so not a parenting option.

We said that we would take them—but only if we obtained legal guardianship to ensure that we could access medical care and school for them.

When I went to get them and some of their clothes and toys from the apartment where they lived with their mom, there were bugs jumping off the floor, old pizza on the floor, rotten food in the refrigerator, and insects everywhere.  Needless to say, we left all of their belongings and started from scratch purchasing new clothes, toys, beds, diapers, and everything else.

Since then, we have been the full-time caregivers of our grandchildren.  Since they were not placed with us through the child welfare system, we had no help navigating the system and had to figure it out ourselves. There has never been any financial help. We have spent our savings and retirement to care for these children and we do not regret it at all.

However, I worry. I am almost 71, and work three part time jobs. My husband’s employer went out of business a few years ago, and he has not had employment since. I have no idea what would happen if I became unable to work.

This is one of many reasons I strongly support changes that would help keep kids out of the system and help other families like ours.”

Research shows that supporting kinship caregivers often costs less to the state, and helps prevent children from entering foster care. Help families across Arizona like Nancy’s by asking your legislator to pass Senate Bill 1144. Find your legislator here.

Foster Youth Need Stimulus Payments Too

“It’s not controversial. Give young people the cash and trust them to make the decisions they need to make for their lives and their priorities. That’s my message,” said Aysha Schomburg, the Biden Administration’s top child welfare official during a town hall hosted by the national nonprofit Think of Us last week. Schomburg was responding to questions about the slow pace many states are taking to distribute $400 million in federal funds to foster youth. Those funds, allocated through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, are directed toward COVID relief for older and former foster youth, a population pushed even closer to the financial edge by the pandemic.

Schomburg’s message of urgency is the same one members of Fostering Advocates Arizona (FAAZ), carried to the Department of Child Safety when they met with Director Mike Faust early last week. FAAZ’s young adult leaders, all with experience living in foster care, delivered recommendations to the agency for distributing close to $12 million in relief funds to current and former foster youth ages 14 through 26. The comprehensive set of recommendations addresses all aspects of implementation and provides early feedback on DCS’s application process for targeted, need based supports. (Apply here!)

FAAZ’s #1 Recommendation:

Provide a one-time $500 stimulus payment to all youth ages 18 through 26 who aged out of foster care!

FAAZ recommendations

A one-time, $500 stimulus check for young people who have aged out of care gets cash in the hands of young people quickly and allows them to decide what they need most. Here’s how some FAAZ members would use a $500 stimulus payment.

Watch our video below!

 

Are you a young person between the ages of 18 and 27 in Arizona with experience in foster care? Tell us what you would do with a $500 stimulus check!

Allies please help spread the word!

Make a Video:
Please take a 5-30 second video to tell people what you would use a $500 COVID relief payment for. Film yourself TikTok style (vertical selfie). When your video is ready, post it on social media, tag Fostering Advocates Arizona with hashtag #fundfosteryouth.

Handles:
Instagram: @fosteringadvocatesarizona
Twitter: @FosteringAdvAZ
Facebook: @fosteringadvocatesarizona

Upload:
Have a Google account? Upload your video here so we can use it to advocate for direct payments.
https://forms.gle/AZeu5LsVeUubnLim6

Video Tips:

  • Pick a bright spot and make sure you are facing the light. Outside, in the car, by the window are great; anywhere that has great selfie light!
  • Make sure we can hear you. Avoid lawnmowers, buses, barking dogs.
  • Short and sweet. One or two sentences might be all you need!