COUNTY ADMINISTRATION OFFICE - R. ESPINOSA

Approve budget amendment to transfer $142,177.19 from the General Fund to Health & Human Services for reimbursement of foster care recoupment payments starting from FY 16/17 through FY18/19. (4/5 vote)

SBC FILE NUMBER: 130

Title IV-A and IV-E of the Social Security Act cover Federal Foster Care and CalWORKs payments that are made to eligible families/foster parents for daily care and supervision of children placed in their care by Child Welfare Services. These payments are made by the County's Health & Human Services Agency (HHSA) through monthly assistance checks and carry a County share of cost that are funded with Social Services realignment dollars. 

Recoupment payments are received through Child Support Services when an absent parent, whose children are in foster care or whose family is receiving aid, is court ordered to pay child support to cover the assistance costs. Section 12-425(d)(1) of the California Department of Social Services Manual, which provides regulations for Child Support collections and distribution, states that "any amount of current child, family, or spousal support collected that remains after the amount distributed under Section 12-425(c) shall be retained by the county to reimburse, in whole or in part, the aid payment for that month, and any past aid payments made to the family which have not been otherwise reimbursed.”

The County General Fund provided Health and Human Services Department a contribution for ongoing maintenance of effort for services prior to fiscal year (FY) 16/17. The mandated maintenance of effort required by the State Department of Social Services was shifted to social service realignment funding, thus the General Fund contribution was no longer required. Since FY16/17 the County General Fund has no longer provided contributions to the Health and Human Services Department, but the recoupments from foster care services were continued to be deposited into the General Fund. By approving a transfer of funds for the recoupments received between FY16/17 and FY18/19 the County is reimbursing the Health and Human Services Department for the costs that they incurred for providing the foster care services during this time period. Administration will revise the internal procedure for recoupment funding beginning in FY19/20.

The amount of funding received during this period is as follows: