Partnership Grants to Strengthen Families Affected by Parental Substance Abuse Act of 2016

“(2) Definitions—In this subsection:

“(A) Eligible partnership

“(i) In general—The term eligible partnership means a collaborative agreement (which may be established on an interstate or intrastate basis) entered into by, at a minimum, each of the following:

“(I) The State child welfare agency that is responsible for the administration of the State plan under this part and part E.

“(II) The State agency responsible for administering the substance abuse prevention and treatment block grant provided under subpart II of part B of title XIX of the Public Health Service Act.

“(III) The Juvenile Court or Administrative Office of the Court that is most appropriate to oversee the administration of court programs in the region to address the population of families who come to the attention of the court due to child abuse or neglect.

“(ii) Additional partners—In addition to the required members of an eligible partnership described under clause (i), such partnership may also include any of the following:

“(I) The State agency responsible for administering the State plan under title XIX.

“(II) The State agency responsible for administering the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant under title V of this Act.

“(III) The unit of State government responsible for administering the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant provided under subpart I of part B of title XIX of the Public Health Service Act.

“(IV) Any other State agency responsible for administering programs that promote child and family well-being, including programs that serve victims of domestic violence, early childhood education programs, elementary school and secondary school programs (as such terms are defined in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)), programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.), hospital programs, early childhood home visitation programs using funds received under section 511(c) of this Act, and the program for block grants to States for temporary assistance for needy families under title IV of this Act.

“(V) An Indian tribe or tribal consortium.

“(VI) Community child welfare service providers.

“(VII) Community health service providers.

“(VIII) Community mental health service providers.

“(IX) Community domestic violence service providers.

“(X) Community housing authorities or providers.

“(XI) Local law enforcement agencies.

“(XII) Tribal child welfare agencies (or a consortia of such agencies).

“(XIII) Any other providers, agencies, personnel, officials, or entities that are related to the provision of child and family services under this subpart.

“(iii) Partnerships entered into by Indian tribes or tribal consortia—Notwithstanding clause (i), if an Indian tribe or tribal consortium enters into a partnership for purposes of this subsection, such partnership shall be considered an eligible partnership regardless of whether such partnership includes any of the entities described in subclause (I), (II), or (III) of clause (i), except that no such partnership shall consist solely of tribal child welfare agencies (or a consortium of such agencies).

“(B) State—Notwithstanding section 431(a)(4), the term State means the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and each of the territories.

“(C) Territory—The term territory means Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“(D) Indian tribe; tribal organization—The terms Indian tribe and tribal organization have the meanings given such terms in section 431(a).”

“(4) Application requirements—To be eligible for a regional partnership grant or a State partnership grant under this subsection, an eligible partnership shall submit to the Secretary a written application containing the following:

“(A) With respect to the planning phase of the grant, each of the following:

“(i) A description of the nature and extent of the problem of substance use disorders among families who come to the attention of the State child welfare agency, including any recent evidence demonstrating that substance abuse has had a substantial impact on the number of out-of-home placements for children, or the number of children who are at risk of being placed in an out-of-home placement, in the partnership region or State.

“(ii) A description of any joint activities being undertaken among the entities described in subclause (I), (II), or (III) of paragraph (2)(A)(i) and other State agencies or regional partners on behalf of families with substance use disorder problems who come to the attention of the State child welfare agency, including any data on the effects of the joint activities, such as activities relating to—

“(I) establishing standardized screening protocols, or other methods to identify families in need of substance abuse prevention and treatment services;

“(II) ensuring early access to assessment and treatment services such as securing expert consultation on cases involving substance use disorders, conducting outreach and methods to engage and retain parents in treatment, and providing priority access to assessment and treatment of families in the child welfare system;

“(III) increasing management and treatment of recovery services and monitoring compliance such as co-location of services, specialized recovery case management services, and ensuring comprehensive treatment programs tailored to individual parent and child needs;

“(IV) ensuring access to family-centered services, including effective parenting programs focused on enhancing the parent and child relationship and the prevention needs of children;

“(V) ensuring appropriate judicial oversight including providing more frequent judicial or administrative reviews of treatment access and compliance with case plans regarding participation in substance use disorder treatment;

“(VI) having a system for appropriate response to behavior of participants, such as evidence-based contingency management approaches using appropriate incentives and sanctions; and

“(VII) improving collaboration between courts and child welfare and substance abuse treatment agencies providing services to families with substance abuse issues, including—

“(aa) cross training of staff;

“(bb) data collection and information sharing that is capable of monitoring outcomes of children and families receiving services from the agencies;

“(cc) arrangements for addressing confidentiality and sharing of information;

“(dd) identification by the State agencies or Indian tribal agencies, as the case may be, of funding barriers and how Federal, State, and local resources are being used to sustain programs of the agencies; and

“(ee) consultation to ensure that programmatic approaches reflect the advice of community members and persons in recovery.

“(iii) With respect to infants with prenatal substance exposure, a description of any special efforts to identify and assess the extent of the problem and any joint activities between 2 or more members of the eligible partnership that focus specifically on the needs of the infants, such as efforts to monitor and reduce infant fatalities among families affected by parental substance use disorders.

“(iv) A description of the goals and outcomes to be achieved during the funding period for the grant that will—

“(I) enhance the well-being of children, parents, and families receiving services or taking part in activities conducted with funds provided under the grant;

“(II) lead to safety, permanent caregiving relationships for such children, and the well-being of the children and their families;

“(III) improve the substance abuse treatment outcomes for parents including retention in treatment and successful completion of treatment; and

“(IV) decrease the number of out-of-home placements for children, or the number of children who are at risk of being placed in an out-of-home placement, in the partnership region or State.

“(v) A description of a plan for sustaining the services provided by or activities funded under the grant after the conclusion of the grant period, including through the use of other funds provided to the State for child welfare and substance abuse prevention and treatment services.

“(vi) Assurances that—

“(I) substance use disorder treatment services provided using funds provided during the implementation phase of a grant made under this subsection shall be licensed, certified, or otherwise approved by the appropriate State substance use disorder prevention and treatment agencies, the State agency responsible for administering the State plan approved under title XIX, or other designated licensing agency;

“(II) the activities funded during the implementation phase of a grant made under this subsection will be coordinated, to the extent feasible and appropriate, with the services or benefits provided under other Federal or federally assisted programs that serve families with substance use disorders who come to the attention of the State child welfare agency, including health, Medicaid, mental health, domestic violence, housing, and employment programs, the State program funded under part A, other child welfare and substance use disorder prevention and treatment programs, and the courts;

“(III) not more than 10 percent of funds provided under the grant for any fiscal year shall be used for administrative costs;

“(IV) Federal funds provided to the State during the implementation phase of a grant made under this subsection will not be used to supplant Federal or non-Federal funds for services and activities that, as of September 30, 2015, are provided to assist families with substance use disorder services who come to the attention of the State child welfare agency; and

“(V) in the case of a State partnership grant, the Governor of the State endorses the plan.

“(vii) Such other information as the Secretary may require.

“(B) With respect to the implementation phase of the grant, each of the following:

“(i) A description of how the State or regional partnership will use any funds provided during the implementation phase of a grant to address comprehensively and in a timely manner the needs of families with substance use disorders to improve child safety, family stability, parent-child relationships, permanence in children’s living arrangements, and family well-being, including—

“(I) by improving services and procedures in the areas detailed in subparagraph (A)(ii);

“(II) by improving services with respect to infants with prenatal substance exposure as described in subparagraph (A)(iii);

“(III) by satisfying the goals and outcomes described in subparagraph (A)(iv);

“(IV) by providing sustainability of services and activities after the conclusion of the grant period as described in subparagraph (A)(v);

“(V) by affirming each of the assurances described in subparagraph (A)(vi);

“(VI) in the case of a State partnership grant, expanding the number of jurisdictions in the State (including urban, suburban, and rural jurisdictions) where the activities under the plan will be implemented, the plans for expanding the activities to other parts of the State during the implementation phase of the grant, and the methods to measure programs toward these goals; and

“(VII) measuring the performance of the State agencies in implementing the plan in accordance with performance and evaluation requirements established by the Secretary in paragraph (8) and section 435, and assessing remaining barriers to meeting the needs of families with substance use disorders who come to the attention of the State child welfare agency.

“(ii) Such other information as the Secretary may require.”

“(C) Indian tribes—In the case of a grant awarded to a partnership that includes an Indian tribe, tribal consortium, or a tribal child welfare agency or a consortium of such agencies, the payment required by subparagraph (A) may be made directly, through donated funds, through nonpublic third-party in-kind contributions, or from Federal funds received under any of the following provisions of law:

“(i) The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.).

“(ii) The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b et seq.).

“(iii) Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.).”

“(7) Waiver of certain requirements—To the extent the Secretary determines that any requirement under this paragraph would be inappropriate to apply to an eligible partnership that includes a territory, an Indian tribe, tribal consortium, or a tribal child welfare agency or a consortium of such agencies, the Secretary may exempt the eligible partnership from the requirement.”

“(C) Review of performance indicators

“(i) In general—Not later than 9 months after the date of enactment of this subparagraph, the Secretary shall review the performance indicators established under subparagraph (A) and knowledge gained from other grant programs to establish a set of core indicators.

“(ii) Core indicators—The set of core indicators established under clause (i) shall include the following:

“(I) Safety, including whether children remain at home and any occurrence of child maltreatment.

“(II) Permanency, including the average length of stay in foster care, re-entries to foster care placement, timeliness of reunification, and timeliness of permanency.

“(III) Recovery, including access to treatment, retention in substance abuse treatment, substance use.

“(IV) Child, adult, and family well-being, including parenting capacity, family relationships and functioning.

“(iii) Consultation required—In establishing the set of core indicators required by clause (i), the Secretary shall consult with the following:

“(I) The Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families.

“(II) The Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“(D) Evaluations—In assessing the performance of grant recipients as described in subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall—

“(i) use each of the core indicators established under subparagraph (C) and any other performance indicators the Secretary considers appropriate;

“(ii) whenever possible, use existing data systems and appropriate comparison groups to monitor outcomes; and

“(iii) assist grantees in establishing and analyzing performance indicators to ensure local capacity to examine outcomes.”