kinship advocacy in new york state

26
February 2011 KINSHIP CARE IN THE NEW YORK STATE BUDGET

Upload: ncgcr

Post on 25-May-2015

801 views

Category:

Education


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

February 2011

KINSHIP CARE IN THE NEW YORK STATE

BUDGET

Page 2: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

OverviewTHE BUDGET

PROCESS

Page 3: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

The Governor proposes a budget (Feb 1)

The Governor can make

amendments (late February)

The Legislature convenes conference committees

(February/March)

Page 4: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

The Legislature negotiates with the Division of Budget (Governor’s

representative) and comes up with a final budget

The budget gets passed through the

Legislature (April 1)

The Governor signs the budget (or vetoes) and fiscal year begins

Page 5: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

2009-2011THE PAST

Page 6: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

$2.75 million (2009-10 budget)funds 21 programs almost to 2010-

11

$922 thousand (2010-11 budget)additional received to fully fund 21

programs to 2010-11

$2.75 million needed in the 2011-12 budget to fully fund 21

programs to 2012-13

Page 7: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

THE CURRENT PROPOSAL

2011-12

Page 8: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

Pull kinship care programming from the OCFS budget into an Article VII bill (though kinship programming not specifically listed).

Lump kinship care programming together with a variety of other programs (home visiting, runaway youth, Children’s Trust Fund, other juvenile justice programs) to form a Primary Prevention Incentive Program that’s performance-based.

Page 9: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

Take the total funding from all of the lumped programs (from last year’s budget) and cut it to 50%.

Leave it to OCFS and communities to determine how to spend the money, including a 38% local match. The only entities eligible to apply for funding are municipalities (local districts).

Page 10: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

WHAT IT MEANS ? ? ? ? ? ?

Page 11: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

We don’t know what funding level kinship care programming would be funded at (not determined by a line item in the budget, but rather through an RFP process for local districts).

This proposal is for use of general funds, not TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), which had been the previous source of funding.

We don’t know how data collection, evaluation, monitoring would occur in this structure of funding.

Page 12: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

We don’t know what would happen to current programs – whether their funding could continue or if they would have to close and later reopen (if the local district applied for funds).

We don’t know why this particular process was proposed since it is not cost-effi cient.

Page 13: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

OUR PLAN Starting Today

Page 14: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

Off er webinar explaining the current proposal in the Governor’s budget

Develop talking points for providers and talking points for families

Develop checklist for kinship care programs to implement

Develop list of legislators and contacts for each kinship care program

Distribute cost benefit one-pager to kinship care programs

STEP ONE: INFORMATION

Page 15: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

Launch website for kinship care programs and advocates to locate information and updates http://www.grandparentsforchildren.org/newyork.h

tml

Collect and distribute community-based information about kinship care to each program

STEP ONE: INFORMATION

Page 16: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

Leadership to call all agency CEOs and EDs to ensure advocacy strategies are in place

Staff to contact each program with their program-specific information and get them started on their advocacy work

Albany-based programs and advocates to meet with: Division of Budget Offi ce of the Governor Senate Finance Committee and Counsel/Program staff Assembly Ways and Means Committee and Counsel/Program

staff Senate and Assembly’s respective Children and Families

Committees

STEP TWO: ACTION IN ALBANY

Page 17: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

Programs begin utilizing checklist:

Write letter to the Governor Sign on to collective letter to the Governor Meet with local legislators Invite local legislators to visit program Begin letter-writing and phone call campaign with

families Distribute letters to the editor to local

newspapers Additional ideas

STEP TWO: ACTION ON THE GROUND

Page 18: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

Begin press campaign, including series of releases and conferences for:

Budget implicationsCensus dataCost-benefit releaseSummit report releaseOther

STEP THREE: PRESS

Page 19: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

$ $ $ $ $ OUR MESSAGE

Page 20: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

An estimated 250,000 to 300,00 children live with grandparents or other relative caregivers in New York State.

One in ten children live in grandparent-led households. Of those children, 41% are being raised by their grandparents.

Twenty-one programs funded by OCFS provide services to over 5,000 children who otherwise are at high risk of foster care.

New York State spends $1.37 billion annually on foster care services, and less than $3 million on kinship programs.

KINSHIP $AVES

Page 21: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

Funding for FY2011-12 needs to be $3 million to fully fund kinship programming.

If the kinship programs are not funded and 60 children enter foster care placements, the cost will equal the entire cost of fully funding the OCFS kinship programs.

Without these programs, an estimated 475 children will leave informal kinship care and enter foster care during FY2011-12, at an increased cost of over $23 million to New York State.

KINSHIP $AVES

Page 22: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

Children live with grandparents and other relatives for the same reasons that children enter foster care – parental abuse, neglect, mental illness, abandonment, military deployment and more.

A representative sample of private kinship families shows that 60% of the children in private kinship families served by the programs had histories of potential or possible child maltreatment.

Community kinship programming provides case management, respite, benefit and legal information, advocacy, and other supports, and facilitate enrollment in appropriate services.

KINSHIP SAVES

Page 23: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

2011-12OUR ASK

Page 24: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

We ask that 10% of the Primary Prevention Incentive Program funding be dedicated to kinship programming (potential of $3.5 million).

We ask that the PPIP be funded without a local match and allows for current programs to continue operating, rather than incurring the cost and lost experience of closing and reopening programs.

OUR ASK

Page 25: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

WebinarsKEEPING IN TOUCH

Page 26: Kinship Advocacy in New York State

Each week, you’ll receive an eNewsletter with updates from New York State.

Each week, we’ll host a webinar to update advocates and programs, field questions, and demonstrate new materials.

Each day, we’ll update the website with any new information available.

Each week, staff will contact each program to ensure they have the support they need to get through the checklist.