Xavier Becerra United States Secretary of Health and Human Services | Official Website
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), via the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), has unveiled a new regulation designed to broaden access to legal representation for children eligible for title IV-E foster care, their parents, kinship caregivers, Indian custodians, and tribes. This will be achieved by permitting state and tribal child welfare agencies to utilize federal funds in providing legal representation.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra stated, “Children and families in the child welfare system face many scenarios where access to legal services could help to ensure their safety. This rule will allow child welfare agencies to use federal funds to help cover the costs of providing access to an attorney during civil legal proceedings when doing so would support a child’s needs.”
Research indicates that independent legal representation for parents and caregivers in civil legal proceedings can prevent children from entering foster care and enhance reunification rates when children have been removed from home.
ACF Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Jeff Hild added, “The foster care system should always be a last resort, and at ACF, we are focused on prevention and getting families the supports they need to thrive. This rule will ensure more families, young people and tribes have access to legal services that are often key to a family staying safely together.”
This regulation also allows federal funds to be used for the representation of tribes when they participate or intervene in state court foster care proceedings for Indian children.
Under this new rule, a child welfare agency could provide a family at risk of entering the foster care system with legal representation. This could assist in securing stable housing, public benefits or establishing custody or guardianship, thereby preventing unnecessary removal of a child from home. For Indian children placed in foster care, federal funds can pay for tribes’ attorneys or representatives who provide crucial information about the child’s tribe.
Furthermore, a child welfare agency could use federal funds to pay for legal representation for a parent seeking an order of protection against an abuser, if doing so would help prevent a child from entering foster care. The rule also allows a child welfare agency to use federal funding to provide legal representation to a youth exiting foster care, aiding them in accessing legal documents that will support their independence and stability.
