Idea Transcript
MEMORANDUM TO FROM DATE SUBJECT
Members of the Joint Budget Committee Robin J. Smart, JBC Staff (303-866-4955) March 17, 2017 Department of Human Services, Division of Child Welfare Long Bill Footnote 40
During the March 14, 2017 figure setting presentation on Department of Human Services Indirect Costs (R6), JBC staff recommended discontinuing the following footnote in the Division of Child Welfare: N
Department of Human Services, Division of Child Welfare – It is the intent of the General Assembly to encourage counties to serve children in the most appropriate and least restrictive manner. For this purpose, the Department may transfer funds among all line items in this long bill group total for the Division of Child Welfare, except that the Department may not transfer funds from non-custodial line items to the Child Welfare Administration line item to increase funding for personal services.
BACKGROUND The above footnote first appeared in the Long Bill in FY 1993-94 when the Long Bill group “Child Welfare” was in the Department of Social Services. At that time, this Child Welfare contained groups (A) Social Services Placements and (B) Department of Institutions, Youth Services Community Corrections Placements. (A) Social Services Placements was bottom-line funded. Child Welfare continued to be bottom-line funded in FY 1994-95 when the Department of Human Services was created. The division ceased to be bottom-line funded in FY 1999-00 after the Child Welfare Settlement Agreement and the county block grants were created; however the footnote continued. Counties receive allocations from three block grants, the largest of which is the Child Welfare Block from the Child Welfare Services line item. At the county level, these funds may be transferred from the allocation to cover over-expenditures in the Core Services block allocation from the Family and Children’s Services line item. Also at the county level, funds from the Core Services block allocation may not be transferred to cover over-expenditures from the Child Welfare Block. Finally, counties are funded up to 80.0 percent with state and federal funds for most administrative costs and services. If counties spend more than the capped allocations, they are responsible for covering any shortfall with other funds. In FY 1999-00, the footnote affected the General Fund appropriated to only two line items – the Child Welfare Services line item and the Family and Children’s Programs line item, so while at the county level, funds from the Core Services allocation could not be used to cover over-expenditures in the Child Welfare Block, at the state level, over-expenditures could be covered and reallocated to counties. Although this does aid in keeping counties “whole” at close-out, JBC staff believes it goes against the intent of the Family and Children’s Program line item and the associated Family Preservation which intends that Family and Children’s Program funding not be used for out of home placement unless the services are intended to reunify the family. JBC staff believes that a better solution is to ensure that the appropriation in each line item is at the level it should be as opposed to continue the practice of transferring funds between lines. This will have the same result JOINT BUDGET COMMITTEE, 200 EAST 14TH AVE., 3RD FLOOR, DENVER, CO 80203
MEMORANDUM MARCH 17, 2017 of ensuring that counties receive the appropriate level of funding without the lack of transparency that results from too much flexibility. Of course, the larger issue is not specifically the transfer between the two line items that have funded block allocations to counties since FY 1999-00. It is, rather, the fact that the Division of Child Welfare has expanded and now contains 13 line items that receive General Fund appropriations. The result of this is that transfers are made from the Child Welfare Services line item to lines items that do not fund block allocations to counties (10 of the 13); and funds are transferred from program line items with specifically identified purposes to line items that fund the block allocations. Finally, while the Division may not transfer funds to the Administration line item to fund personal services, transfers have been made from the Child Welfare Services line item to the Administration line item. The Administration line item appropriation of $6.1 million total funds, including $5.0 million General Fund, in the Long Bill is based on the cost of 65.3 FTE, leaving very little room for program funding. ANALYSIS JBC staff believes the original intent of this footnote was to ensure that counties could be made whole during county close-out, while at the same time determining what the appropriation in each line item should be. While the Department states that “over the years, child welfare practice has shifted from focusing on keeping children safe by removing them from their families to providing services through a least restrictive setting including keeping a child safely at home or with kin. Programs such as Independent Living, Tony Grampsas Youth Services, Collaborative Management, Chaffee, Core Services, and Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act are fundamental to keeping children out of child welfare or from re-entering child welfare,” the transfer data that the Department provided indicates the no transfers were made from the Child Welfare Services line item to the programs identified in the Department’s statement as “fundamental to keeping children out of child welfare or from re-entering child welfare.” In the past five fiscal years, any General Fund transfer made between line items in the Division were made to the Child Welfare Services line item, expect: 1) a transfer made from Child Welfare Services to Family and Children’s Programs in FY 2011-12; 2) a transfer made from Child Welfare Services to Training and Family and Children’s Programs in FY 2012-13; and 3) a transfer from Child Welfare Services to Workforce Tools-Mobile Computing Technology and to Administration in FY 2014-15. It is important to note that in FY 2015-16, the Child Welfare Block allocation to counties was over spent by $2.4 million total funds, and that $2.8 million General Fund was transferred to the line item as a result of under-expenditures in other line items. The Department reports, however, that the Child Welfare Services line item from which the block is allocated was actually underspent by $3.1 million General Fund because not all of the hold-outs (that are taken out of the appropriation prior to the allocation) were fully spent. Therefore, the Department did not need to make the transfers to the Child Welfare Services line item. JBC staff believes that a better solution to underfunding that may exist in line items and to the lack of transparency these transfers cause is to true up those line items during the supplemental budget process. In addition, JBC staff does not believe that the Department should be allowed the flexibility to transfer funds from specific program line items to the line items that fund the county block allocations, including, but not limited to the Collaborative Management Program and its administration, Tony Grampsas Youth Services Program, Community-based Child Abuse 2
MEMORANDUM MARCH 17, 2017 Prevention Services, the Interagency Prevention Programs Coordination, Appropriations to the Youth Mentoring Services Cash Fund, Hotline for Child Abuse or Neglect, or Public Awareness Campaign. Nor does JBC staff believe that the transfers should be made to or from the County Level Child Welfare Staffing line item because pursuant to S.B. 15-242, any General Fund underexpenditures were to revert to the General Fund; and the intent of that bill was to increase county level staffing, not fund existing staffing or services. STAFF RECOMMENDATION JBC staff recommends that this footnote be discontinued and that the Department be required to submit supplemental budget requests to true up the line items in the Division of Child Welfare. ALTERNATE RECOMMENDATION If the Joint Budget Committee elects to continue the footnote in the FY 2017-18 Long Bill, JBC staff recommends that the footnote be applied to specific line items in the Division of Child Welfare. N
Department of Human Services, Division of Child Welfare, Child Welfare Services, Family and Children’s Programs, Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration, Foster and Adoptive Parent Recruitment, Training, and Support, Independent Living Programs, and Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Grant – It is the intent of the General Assembly to encourage counties to serve children in the most appropriate and least restrictive manner. For this purpose, the Department may transfer funds between specified line items in the Division of Child Welfare.
In addition, JBC staff recommends the following FY 2017-18 Request for Information: Department of Human Services, Division of Child Welfare – The Department is requested to provide by November 1, 2017, a list of each transfer made in FY 2016-17 pursuant to Long Bill Footnote N. This information should include: the line item in which the funds originated, the line item to which the funds were transferred, the amount of each transfer, the fund split for each transfer, and the purpose of the transfer. APPENDIX. DATA PROVIDED BY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES FY 2015-16 GENERAL FUND TRANSFERS ALLOWED BY LONG BILL FOOTNOTE FROM APPROPRIATION Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Public Awareness Campaign for Child Welfare Interagency Prevention Programs Coordination Administration Title IV-E Waiver and Evaluation Development Family and Children's Programs Community-based Child Abuse Prevention Services Hotline for Child Abuse and Neglect
TO APPROPRIATION
Foster and Adoptive Parent Recruitment, Training, & Support Training Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services
TOTAL GF TRANSFERS TO CHILD WELFARE SERVICES
GF TRANSFER AMOUNT ($7,329) (1,038,157) 39,679 103,355 712,887 9 1,496,438 3,627 1,518,495 $2,829,004
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MEMORANDUM MARCH 17, 2017 FY 2014-15 GENERAL FUND TRANSFERS ALLOWED BY LONG BILL FOOTNOTE FROM APPROPRIATION Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services
TO APPROPRIATION
Workforce Tools-Mobile Computing Technology Administration
GF TRANSFER AMOUNT ($30,000) (832,197)
TOTAL GF TRANSFERS TO CHILD WELFARE SERVICES
($862,198)
FY 2013-14 GENERAL FUND TRANSFERS ALLOWED BY LONG BILL FOOTNOTE FROM APPROPRIATION Administration Foster and Adoptive Parent Recruitment, Training, & Support Title IV-E Waiver and Evaluation Development SafeCare Workforce Tools-Mobile Computing Technology Training Hotline for Child Abuse and Neglect Workforce Tools-Mobile Computing Technology Family and Children's Program
TO APPROPRIATION
GF TRANSFER AMOUNT
Child Welfare Services
$428,311
Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services
90,042 125,019 920,532 600,089 1,135,311 75,193 63,070 1,867,092
TOTAL GF TRANSFERS TO CHILD WELFARE SERVICES
$5,304,659
FY 2012-13 GENERAL FUND TRANSFERS ALLOWED BY LONG BILL FOOTNOTE FROM APPROPRIATION Administration Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program Foster and Adoptive Parent Recruitment, Training, & Support Training Child Welfare Services
TO APPROPRIATION
GF TRANSFER AMOUNT
Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services
$691,982 3,513
Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Training
38,863 830,623 (59,733)
TOTAL GF TRANSFERS TO CHILD WELFARE SERVICES
$1,505,248
FY 2011-12 GENERAL FUND TRANSFERS ALLOWED BY LONG BILL FOOTNOTE FROM APPROPRIATION Administration Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program Foster and Adoptive Parent Recruitment, Training, & Support Training Child Welfare Services
TO APPROPRIATION Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Child Welfare Services Family and Children's Programs
TOTAL GF TRANSFERS TO CHILD WELFARE SERVICES
GF TRANSFER AMOUNT $224,820 15,666 27,970 223,484 (1,603,403) ($1,111,463)
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