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Legislation |
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John
H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program
The John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program
was created in 1999 with passage of the Foster Care Independence
Act (PL 106-169). The Chafee Foster Care Independence Program
(CFCIP) replaced the Title IV-E Federal Independent Living
Initiative of 1986. Its purpose was spelled out in the legislation
and had 5 initial purposes:
- 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);
- 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;
- To
help children who are likely to remain in foster care until
18 years of age prepare for and enter post secondary training
and education institutions;
- To
provide personal and emotional support to children aging
out of foster care, through mentors and the promotion of
interactions with dedicated adults;
- 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
- To
make available vouchers for education and training, including
post secondary learning and education, to youths who have
aged out of foster care (this purpose was added in the Promoting
Safe and Stable Families Amendments of 2001).
For more
information on the Chafee Foster Care Independence program
go to: www.nrcys.ou.edu/nrcyd/programs.htm
Education
and Training Voucher Program (ETV)
The
Promoting Safe and Stable Families Amendment of 2001 amended
section 477 of the Social Security Act to add a new purpose
to the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP). It
also adds a new subsection to section 477. Subsection (i)
spelled out ETV in the following 6 points:
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Vouchers under the program may be available to youths otherwise
eligible for services under the State program under this
section.
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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.
-
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.
- 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 102 of the Higher
Education Act of 1965; and
b. Shall not exceed the lesser of $5,000 per year or the
total cost of attendance, as defined in section 472 of that
Act.
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The amount of a voucher under this section shall be disregarded
for the 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 472
of the Higher Education Act of 1965, and except that the
State agency shall take appropriate steps to prevent duplication
of benefits under this and other Federal and Federally supported
programs.
-
The program is coordinated with other appropriate education
and training programs.
For more information on the Education and Trainig Voucher
program go to: www.nrcys.ou.edu/nrcyd/programs.htm
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